October 22, 2021 2.37 pm This story is over 29 months old

Lincolnshire’s ‘biggest pumpkin ever’ at Instagram favourite patch

What a whopper!

Len's pumpkin weighed in at a whopping 286kg. | Photo: Bell's Horticultural

A pumpkin weighing a whopping 286kg was named as Lincolnshire’s biggest pumpkin in a competition run by a business in Boston.

Bell’s Horticultural has gone through five generations of the family and is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year.

For the past six years the family firm has held ‘Lincolnshire’s Giant Pumpkin Weigh Off’ on the opening day of Bell’s Pumpkin Patch. The previous record stood at 262kg, but this was beaten by Boston man Len Saint, whose pumpkin weighted an impressed 286kg.

There is a ‘Selfie Station’ at Bell’s Pumpkin Patch. | Photo: Bell’s Horticultural

Retail director Holly Bell told The Lincolnite: “We’ve had lots of entrants, but you could see this was the biggest, it was a huge pumpkin. My first thought was ‘How will we move it?’ and it took eight big guys to lift it. We will need a forklift on hand next year.

“This year we have gone all out on our displays and doubled the size of the maze, event field and patches. With pumpkins we go large as a great way to celebrate the autumn and we are one of the biggest pumpkin growers in the UK.

“I’m really pleased with how we have done this year and that we continue to light Instagram up. We doubled the size of the event this year and nearly sold out for the weekend.”

Babies enjoy posing for photos with the pumpkins. | Photo: Bell’s Horticultural

All of the pumpkins entered into the competition, including Len’s whopper, will remain on display until the end of the month and people can pose for photos with them during their visit. Visitors can also enjoy Bounce & Climb, Potato Catapults, Maize Maze, pumpkin picking and more – tickets can be purchased here priced at £6.

The Lincolnshire firm grows over a million pumpkins every year for the country’s supermarkets. | Photo: Bell’s Horticultural

Bell’s Horticultural is primarily a wholesale nursery and also a family farm, growing over a million pumpkins every year for the country’s supermarkets.

The firm was recently voted as having the most Instagramable pumpkin patch by Zoella, and also featured in top 10 lists in the Daily Mail, Country Living Magazine and Wanderlust.