Minimalist Halloween styling with pick-your-own pumpkins

October is one of my favourite times of the year, and I always enjoy savouring simple, seasonal pleasures: misty walks, cosy evenings with candles, decorating the house for Halloween… And now I have a new autumn tradition to add to the list: pumpkin-picking!

I love having pumpkins around the house, but I’m not a fan of the bright orange ones – they don’t exactly suit my neutral decor style! I much prefer the green, brown and white ‘ghost’ varieties, but finding some in the local shops is always a bit hit-or-miss. So, this year, Chris and I decided to head out to one of the many pumpkin patches that have sprung up around the UK to harvest our own.

Our choice of location was Farrington’s Farm, just south of Bristol and Bath. It has a 17-acre field and a huge array of different varieties – you just reserve a slot in advance, collect a wheelbarrow at the entrance and then pay for what you’ve picked at the end. I was a bit worried we’d feel out of place as we don’t have kids, but we didn’t – although it is very family-friendly, we spotted plenty of other child-free couples and groups of friends wandering around. And it was so much fun! It took a bit of rooting around in the undergrowth to find the sizes and colours we were searching for, but we got there in the end – and picking the pumpkins ourselves meant we could leave the stalks as long as possible, which I always think lends a lovely wild look to them.

Once we’d got our pumpkin spoils back home and washed off the mud, I got to work styling them. I’d already created an autumnal Ikebana-style arrangement using branches, dried foliage, ferns and grasses, so some of the pumpkins have gone on display alongside it on the living-room fireplace. Others are dotted around shelves throughout the house, and I’ve arranged the smallest ones in a wooden bowl on the coffee table.

I also have some of the mini ‘ghost’ pumpkins set aside for a table centrepiece for a Halloween dinner party. I’m not going to show you the full thing as I want it to be a surprise for our guests, but here’s a taster! It will involve lots of candles, beige linens and preserved beech branches, some of which I already have on show in a vase on the dining-room fireplace.

Pumpkin-picking is definitely a new ritual that we’ll be repeating in future years. And none of the pumpkins will go to waste, as we’ll be cooking them up into delicious autumn comfort food once Halloween is over. I have my eye on this pumpkin, sage and blue-cheese tart, and these pumpkin and chocolate-chip muffins.

For more stylish autumn and Halloween decor inspiration, see my Pinterest board.

All photography by Abi Dare