THE heaviest pumpkin at Poundstock’s annual pumpkin festival was too big to get into the show tent in the churchyard, so it had to sit outside the church lychgate in its very own trailer.

The organisers of the competition were able to weigh all the others on an ordinary steelyard balance, but the winning entry had to be taken to the weighbridge at Tamar Milling where it was found to be 367kg, the equivalent of 809lbs or nearly 58 stone!

This huge specimen marked a return for Peter Roberts of Peter’s Plant in Morwenstow, following his disappointment last year when his potential winning entry was destroyed by a fire before the competition. Peter won the competition in 2013 and 2014 with pumpkins of 510 and 359lbs, so this year’s entry has easily broken the record for the heaviest in the competition’s history.

Graham Jones, organiser of the competition, said that the massive pumpkin, parked by the entrance to Poundstock’s annual craft fair and pumpkin festival, was a ‘great talking point for many visitors over the weekend’. There was a lot of discussion and admiration of the skills shown by those who entered the carved pumpkin competitions.

The standard of entries was very high and this year’s judge, Lady Anne Eyre of Penfound Manor, deliberated for a long time before choosing the best entries. The winner of the junior category was Emilia Jose, who Lady Anne said had made ‘very imaginative use of the unusual shape of the pumpkin’ in creating a scary face with teeth that spelt ‘BOO’.

Michael Watkins, of Bideford, won the senior category with an entry that, as well as having the traditional carved teeth and eyes, made use of a second pumpkin to create enormous ears, a wig and cigarettes. Lady Anne said that the resulting face was ‘very eye catching and a definite winner’.

Not only did the pumpkin festival have a record breaker, but there were a record number of stalls at the accompanying craft and food fair, held in the church and Tudor Gildhouse. Plenty of visitors, both locals and tourists, enjoyed a rich variety of local crafts and foods, welcoming some new stallholders as well as regular favourites.

The money raised from the event will be used to help maintain the Gildhouse, where the event took place.

The team behind the fair and pumpkin festival are always keen to extend the range of crafts and foods at the fair. Any local craftspeople or food producers should contact 01288 361147 if interested in holding a stall next year.