A popular pumpkin patch held on a Monmouthshire farm is returning this year bigger and better after a successful first year.

Husband-and-wife team Josh and Naomi Williams-Roberts opened the gates to their home at Castle Farm in Llangybi last year for members of the public to pick their own pumpkins from their specially-grown patch.

The decision proved a successful one as the couple welcomed around 2,000 people to the farm where they enjoyed a number of different games and activities as well as picking their own pumpkins.

Now Josh and Naomi are once again opening the farm up for the Halloween season, even increasing the size of their pumpkin patch from one acre last year to three acres this year where they have managed to grow 4,000 pumpkins.

BillyBobs Farm will be selling a range of pumpkins both large and small with seven varieties of pumpkins available to choose from compared to four last year.

As well as hosting a number of games and activities in the farm sheds as they did last year, Josh and Naomi will also be hosting a cinema screen this year out in the pumpkin patch showing classic Halloween films including Hocus Pocus, and selling popcorn and candyfloss.

They will also have a new pumpkin slingshot game as well as facepainting, music and pumpkin carving.

The farm and pumpkin patch will be open to the public on weekends throughout October with Josh and Naomi having welcomed their first visitors this year on Saturday October 1.

Gates will be open from 10am to 6pm, with smallest pumpkins starting from £1. Parking is available on site but is £10 per car due to limited parking facilities.

Food will be available in the sheds with Josh and Naomi selling their own food produced on the farm including lamb and bacon burgers, and competitions will also be held where people can win pumpkins.

Speaking to the Chronicle, Naomi said: “We are very excited to welcome people back to the farm this year. We had such wonderful feedback last year and have already taken lots of booking for this year’s event which is amazing.”

It has been a busy year for Josh and Naomi on the farm, as following the success of their first pumpkin patch they hosted a number of different public events on the farm including a Christmas fayre last December and growing and selling their own sunflowers this summer.

They also opened the farm up during lambing season in the spring this year to welcome young children and different groups of people from various backgrounds who do not live near the countryside.

Speaking about the activities, Naomi said: “We wanted to do something to help educate people about the countryside and farming and where their food comes from and it has proven very rewarding. Everyone who has visited has thoroughly enjoyed learning about lambing and even assisting with a few births and bottle feeding lambs and calves.”

After the successes of the last year and all the activities, Naomi is optimistic that this year’s pumpkin patch will be bigger and better than ever.

She added: “Each year we are trying to do a bit more, our first year has gone really well and I think people appreciate that little bit of extra detail, so hopefully this year they will be even more impressed.”

If you would like to hear more or visit Billy Bob’s Pumpkin Patch head to billybobsfarm.co.uk or their Facebook page BillyBobsFarm.