Despite Storm Brian battering most of England last weekend, I had an a-maze-ing time  with presenter Lindsey and the crew from Blue Peter at York Maze.

We were there to film the North of England stage of the International Giant Pumpkin Commonwealth Competition – who knew there was such a thing

Catch it on iPlayer

The short clip was aired on Thursday 26th October; here’s the link on iPlayer – it’s available until 25th November and I’m on at 18:30secs

York Maze

I’d never heard of York Maze before and I wish I had ! Whilst a lot of the attractions are great for younger kids, there’s still a lot of activities that I was able to take part in.

The maze is created from over one million living, growing maize plants and there’s loads of other stuff to do, like activities, rides and huge slides. It was all Halloween themed on our visit and even though I was busy filming for most of the day I was able to have a quick look round the maze and house of illusion with my Dad and it was great fun

Each year they have a different maze theme – I would have loved to have seen the Dr Who one created in 2013, when they had real daleks in the maze. I’d love a trip in that TARDIS!

Meeting the contestants

So, the Giant Pumpkins, were part of a commonwealth competition; Ben, the contestant Blue Peter followed from his allotment to the Maze, has been growing them for years and his top tip is to give them plenty of water and TLC.

The pumpkins are so huge that they need to be made secure with straps and then weighed using a tractor and scales (similar to fishing scales).

It’s a tense moment as it’s at this point the pumpkins might crack and then they would be disqualified.

Pumpkin carving

There was a huge marquee set up for pumpkin carving; this is where  Lindsey carved a Blue Peter pumpkin with a professional pumpkin carver – his designs were awesome

My Dad got me an organic pumpkin this week from where he works, it’s really big, so I’m thinking of a suitable design – I’ll post it on social media once I’ve done it???

Filming

I had a great day, whilst my Mum and Dad were with me, there was a chaperone and she was called, Judith – she was lovely. I was recognised as the BP gardener by a few kids and I was even asked for my autograph – makes me well chuffed

Blimey it was well windy filming!

Results are in…

Here we are waiting for the results; Ben came …………. second !!!

The winners, the Paton Brothers, won with their entry, which was just under 800kg (the weight of a fully grown cow!!!). They were featured on this week’s Gardeners’ World  as they attempted to beat the World Record; unfortunately they didn’t this year, it is still held by Mathias Willemijns at 2624.6lb

Junior entry

There was a junior category too, which Amelia won with her Atlantic Giant, which weighed 46.5kg. She also came third overall and won the ‘prettiest pumpkin’ entry. Amelia and her Mum had travelled a long way to enter the competition, so I was really chuffed for her

Well done Amelia !

Corn mad

It’s all about the corn – I love BBQ’d corn #Delish

Little treat at the end of the day

I was heading over to play crazy golf after filming had finished when I spotted a bird of prey centre – had a quick hold of a barn owl, just wonderful birds and a man scared my Mum, with a fake, giant spider that dropped from the ceiling!

It was a fab experience and one that we all enjoyed – thanks to the BP presenters and crew, you are all #TotallyAwesome!

And now for some half-term Halloween fun! I’ve had a great weekend starting the greenhouse build with my Dad. We have had some nice autumn walks with Buddy. I made my own ferro fluid (it’s a magnetic liquid) and finally I went to a great Halloween party – here’s a Quik video.

Really looking forward to going up to Scotland at the end of the week to see my gardening teacher, Sarah’s new home. I’ll be helping her feed the animals and checking out her garden – can’t wait!!

Have a great Halloween folks!

P.S. I’ve finally set myself up on Instagram – give me a follow !!