Britain's biggest autumn gardening show drew tens of thousands to North Yorkshire this weekend for the Harrogate Autumn Flower Show, where competitors in the giant-vegetable contest gathered on the grounds of Newby Hall and Gardens in Ripon. Grower Michael Wilson, from Peterlee, stole the show with his mammoth pumpkin weighing 149.45 kg.
Fellow entrants included Andy Dawson, of Billingham, with a marrow weighing 66.70 kg; Chris Marriott, of Mansfield, with a carrot weighing 21 lb; and John Simpson, of Durham, with a cabbage weighing 55 lb.
The three-day event, which runs September 19-21, 2025, is expected to attract up to 30,000 visitors. Set in the historic Newby Hall, the show offers award-winning gardens, live talks and demonstrations, and garden shopping. The Harrogate Flower Shows are organized twice a year by the North of England Horticultural Society, a gardening charity founded in 1911 to promote horticulture across the north.
This edition follows recent giant-vegetable headlines from the region. Last week, a pumpkin heavier than three baby elephants made headlines after being grown on an Ashtead allotment. Justin Griffiths and Kay Walker, of Ashtead, produced an Atlantic Giant pumpkin weighing 860 lb (390 kg) that now dominates their plot at the Leatherhead Poors Allotments. The couple also grow tomatoes and leeks, and they used to grow carrots and potatoes, but the pumpkin has taken over. Griffiths said they plan to move the giant fruit at the end of the month, with options including using an engine crane or ‘lots of people with a tarpaulin’ to shift it.
Atlantic Giant pumpkins are known for ballooning to enormous sizes, though the Leatherhead pumpkin’s size captured particular attention. By comparison, Guinness World Records lists the heaviest pumpkin weighed in California in 2023 at 1,246.9 kg (2,749 lb).
Last year, two British brothers set a new national record with a monster pumpkin that weighed more than a tonne and required a crane to lift onto scales at a county show. Ian and Stuart Paton, both in their sixties, spent about three hours a day for three months cultivating the 1,198.2 kg squash in Lymington, Hampshire. They then drove it four-and-a-half hours to the Malvern Autumn Show in a bid for the title, but fell short of the world record. The pair described the process as a team effort, tending to the plant from seed in spring to pollination in early summer, and joked about the attention such a giant squash drew on the road.
As the Harrogate show continues through the weekend, organizers and participants alike are celebrating horticultural achievement and community interest in gardening, with the event expected to draw crowds for live talks, demonstrations and shopping amid the stately grounds of Newby Hall.