As Halloween approaches, the supermarkets will be full of pumpkins and it’s now a popular tradition to carve one to make a spooky lantern.

This year Halloween takes place on Monday, October 31, so the countdown this month has already begun.

Here we look back at colourful pumpkin fun across Oxfordshire in 2017.

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At the Donnington Doorstep Family Centre in Townsend Square, Oxford, visitors took on a range of arty, autumnal crafts and enjoyed live music and a bonfire in the garden.

Children were decked out in their best pumpkin fancy dress and veggie pumpkin curry, cakes and hot drinks were on offer.

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Among those attending were Nicola Harris, 29, and her four-year-old daughter Lottie.

The family, from Cowley, took part in face painting and creating pictures from dried leaves.

Mum Nicola, a student at Oxford Brookes University, said in 2017: "Lottie is obsessed with weddings at the moment so she went as a corpse bride in her red gown.

"There was such a nice family-friendly atmosphere, it was a really lovely afternoon."

At the OxGrow community garden in Grandpont, a pumpkin-themed garden party took place with volunteers at the garden sharing a pumpkin feast.

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And at Cogges Manor Farm, Witney, a hotly-contested best lantern competition was held while guesses were taken on the weight of a 'big-daddy' pumpkin from the walled garden.

Continuing the pumpkin party was Sandy Lane Farm in Tiddington where everyone went well fed at a barbecue and gin was supped from the Oxford Artisan Distillery (TOAD) while the children got on with the serious business of carving faces.

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About the author 

Andy is the Trade and Tourism reporter for the Oxford Mail and you can sign up to his newsletters for free here. 

He joined the team more than 20 years ago and he covers community news across Oxfordshire.

His Trade and Tourism newsletter is released every Saturday morning. 

You can also read his weekly Traffic and Transport newsletter.