WITH Halloween fast approaching, an annual festival vegetable festival returned - bigger and better.

The Autumn Pumpkin Festival saw hundreds of people descend on Royal Victoria Country Park, in Netley yesterday (Saturday October 14) to take part in the seasonal extravaganza. 

Hosted by the Jubilee Sailing Trust, the 19th edition had people bring their biggest and best pumpkins as well as their scarecrows.

Across the day there were a number of stalls serving autumnal food and drink whilst there was music, dance, crafts, storytelling and people offering up gardening advice also served up.

In the hotly contested heaviest pumpkin, brothers Stuart and Ian Paton, from Lymington, broke their own record.

Their giant pumpkin came in at a whopping 162 stone - which smashed their previous UK record by 15lbs.