Bumble and the Giant Pumpkin: A Heavy Horse Harvest Tale 

Written by Annabel Burn photos by Grow Like Grandad

It looked like something from a fairytale — the kind you’d expect to find illustrated in an old countryside storybook — a pumpkin-coloured heavy horse, harness fitted, calmly pulling a giant pumpkin down the Dorking allotment track, both glowing the same warm orange in the autumn light.

The 150kg pumpkin with a circumference of over 100 inches was grown by Matt Peskett (Grow Like Grandad) who's goal was to raise funds for the Surrey & Sussex Healthcare (SASH) Charity Cancer Fund where he has been receiving treatment.  The fundraising page can be found here.
 

This was Bumble, driven by Dan Brown Horseman - a horseman known locally for keeping traditional heavy horse work alive through woodland logging, land management and public heritage demonstrations across Surrey.

As Bumble leaned into the traces and the pumpkin rolled steadily behind, people paused, smiling in that quiet, involuntary way that happens when something unexpectedly magical passes by.  A heavy horse doing what his kind were bred to do — an honest day’s work without fuss — and behind him, a giant pumpkin, worthy of Roald Dahl novel status, grown with care by local hands.  A moment of village pride, unfolding in the most ordinary and most magical way.

The pumpkin, first pulled from the allotment by Bumble, was then lifted onto a truck supplied free of charge by Kendall Cars to continue its journey to display at Tulleys Farm, who donated a brilliant £1000 to the cause.

A golden horse, a giant pumpkin all for a purpose — and a brief, joyful glimpse of living folklore on a village track.