A GIANT pumpkin festival has gone virtual and will be available to watch online this weekend.

The XPG Giant Pumpkin Festival is taking place in Lymington on Saturday, October 10 and has taken an online approach following the cancellation of its pumpkin festival at Royal Victoria Country Park earlier this year.

Organiser Ian Paton, who works at Pinetops Nurseries, said: "When the festival at Royal Victoria Country Park was cancelled, my brothers and I decided to hold a virtual festival at Pinetops Nurseries.

"The festival will be like a 'drive-thru' where people will drive in with their pumpkins (or other items) and we will then unload the pumpkin from their vehicle and weigh and measure it. The contestants will then have to leave immediately.

"It was decided to hold the virtual festival at the nursery so people’s pumpkins are weighed and exhibited correctly."

Pumpkins will be weighed and the circumference taken, along with other measurements to determine how big the pumpkin is in inches.

The nursery - which has a Pumpkin Research and Development unit - already boasts the eighth largest pumpkin in the world and potentially the largest pumpkin in the world.

Ian said: "We have two large pumpkins already, and one could be the largest in the world. Even for us, this is incredible.

"The festival should be a good, fun day that puts a smile on people's faces."

The festival is taking place from 11am on Saturday, and can be watched via a livestream on XPG Giant Pumpkin Festival 2020 on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/XPGPumpkinFestival/live/

If you would like to enter the pumpkin festival, you can pre-register here: http://www.bigpumpkins.com/