Extreme Hallowe'en

Closeted safely away in the high eyrie which is Bracknell Towers, Lady Bracknell is blessedly immune from nuisance calls from hordes of small children, stuffed to the gills with sugar and tartrazine, all clamouring for brightly-coloured sweetmeats of no discernible nutritional value.

It is Lady Bracknell's considered opinion that the British Hallowe'en has suffered immeasurably since the American custom of "trick or treating" was seized upon by our increasingly rapacious youth. In Lady Bracknell's day, a child considered itself to be fortunate indeed if it successfully bobbed for an apple. Offer a child of a similar age the Hallowe'en treat of a slightly wet apple today, and one may expect to have one's garden gate removed from its hinges in the dead of night. Or worse.

But this is not to say that our American cousins can offer us nothing of note to help us celebrate Hallowe'en. These carved pumpkins - which are a far cry from the humble turnip lantern of Lady Bracknell's childhood - are only a taster of those pictured on Mr Tom Nardone's strangely compelling Extreme Pumpkins website.

Lady Bracknell feels that a talent like that of Mr Nardone should not go unrecognised, and therefore warmly recommends his site to her readers.