For some scary surprises, spooky settings or good old-fashioned family fun, here are a few top picks for some Halloween hoots to enjoy this October. As ever, please check individual websites for the latest updates.
EAST YORKSHIRE
Halloween Trail
Burton Agnes Hall and Gardens
23 -31 October
Admission: Included with normal admission prices: £8 adults, children (4-15) £5.50
www.burtonagnes.com
Over October half term, pop to Burton Agnes for a hunt around the peaceful yet eerily atmospheric woodland, featuring a frightfully fun series of handcrafted scenes. Each dramatic scene asks a single question and bears a freaky fact. Decipher the full trail of spooky clues and enjoy a treat.
Halloween Spooky Gardens
Sewerby Hall and Gardens
23-31 October
Day ticket: £8.20 adult, £6 child (3-15)
www.sewerbyhall.co.uk
Explore the gardens to see what spooky characters you can find. Plus also:
Weird Wildcats Webs and other spooky crafts
24 October
Create chilling critters and design dreadful decorations in Sewerby Hall’s bewitching beasts and bauble bonanza session. Drop-in session from 10.30am until 2.30pm. Children must be accompanied throughout.
Rusticus Lantern Making Workshop
25 October
Join Sewerby’s medieval man of the woods, John Forrester, as he shares the secrets of lantern making. John has everything you need for a family to enjoy designing and making their very own lanterns together.
Rusticus Lantern Adventure
26 October
Join intrepid adventurers on a journey by lantern-light into the grounds at Sewerby Hall and Gardens to meet some of its most iconic crepuscular creatures – magnificent moth, barmy bat and bashful barn owl – as they show why dusk is the most magical time of day.
Spooky Magic Day and Face Painting
27 October
Professor Bubbles presents his spectacular spooky magic show. Come as you are or dressed for the occasion. Join a day of spooky fun and games with Spooky Halloween Magic Shows at 10.30am, 12.30pm and 2.30pm, plus a professional face painter will also be available between 10.30am until 3.30pm. Booking advised, as places will be limited.
Musical Fireworks Spectacular 2021
Sledmere House
30 October 2021
Tickets: £11, adults, £6.50 child (Age 3-16), must be pre booked
www.sledmerehouse.com
It’s the sixth year of the fantastic Musical Firework Spectacular event – and set to be the best! Discover a spooky side of fireworks with fantastic and terrifying tunes which accompany the big bangs and mesmerising colours to light up the sky with a spectacular spooky twist!
DERBY
Bustler’s Halloween Special!
Bustler Market, The Chocolate Factory
28th October 2021 – 31st October 2021
£1 entry
www.bustlermarket.co.uk/whatson
Delicious street food served up with Horror classic screenings, BOO-tiful Halloween themed cocktails, spooky karaoke, themed decor & fun! An award-winning street food market, which has moved to a new home in a former Chocolate factory – and now billed as Derby’s biggest Beer Garden, Bustler Market showcases a selection of the best street foods and craft drinks the Midlands has to offer in the new garden, which seats up to 300 people.
Dead And Breakfast horror film marathon
Derby QUAD & Cinema
Market Place
30 October 2021
Standard ticket: £25
www.derbyquad.co.uk/DeadAndBreakfastXII
After missing last year due to lockdown, the twelfth edition of all nighter movie marathon Dead And Breakfast is back for 2021! Five films through the night followed by breakfast before bed. Movies confirmed so far include The Shining, Patrick, Profondo Rosso (Deep Red) and Predator.
LINCOLNSHIRE
Spooky Tours at Burghley House
Stamford, Lincolnshire
20-31 October 2021 (excluding Sunday 24 October)
Tickets: £22 each, available online only
www.burghley.co.uk/events/spooky-tours
Spooky lantern-lit tours at one of England’s grandest Elizabethan houses returns with more scary stories and haunting hidden history. Led by a costumed ghostly expert, this year the guided tours will brave the creepiest corners and darkest depths of the grounds at Burghley. Taking place in the Gardens in twilight with low level lighting across uneven surfaces, steps and grass areas, the tours are designed to be scary but fun, and reveal Burghley’s ghostly goings-on across the centuries. Often an early sell-out, there are four tours every night.
Or try…
The Burghley Halloween Trail
16 – 31 October 2021
Gardens admission: £13.50 adult, £9.50 children
Burghley Halloween Trail ghosts will be back haunting the Sculpture Garden for 2021. Tread through the crispy autumn leaves to find the Sculpture Garden ghosts and solve the hidden clues. If you dress up in your spookiest Halloween costume, you’ll receive a sweet treat before you enter! To enter the Halloween Trail, all you need to do is book a Gardens time slot of your choosing and make sure to have a valid House & Gardens or Gardens Only admission ticket. The Garden Shed will be open daily, warm up with a delicious hot chocolate or cup of coffee!
Fear Island
Fantasy Island
Skegness
9 – 31 October 2021, selected dates
Wristbands from £26
www.fantasyislandresort.co.uk/events/fear-island-v/
Fantasy Island in Skegness is set to become Fear Island this Halloween – and promising its spooky celebrations will be bigger and better than ever. Take part in a haphazard paranormal investigation that goes disastrously wrong in ‘The Haunting 2 – Under Investigation’, descend into the blackout of ‘Hellhole’, play a deadly game of cat and mouse in ‘Psycho Vault – Death Game’ and venture beyond the misty bayou into the murderous mansion of serial killer Delpine La Laurie in ‘Killer Villa’…
Pumpkin Trail
Uphill Lincoln
16-31 October 2021
Free
www.visitlincoln.com
Follow a trail of 29 hidden pumpkins and explore Lincoln’s Cathedral Quarter this October half-term to find all the pumpkins hiding in shop windows from The Strait, up Steep Hill and along Bailgate. Answer the clues along the trail for the chance to win prizes for all the family.
PYO Pumpkins
Doddington Hall & Gardens
2-31 October
Free entry
www.doddingtonhall.com/event/pyo-pumpkins/
Take your pick of the Doddington Hall Pumpkin Patch this October and take your pumpkin home to carve up a creepy scene for your doorstep or pick up delicious seasonal recipe ideas from the Farm Shop. Follow the signs to the pumpkin patch via the Kitchen Garden. We recommend wearing wellies as it can get muddy. Halloween fancy dress is encouraged. Patch open 2-31 October, daily 10am-4pm (while stocks last). Free entry, pay for what you pick (cash only). Prices start from £2 dependent on size.
Pumpkin Festival
Rand Farm Park
Near Lincoln
22-31 October 2021
Admission: £12.95 adults and children over two years
https://randfarmpark.com/halloween/
Take part in a host of Halloween inspired activities at the Pumpkin Festival at Rand Farm Park. Each child gets a free pumpkin to carve at the farm and take home, as well as full access to the meet the animals on the farm, the indoor soft play and outdoor play areas, air cannon arena, sky rider, and a tractor ride around the farm.
STAFFORDSHIRE
Scarefest
Alton Towers Resort
8-10 and 15-31 October 2021
www.altontowers.com/explore/events/scarefest
With spooks, frights and thrills for everyone! The Theme Park becomes home to Halloween, remaining open until late so you can enjoy your favourite rides in the dark plus loads of extra entertainment. For spooky young visitors, there are live shows and the famous freaky four to meet, whilst older families will enjoy the scare zone.
Halloween Spook-tacular
National Forest Adventure Farm
16, 17, 23-31 October
Admission: online tickets only, £14.99 adults and children, under 2 free.
www.adventurefarm.co.uk
All the fun of the farm plus a day packed with spooky Halloween fun! Take the pumpkin wagon tractor ride to the pumpkin patch to pick your own, learn to fly a broomstick in an interactive show, join Scare School, visit mad Professor Lewey in his crazy lab, and have a go at pumpkin carving.
Screamfest Resurrected
National Forest Adventure Farm
Various dates in October
Admission: online tickets only, check website for details, early booking discounts
www.screamfest.co.uk
After a year away, Screamfest is back from the dead and returns in 2021. Scares for this year are Creed Farm, Le Theatre Noir, Hillbilly Joe’s Zombee Zoo, Love Hurts and Freakout on Tour, plus there is entertainment including fairground rides, live shows and food and drink.
STOKE-ON-TRENT
Halloween Spooktacular Big Top show
Gandeys Circus
Trentham Estate
13 – 31 October 2021
Tickets from £9.99
https://trentham.co.uk/events/gandeys-circus/
A very special (trick or) treat for Halloween, Gandeys Circus returns with a brand-new action-packed legendary Halloween Spooktacular Big Top show for all the family. An international cast of skeletons, vampires, Jack o’lanterns and not forgetting Circus Artistes, have been brought together for this year’s sensational extravaganza.
Halloween Spooky Steam Specials
Apedale Valley Light Railway
30-31 October 2021
Admission: £3.50 (adults) and £1.50 (children).
https://avlr.org.uk/event/halloween-spooky-specials
Apedale Valley Light Railway, in Staffordshire will be running its popular Spooky Specials again in October. A fun outing, suitable for all ages, the steam trains will run at frequent intervals, finishing at 7.30pm. Wrap up warm and bring a torch!
HAMPSHIRE
October Half Term at Spinnaker Tower
Portsmouth
23- 31 October 2021
Admission: included in standard admission (from £13 adults, £9.85 child)
www.spinnakertower.co.uk
Head to the top of the Tower for a spooky sky-high game of i-spy and watch out for some extra spooky surprises hidden around the tower itself! Brace yourself for a thrilling experience and brave the nerve-jangling glass Sky Walk or just take it easy and enjoy the view from Spinnaker Tower – the stunning 170-metre icon of the South Coast and Britain’s best viewing tower.
Happy Halloween at Paultons Park
From 14 October 2021
Admission: check website for details, limited tickets and must be pre-booked
https://paultonspark.co.uk/halloween/
New land, Tornado Springs, will have a ghostly makeover and Peppa Pig fans will delight in seeing Peppa Pig World transformed for Halloween, including Grandpa Pig’s ‘World’s Biggest Pumpkin’ growing in its greenhouse. Paultons Park’s exclusive show, The Legend of Paultons Manor, will make a grand return this year, while the whole Park will be festooned with thousands of pumpkins and straw hay bales.
Spooky Halloween River Tour
New Forest Activities
From 23 October 2021
Tickets: £34 adult, £25 Child
www.newforestactivities.co.uk/activities/seasonal/
With so much history and stories of resident ghosts, are you brave enough to venture out onto the Beaulieu River at dusk? Head out in illuminated canoes onto the estuary at nightfall on this 90 minute, canoeing tour. Paddle the Beaulieu River’s dark waters by moonlight, stopping along the way to hear ghoulish ghost stories from your night-time guide. Hot chocolate and Halloween candy will be available for everyone taking part. Fancy dress is not essential but encouraged!
Or try…
Canoe Halloween Candy Hunt
Available from October
Tickets: £34 adult, £25 Child
Treat (not trick) your little monsters to some scarily good fun on the Beaulieu River this Halloween. Head out in stable Canadian canoes on the hunt for devilishly delicious Halloween candy along the riverside.
Halloween Ghost Train
Exbury Gardens
2 – 31 October 2021
Tickets: £6.50 (plus gardens admission, £10.50 adult, £4.50 child, 3-15 years). Advance booking required
www.exbury.co.uk/ghost-train
Ride Exbury’s haunted ghost train this October half term for some frightfully entertaining family fun! Spooky characters will captivate children and adults alike in a creepily comedic performance. Starting at Exbury Central Station, our un-dead conductors will guide passengers on a grisly journey through Exbury’s wearisome woodland, festooned with gruesome decorations. Ghoulish characters will be lurking within the copse, and you might even hear some ghastly singing and see some dreadful dancing along the way, before entering our haunted tunnel! Exbury’s Halloween Ghost Train and characters may be a little too scary for some children so parental discretion is advised before booking.
