Looking for an event to feature? Here’s our pick of the best events coming up in October. As ever, please check individual websites for the latest details.
Discover more…
There’s plenty more to experience, for details on the full range of events check out each destination’s What’s On pages:
Halloween hoots
‘Tis the month for spooky scares and freaky fun, so check out our round-up of some top haunting Halloween events here.
Pumpkin picking… find your favourite patch
Pumpkins are an essential part of the Halloween experience; and they’re even more fun when you pick your own. So, for anyone planning to carve them into spooky faces, paint them in pastel colours, artfully decorate a home with them or transform them into the perfectly spiced pumpkin pie, here are some top pumpkin picking spots including in East Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Staffordshire and Hampshire.
A banger of an event is back for its 20th year
Celebrating the county’s most iconic export, the grounds of Lincoln Castle will be filled with stalls on 12 October as visitors tuck into more than 30,000 individual sausages. With live entertainment from the Cosmic Sausages, Mr & Mrs Sausage and cookery demonstrations, and £2 for adults, it’s no surprise that Lincoln Sausage Festival is one of the region’s top foodie events. And if you missed out on the event, there’s plenty of places to savour this tasty county favourite all year round, including Mountain’s Boston Sausage.
Full steam ahead into autumn
Following the success of its Spring Gala, Hampshire heritage railway The Watercress Line is staging a three day ‘steam’ packed Autumn spectacular (4-6 October) featuring rides behind a range of visiting locomotives as well as its home-fleet. Along with a chance to explore stations along the 10-mile line, there will also be driver experiences and behind the scenes tours. Tickets booked in advance online cost £35 for adults and £18.50 children.
Fair’s fair when it comes to fun in Hull
One of Europe’s largest and oldest travelling funfairs, dating back to the 13th Century, is back in Hull this October. Offering its usual mix of fairground favourites, food stalls, children’s rides and thrilling sky-high attractions, Hull Fair returns to the city from 4 – 12 October (excluding Sunday). A city car park will once more be transformed into a venue for around 300 rides and attractions for the fair, which was first granted a charter in 1278.
A ‘wheely’ good time in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire
The Trentham Estate, on the edge of Stoke-on-Trent, already offers one of the UK’s most diverse days out, and now visitors are set for a bird’s eye view of the award-winning family attraction. From 12 October, until 9 November, the Trentham Ferris Wheel will provide breath-taking views across the Estate and beyond. Tickets cost £7 per person, £4 children (under 14 years).
Back to the 1940s for Churchill 150
A Lincolnshire hidden gem’s rarely opened staterooms and gardens will be the setting for a 1940s Open House, and a chance to mark the 150th anniversary of Sir Winston Churchill’s birth. Harlaxton Manor, constructed in 1830, will stage the event on 26 October with live singers, dancers and re-enactments. Also on display will be a Meeting Winston Churchill exhibition featuring highlights from one of this country’s biggest private collections of Churchilliana, on loan to Harlaxton. Tickets cost £15 adults and £8.50 children (2-16 years).
A star studded after dark experience
There’s a family astro adventure on offer at Winchester Science Centre to discover the stars and planets of the night sky, live! This special evening event, Night Sky Live on 24 October begins in the Planetarium where visitors will learn how to identify what’s above them before heading outside for a hosted stargazing experience. There will also be time to explore the two floors of hands-on interactive exhibits at the Hampshire astronomical attraction on the edge of the South Downs National Park. Tickets cost £15 for adults and £10 children.
Sausages, pretzels and beer…
This October, visitors to East Yorkshire can experience a traditional Oktoberfest as Beverley Racecourse is transformed for one weekend into a traditional Bavarian bash with authentic Oktoberfest music, steins, food and huge bench seating. From traditional German folk music to ‘Oompop’ from internationally renowned bands, Oktoberfest Beverley (18 – 19 October) will boast foot stomping, dancing and hearty singing galore. Tickets from £20 per person.
Staffordshire is steaming this autumn
Britain’s most complete Victorian Pumping Station, Claymills in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, will be on show in all its glory during a Steaming Weekend on 26 and 27 October. Only raising steam seven times a year, the event provides an opportunity to see the 30ft Lancashire boilers in full flow. The steam drives the Victorian workshop, all four of the five-storey-high beam engines that that once pumped sewage and brewery waste away from Burton, more than 20 other smaller ancillary stationary engines, working dynamos – which are the oldest in the country – and even heats the water in the Victorian bathhouse. Admission costs £10 adults, £9 concessions £9, with children 15 and under free entry.
