There's lots of family fun and spooky adventures to be enjoyed by adults and children alike during October 2024 half term. See our list of events taking place including Halloween activities (if you dare to go!). And don't forget there's a whole host of attractions offering fantastic days out to keep all ages entertained.
'GET ME OUT OF HERE' AT WROXHAM BARNS.
There's a brand new event for October half term at Wroxham Barns! "Get Me Out Of Here" is a creepy twist on the jungle in Wroxham Barns style (25 October to 3 November 2024). Experience bug handling, collect stars in the bushtucker trials and try and complete the maize maze, if you dare! Tickets are inclusive of all activities. Find out more and book. There is also Low Bang Fireworks from 1 to 3 November 2024 and Pumpkin Patch Open Weekends are 12 to 13 and 19 to 20 October 2024. Admission is free for pumpkin picking and you can carve on site.
PUMPKIN FESTIVAL AT PENSTHORPE.
Pop over to Pensthorpe Natural Park (25 October to 3 November 2024) and visit a land of magic and mystery this October half term for Pensthorpe's first ever Pumpkin Festival. Mini witches and wizards can enjoy a whole week of eerie-sistible adventures including creepy woodland trails, scary scarecrows and petrifying pumpkin carving! Choose and carve your own pumpkin. Full paying children’s tickets include a FREE Pumpkin to pick and carve. Find out more and book here.
TWIG OR TREAT AT THE GLORIOUS GLOWING LANTERN PARADE AT BeWILDerwood.
Join BeWILDerwood for a very special twist on Trick or Treating at this year’s Glorious Glowing Lantern Parade. Follow the light trail, spot different doors and say "Twig or Treat" to your favourite characters, and watch a NEW 10 minute Spooktacular show ‘Twig or Treat Tales’. Please note, all children will receive 1 x lantern and 1 x small sweet treat. Play structures will be closed as this is an evening event. Find out more and book.
THE HALLOWEEN GARDEN AT HOLKHAM.
Head to Holkham this Halloween for spooks, thrills, delights and chills in the Walled Garden. Dress up in your strangest outfit and creep through the gardens – there's oodles of spookiness (and a few sweet treats!) to surprise you! Take part in the Chilling Challenges and see how many questions you can answer! Learn about the magical plants grown in the garden and uncover the creatures that live there. Look out for creepy ghosts floating across the lawns and get crafty by making a magic wand from all natural materials. Then write out a bewitching spell to cast with it! (craft materials included.) Stop off and watch the Spooktacular Magic Show featuring Tess the Magical Cat who will enchant and amaze with mind-boggling tricks and spellbinding illusions! Wander up to the pumpkin patch and carve your very own scary pumpkin (£4 per pumpkin). The Original Grinder food truck will be selling hot chocolate, coffee, cold drinks and their delicious cakes and Sin Bin’s dirty loaded donuts and luxury shakes are bound to be a hit. Find out more and book.
DIPPY'S HALLOWEEN DAYS AT ROARR! DINOSAUR ADVENTURE.
It might be half-term, but at ROARR!, the Weston-Smythe School of Dinosaurs and the Undead is in full session! Dippy and friends will be joined by a quirky cast of professors, offering hands-on lessons and fun-filled sessions. Get into the Halloween spirit and meet the original teachers, returning in various forms to instill order, discipline, and a frightfully good education for all our guests at ROARR! Find out more and book.
PRIMEVIL SCARE AT ROARR!
Now in its 15th year, PrimEvil will take place on selected nights between 17 October and 2 November 2024. There will be five terrifying haunts full of scares, twists and turns await those brave enough to enter. There will be a licenced bar for adults and food vendors. The event contains flash lighting and is NOT suitable for under 12s. Find out more.
MUSEUM OF THE BROADS.
There's lots of spooky family fun to be had while discovering some of the stories of Broadland’s ghosts from 24 to 31 October 2024. Did you know St Benet’s Abbey is haunted or that the ghastly, ghostly dog, Black Shuck, patrols the Broads and North Norfolk coast? Find out about these stories and more. Complete the trail and win a prize! But watch out for the Wroxham witches and other spooky characters hidden around the Museum! Meet the storyteller who will tell more ghost stories of the Broads each day and be arty and crafty with Hallowe’en themed makes. Take a boat trip and bring a picnic and enjoy our riverside setting. Dogs most welcome too. Find out more.
BURE VALLEY RAILWAY.
Get on track for half term fun with Bure Valley Railway. This October half term (26 October to 3 November 2024), children go free on Bure Valley Railway with a full return fare paying adult. Start from either Aylsham Station located in the historic market town, or Wroxham Station the home of the Norfolk Broads. Children can also take part in a Halloween themed activity for their journey. The Whilstlestop Café will will also be decorated and Halloween Lunch Boxes will be available to purchase (not included in ticket price). Booking advisable to avoid disappointment. Find out more.
SPOOKY I-SPY ON WELLS & WALSINGHAM LIGHT RAILWAY.
Hop aboard the world's smallest public railway for Spooky I-Spy. See if you can spot the hidden potion ingredients on the line, but watch out for the ghoulish charcaters along the way! The train steams between Wells-next-the-Sea and Walsingham. Enjoy the half-hour trip through beautiful countryside, over and under bridges, passing a hill-fort and chugging through a real ghost platform! Open daily from 25 October to 3 November 2024. Spooky I-Spy covered in ticket cost and under 4s go free. Find out more.
HallowSTEAM AT NORTH NORFOLK RAILWAY.
Head over to North Norfolk Railway between 30 October and 2 November 2024 for four days of STEAM based fun with interactives shows and science experiments hosted by Mad Science! Grab your tickets and climb aboard a historic steam train at either Holt or Sheringham stations and head to Weybourne for Science, Tech, Engineering, Arts and Maths shows and activities hosted by Mad Science. Hop off and cause a locomotion – launch rockets, shoot lightning between your fingertips, experience burning boogies and even be made into a human lightbulb. Tickets include unlimited hop on hop off travel with two different historic trains in action – including a last chance to see visiting Great Western Railway express engine 6880 “Betton Grange”. The locomotive entered service earlier this year; the culmination of a 30 year project to recreate this long-lost type of engine. Enjoy an 11 mile return journey between the delightful Victorian resort of Sheringham and the smart Georgian town of Holt and stop off a Weybourne several times to enjoy the different hands-on activities. Booking in advance secures a generous discount on fares. Find out more and book here.
ANTONY GORMLEY'S TIME HORIZON AT HOUGHTON HALL.
Time Horizon, one of Antony Gormley’s most spectacular large-scale installations, is showing across the grounds and through the house at Houghton Hall in Norfolk up to 31 October 2024. This is the first time this work has been staged in the UK. Featuring 100 life-size sculptures, the works are distributed across 300 acres of the park. The cast-iron sculptures, each weighing 620kg and standing at an average of 191cm, are installed at the same datum level to create a single horizontal plane across the landscape. Some works are buried, allowing only a part of the head to be visible, while others are buried to the chest or knees according to the topography. An incredible sight! Open Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays until 31 October. Children up to age 18 are admitted for free. Find out more here.
A HALLOWEEN HALF TERM AT THE BUG PARC.
Get hands on with creepy crawlies at The Bug Parc during half term. There are many bugs to admire, and even handle with handling tickets! Marvel at hundreds of amazing minibeasts, complete the trails and play in the parks. Find out more.
BONFIRE AND FIREWORKS AT BLAKENEY.
Expect big bangs at the annual end of season firework finale held at Blakeney quayside. There will be food and refreshments, live entertainment, a firework display and a big bonfire. The date is still to be confirmed but will either be Saturday 26 October or plan B is Sunday 27 October (weather dependant). Check out the Blakeney Parish Council website for updates on timings.
AUTUMN MAGIC AND FOLKLORE AT NATIONAL TRUST BLICKLING ESTATE.
Over half term, discover fun for all the family with a variety of activities across the Blickling Estate. Hire bikes or bring your own to enjoy the Autumnal grounds. Pick up a trail sheet from Visitor Welcome and follow the route to discover some of the magical properties of trees in the parkland. Parkland open dawn until dusk, toilets available 9am-5pm. Explore the gardens and find out about the magical properties of trees, plants, herbs and fungi along the way. Play music on the mushrooms and learn how to make your home inviting for fairies and how to stop a witch from stealing your vegetables! Gardens open 10am-5pm, last entry 4.30pm. (Last entry 3.30pm with 4pm closure from 1 November).
Enjoy autumnal spaces inside the hall and see the newly restored Corbridge map on display in the Lower Ante. The Corbridge map of Blickling Estate is the only known historical plan of the estate, dating to 1729. As you walk through the rooms, look out for the hidden pumpkins and discover the legend of Sir Henry Hobart and Blickling’s Black Shuck. House open 11am-4pm, last entry is 3.30pm (Last entry 2.30pm with 3pm closure from 1 November). Here's a summary of what's on:
Autumn Magic and Folklore in the house, garden and parkland: daily until 10 November | Nature wands craft workshop: Monday 28 and Thursday 31 October 11am – 2.30pm | Nature mobiles craft workshop: Tuesday 29 October 11am – 2.30pm | Spooky spokes balance bikes and obstacle course: Wednesday 30 and Thursday 31 October 11am – 3pm | Archery: Friday 1 November 11am – 2.30pm | Bike hire available: Wednesday 30 October to Sunday 3 November, 10am – 4pm.
Standard admission prices apply, no booking required. Free entry for National Trust members. Find out more.
NATIONAL TRUST SHERINGHAM PARK.
Escape into autumn at Sheringham Park and stimulate your senses with everything the season has to offer. Crunch through mounds of leaves, spot wildlife squirreling away food for winter and slurp delicious spiced drinks from the Courtyard Café.
Bug-spot in the Bower Garden or wander through the Wild Garden and discover two viewing towers to climb for view over the canopy filled with vibrant golds, red and oranges. Venture further along the Repton Route and conquer the 115 hillside steps and 60 steps up the Gazebo tower. Breathtaking views await of the landscape and coast beyond. Pick up a free family activity booklet stuffed with fun facts, a colour-spotting challenge, sensory activity and colouring sheet. Book tickets to join a daytime Family Fungi Foray or Family Night Hike on 28 October. Find out more here.
FELBRIGG HALL, GARDENS AND ESTATE.
There’s heaps of Halloween-themed fun to be had at Felbrigg this half term. A glut of giant gourds from the Walled Garden will decorate the grand front door to the Jacobean mansion, where a ghostly photo opportunity awaits visitors… Cross the threshold and follow the Felbrigg Hall-oween Trail, weaving through magnificent rooms stuffed with fun facts, spooky stories and mini ghosts to find. Go up the central staircase and you’ll encounter apparitions made by the Ketton sisters, who lived in the hall during the mid-late 19th century, before their untimely deaths. These startling examples of spirit photography; a favourite pastime of the pair, are on display in the locations in which they were taken. Will you be able to feel the sisters’ presence? Elsewhere, in the library’s book room, marvel at a display of The Weird and the Wonderful – oddities from Felbrigg’s collection that do not normally see the light of day.
Out in the autumn air, notice signs of the season across the 520-acre estate with a free family activity booklet, or head to the Walled Garden to locate hidden carved pumpkins. Book tickets to join the Family Fungi Foray on 29 October – a guided walk and craft activity inspired by the fabulous world of mushrooms and toadstools. Find out more here.
NATIONAL TRUST HORSEY WINDPUMP.
Join the ranger on Wednesday 30 October (10am-2pm) and become a garden bird champion! Find out why garden birds are so important, learn to identify different types, and discover what you can do to help them. Get hands-on by making a fat ball bird feeder that you can take home. Free event, no booking required. Normal car parking charges apply.
Horsey is a hot spot for all kinds of wildlife, so why not pick up a spotter sheet and see what you can discover? Take a close look amongst the trees in the orchard, explore the garden, and make your way to the viewpoint at the edge of Horsey Mere. Free wildlife spotter sheets available daily from visitor welcome. Find out more here.
CREEPY CRUISES ABOARD THE VINTAGE HAUNTSMAN WITH BROADS TOURS.
Broads Tours has a special treat (or trick) for river trip passengers this October half term. The Vintage Broadsman will be transformed into the Vintage Hauntsman, a ghostly river trip boat for Halloween-themed river trips. Featuring spooky commentary with the ghostly tales of the Broads by our River Trip skippers and trick-or-treat activity packs for children. These 1.5 hour trips run at 11am and 2pm from 27 October to 2 November 2024 during half term. Join them if you dare...mwhuahahaha! Book here.
BIG ADVENTURES AT WROXHAM MINIATURE WORLDS.
Visit the UK’s largest indoor modelling attraction, Wroxham Miniature Worlds, stretching over 10,000 square feet and see some of the largest model railways in the world! Admire the different ‘worlds’ of model railways, slot car displays, a whole city made from Lego bricks, model boat displays and a host of toys from across the decades. Enjoy the vintage penny arcade, interactive flight simulators, train simulators and more new railway layouts; some of which you can drive yourself. (Open every day during half term). Find out more.
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