Halloween Festivals for October

The time of bewitching is almost upon us, with events up and down the country sure to produce screams of ghoulish delight no matter how old you are! Take a look at our top picks below – Happy Halloween!

Halloween with The Wurzels!
Wiltshire, Trowbridge, 31st October

Celebrate Halloween with The Wurzels at Trowbridge Civic Hall, and help raise money for Wallace & Gromits Grand Appeal. Tickets on sale now, £12 each and can be purchased from Trowbridge Information Centre 01225 710535 or from The Civic Hall.

Doors open at 7pm on 31st October 2009, and the supporting act is Monkey See Monkey Do. Over 14s only. Wallace & Gromits Grand Appeal supports The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at St Michaels Hospital, Bristol, and the event is being held in memory of Trowbridge baby Ella who died there last year at just 4 days old.

Halloween Spooktacular
Staffordshire, Shugborough Estate, 31st October
A wizard evening in Mansion House and the Servants Quarters- go dressed up and enjoy the spooky house, ghost train and garden trails, fiendish food and ghoulish gift stalls, witch and wizard face painting, stilt walkers, trick or treating, apple bobbing and more!

Ensure you book tickets early,  Adults £9.00, Children £7.00, Family (2 Adults, up to 3 Children) £26.00, One Adult, One Child £13. Under 5’s free.

Spooky Trail in the Gardens
Somerset, Hestercombe Gardens, Taunton, up until 24th October

Throughout the Half Term School Holiday Hestercombe Gardens will be celebrating Hallowe’en with a spooky trail through the garden for children to follow. The fiendishly clever Estates Team will be full of devilment when they ‘dress’ the Landscape Garden with witches, wizards and ghouls – a scary surprise around every corner! FREE event. Normal garden entry applies.

Haunting Hedingham
Essex, Hedingham Castle, Halstead, 25th- 30th October

If you dare, see the castle in candlelight, tour the dark eerie valley walk and the ghostly dungeons and hear true spine chilling stories. Be prepared to be scared.
Admission & Details: TBC

Mercat Halloween Tours Edinburgh
Edinburgh, October

Mercat Halloween Tours explain: Our favourite time of year is upon us once more – the night of All Hallow’s Eve. Around this time, the spirits are scarier, the vaults are spookier and our guides are more determined than ever to take you on an unforgettable journey into Edinburgh’s Underworld. Each year, thousands come to Mercat Tours at Hallowe’en to join our haunted celebrations.

Hallowe’en Experience
Borders, Traquair House, Innerleithen, Saturday 31st October 

The history of Traquair really will come to life with these spectacular historical ghost tours. No gimmicks here but an authentic retelling of the past! Includes spooky passage experience, Halloween games, tarot readings owls, ghost stories, spooky face painting and prizes for fancy dress!
Telephone 01896 830323 for more information

Air and Scare Halloween
National Museum of Flight, Edinburgh Sat 31 Oct 10:00am–5:00pm

Calling all witches! Broomsticks are, like, ‘so’ last century – come along in your scariest costume for a spooky day of activities and see some ‘real’ flying machines.

Abracadabra
St Mary’s Hall, Biggar, Sunday 25th October,  2:00pm–3:00pm

Children aged 11 and under are invited to bring along their grown-ups for an interactive afternoon show from magician Douglas Cameron. Put on your finest Hallowe’en costume and you’ll be in the running for the Best Dressed prize. ‘Part of Biggar Little Festival’.
Phone 07990 901663, tickets £3

The Great Halloween Puppet Making Workshop
Scottish Mask and Puppet Centre, Kelvindale, Glasgow, Saturday 31st October, 10am and 2pm

Make an extra creepy puppet in the form of a witch, wizard, monster or ghost from the materials supplied. Boo!
Tickets £6.95 (£3.50), 0141 339 6185

Dracula The Panto
Eden’s Court Theatre, Bishops Road, Inverness, 6th and 7th November

A little out of season for Christmas perhaps, but this spoof on the Dracula story may well start a trend of Hallowe’en pantomimes. Ages 8+.
Tickets £8 (£6), call 01463 234234

NWT Halloween Event
Northumberland Wildlife Trust, Thomas Gaughan Community Centre, Walker, 28th October 2009

Join WildPlaces for a spooky Halloween Event for all the family between 15.00 and 19.00. The whole family can help mammals prepare for winter by building hibernation boxes. Bring your own pumpkin along and make a lantern, followed by a batty lantern-lit walk through Walker Riverside Park. This will be followed by a BBQ and fancy dress competition – scariest dressed wins!
Free event.

Northumberland Wildife Trust has received over £139,000 in unrestricted funding from the People’s Postcode Lottery.