Aquarium lays on spine-tingling activities for half term

Lake District visitor attraction, Lakes Aquarium, has a frighteningly good array of activities lined up for October half term week, when children can get up close and personal with creatures, give themselves a few scary moments and also enjoy a ‘Wondrous Witchy Wednesday’ with a children’s author.

From Monday October 28 to Sunday November 3, Lakes Aquarium has its hugely popular ‘Witches and Wizards Week’, which gets to the heart of the Halloween mood in very many ways.

Children can meet owls on most days, handle a variety of fairly scary creatures, from snakes to giant snails, and dare each other to put their hands into touchy feely boxes to identify the hidden object inside.

They can also enjoy bat craft and a runes quiz trail and tuck in to some appetising crunchy crickets and barbecue mealworms, if they take up a bug eating challenge set twice a day.

On Wednesday, October 30, children’s author Gianna Hartwright is bringing her new witchy book, The Befana Drama, to Lakes Aquarium and signing copies of it for those wishing to buy a copy or bring their existing copy along. There will also be Befana Drama word squares and giveaways to take home and the book will cost £8 instead of £8.99 for a signed copy.

The book follows the exploits of the Befana witch from Italy, who becomes a rejuvenated ‘Bef’ and embarks on a global adventure by broomstick, to retain the hearts of Italian children and prevent her precious festival from being downsized. In so doing, she encounters friends and foe and larger-than-life characters and spreads much mirth, magic and mayhem as she travels across the world to face Santa and his vain wife, Capriccia, in Lapland.

From October 28 to November 1, the Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway will be running their Ghost Train with its haunted carriage and pulling up right outside Lakes Aquarium. Children can complete the ‘Ghoul Trail’ while riding to Lakeside and can then visit the Aquarium for more Halloween fun, to make it a great day out that is easy to arrange. Combined, great value-for-money tickets for both attractions will be on sale and children with a combined ticket and in fancy dress will get free entry to the Aquarium.

Lakes Aquarium’s Susan Milby says: “This is an action-packed Halloween week of fun and fear and children should already be getting a tingle down the spine at the very thought of it. We hope to welcome as many families as possible and help them stay warm and dry while getting in the mood of Halloween in a very big way”.

For more information, visit lakesaquarium.co.uk.