Western Lake District lays on Halloween happenings

A hootin’ tootin’ half-term of fun is ensured in the Western Lake District this year, if families visit two of the country's top Halloween haunts, each nestling in the spooky shadows cast by England’s tallest mountains and fells. It will most certainly be a hoot to visit Muncaster Castle, where families can ‘owl with delight and also cast a little more light on some spooktacular goings on.

The World Owl Headquarters are housed at this fabulous stately home with more than a few connections with ghosts and ghouls. By day, visitors can meet the owls, wind through the maze, enter the ghostly grotto and enjoy magic shows, or alternatively tap in to Muncaster’s ten years of paranormal research. Special ghost tours, not for the faint-hearted, are running every evening, on a pre-booked basis only.

The Darkest Muncaster Experience is also available during the dark evenings of half term and beyond, on certain dates right up to December 30. This is a real voyage of adventure for families, who can first walk beside a mile-long illuminated trail of lights, twinkling like stars, twisting and contorting the shadows and providing either sheer beauty, or eerie aspects, according to your imagination!

Rippling around the Ghyll below the castle and across its front face, these lights create a unique sensory experience that makes evening entry into Muncaster a real must-do for those wrapped up warm and ready for adventure.

Daytime admission for castle, gardens, owls and maze costs £10 for an adult, £7 for a child and £29 for two adults and two children. Admission to gardens, owl centre and maze alone costs £7.50, £5.50 ad £24.00 respectively. Darkest Muncaster admission for the evening lights extravaganza costs £5.50 for an adult, £3 for a child, or £15 for a family. Visit muncaster.co.uk for more details.

Those close by the spooky castle on October 31 and November 1 and 2 might just hear the rattling of ghost trains on the rails of the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway.

This year, the railway is satisfying a ravenous appetite for its wickedly bewitched brew of Halloween delights by laying on an extra train each evening.

As dusk falls and the clouds of steam arising from the engine obscure the view, all manner of spooky things may be viewed from the windows of the ghostly carriages, decorated to heighten the true spirit of the occasion and bring cackles of delight.

As one train departs, another will follow in its scary shadow just twenty minutes later, with passengers on both catching glimpses of some fiendishly ghoulish looking ghosts at locations along the line such as Irton Road and The Green, at Eskdale Village.
On arrival at Dalegarth, the very brave and hungry can choose to purchase some of the concoctions of Dragonius Soupus - a witch with a finger in every pie and hearty helpings of terrifically good stews a-bubbling on her stove.

With all these ghoulish goings-on, children may even forget to investigate their free gift, included in the ticket price of £12 for adults and £6 for children aged over five. With only 100 passengers per train, you simply must pre-book if you want to set your nerves jangling this half term. For more information visit ravenglass-railway.co.uk

More information on where to stay in the Western Lake District if you enjoy the day’s out fun more than you ex-spectred visit western-lakedistrict.co.uk.