Halloween family fun in Shakespeare Country!
Celebrate Halloween and the October half term from Monday 24 October - Friday 28 October with a host of spooky family events in Shakespeare Country. Carve pumpkins, take part in family fun trails, see puppet shows, learn about spells at Magic School and even learn how to fly a broomstick! For those brave enough you can even hunt for ghosts and take part in séances at a number of historic venues including Castle’s across Shakespeare Country!
Enjoy Spooky Shakespeare at Anne Hathaway’s Cottage. Follow the trail through the woods and find the Shakespeare characters that came to a grisly end with the help of clues. Prizes will be awarded from the ‘Trick or Treat’ cauldron for all correct answers. Visit the Cottage on 30 October at 2:30pm for ‘Something Wicked This Way Comes’ – a children’s puppet show based on scenes from Macbeth. Learn about the plague and pestilence in the Tudor period at Mary Arden’s Farm during its Winter Wake. Take part in scary trails and quizzes, carve your own pumpkin, make a pomander to warn off disease and evil spirit and have your face painted to look like you have the plague! The week will end with a Tudor style burial and wake as the site prepares to close for the winter. Visit Hall’s Croft for Trick or Treatment and find out if you would have survived the plague with a quiz. Take part in a competition to make up a treatment for the plague and then give it a name. Children can also enjoy a spooky trail at Shakespeare’s Birthplace with a weekly prize draw on offer.
Enter Warwick Castle this Halloween at your own peril, as the spirits are unleashed by a discovery set to turn the site into The Haunted Castle. For the first time, Warwick Castle offers attractions designed for over 15s and 18s in addition to catering for the whole family; and from 26 - 29 October the Castle opens until 9pm so guests can delight in the darkness. Over a century ago, Daisy, the Countess of Warwick, hosted weekend retreats attended by Edwardian society, including Edward VII. In re-enacting one of Daisy’s less ribald pleasures, a séance, the Castle’s archivist and para-psychologist unleashed unhappy souls to besiege the towers and ramparts. The ghosts penetrate the Castle, bringing spooky séances (for over 18s) to Secrets and Scandals – with deathly consequences for the gullible guests.
Take part in a Halloween Family Fun Trail at Kenilworth Castle & Elizabethan Garden and discover some spooky secrets and ghastly tales. From Friday 28 - Sunday 30 October join an eerie evening tour around the castle and gatehouse. Hear tales of dark deeds, ghostly apparitions and scary happenings. Time Travellers Go… Ghosts & Ghouls takes place on Saturday 29 & Sunday 30 October when children can scare themselves silly with creepy crafts, spooky activities and ghost hunting galore! Meet the resident ghost hunter who will take you around the grounds on the trail of some spooky sightings.
The Falstaff Experience Tudor World museum is celebrating Halloween in a unique style with 'March of the Plague Doctor'. The museums very own plague Doctor will be marching the streets leading a grizzly procession every day of the half term. There will also be daily shows including Vile Villains and Crime and Punishment and a special Halloween Quiz Trail. During the evening the actions heats up with Grim Reaper Lantern Lit Tours of the building, all night ghost hunts and a town ghost tour.
Celebrate Halloween at The Stratford Halloween Festival at the Creaky Cauldron. Now in its 6th year, the Festival takes place from 1 - 31 October. Enter the Museum of Wizardology and visit Magic School where you can learn how to fly a broomstick, or follow the Halloween trail and learn the spooky origins of this magical Festival. Try your hand at pumpkin carving, or write a “Happy Hallo Wish” and tie it to the Halloween Wishing Tree or be spooked by the eerie rooms and creepy corridors of the Enchanted Manor. Rated as one of the top Halloween experiences in the country, the Victorian Imagiscarium is reaching new heights this year with seven different tales of terror, one for every night of the week. All this and overnight ghost hunts too!
Visit Ragley Hall for a Spook-tacular half term with the House decorated for Halloween and spooky storytelling in the Library. Enjoy face-painting, pumpkin carving and all the usual attractions including the Adventure Playground, Gardens & Woodland Walk.
Visit Shakespeare-Country.co.uk for accommodation, special offers and more information.
