Three pumpkin fields, an indoor pumpkin barn, gory stories in a castle keep and a trail of homemade scarecrows. Here's Halloween 2026 in Northumberland, what it costs, and which bits you'll miss if you wait for half term.
The main pick-your-own pumpkin patches in Northumberland for 2026 are Brocksbushes near Stocksfield (3 to 4 and 10 to 11 October, then daily 16 to 31 October, £3.50 a head, book online), Broxfield Farm near Alnwick (weekends 10 to 25 October) and Oxford Farm near Berwick (weekends from 10 October plus 26 to 28 October), with an indoor patch at Whitehouse Farm Centre near Morpeth. For October half term (24 October to 1 November) the best Halloween trails are at Belsay Hall, Bamburgh Castle, Seaton Delaval Hall, Lilidorei at The Alnwick Garden and the free Scarycrow Trail at Ford and Etal.
Checked 29 September 2026. Dates and prices change, so the organiser's link is the one to trust.
Type pumpkin patch Northumberland into your phone in late September and Google mostly sends you to Newcastle. Fair enough, Newcastle does Halloween well. But this county has its own pumpkin fields, an indoor pumpkin barn, a castle keep full of gory stories and three border villages that fill their verges with homemade scarecrows every half term. Here's the Northumberland-only list for 2026, with prices where they're published and a plain "not announced yet" where they aren't.
First, before anyone gets promised Hogwarts: Alnwick Castle shuts before half term. Its FAQ gives the last day as Thursday 22 October 2026 (another of its own pages says the 20th), and schools don't break up until Friday 23 October. The Alnwick Garden next door stays open, and that's where Alnwick's Halloween happens.
Three field patches and one indoor one, all opening on different days, and only two still going on Halloween itself. Pumpkins are heavy, October fields are muddy, and a six year old will carry the biggest one exactly ten metres before handing it to you. Wellies, then.
The big one, and the only field patch open every day of half term. Tickets are booked online (£3.50 per person aged 3 and over, or £12 for up to five) and the pumpkins you pick cost extra. There's a prize hunt, a carving tent (kits extra), fairground rides, face painting, marshmallow toasting and food vans doing wood-fired pizza and churros. The Play Barn isn't included.
Handy extras: late opening until 8pm on Fridays 16 and 23 October, so you get dusk in the field without wrecking bedtime; toddler days Monday 19 to Thursday 22 October, 10am to 2pm, with a Baby Brocks patch; and dog sessions on 10 and 11 October and Wednesdays 21 and 28 October. It's 10 minutes from Hexham and 30 from Newcastle, so book early.
The answer to "pumpkin patch near Alnwick": a farm patch (NE66 3RQ) open three weekends, 10 and 11, 17 and 18, and 24 and 25 October 2026. Visit Northumberland lists parking and toilets and calls it pet friendly; news goes out on the farm's Facebook page.
2026 times and prices aren't out. As a guide only, in 2024 it opened 10am to 3pm, charged £5 a head (under 1s free) on arrival with no booking, and had wheelbarrows, a bouncy castle and tractor rides with the farmer. The last day is Sunday 25 October, so don't leave it until Halloween.
The northern option, just off the A1 on the Berwick to Wooler road (TD15 2TA). Visit Northumberland lists it on the weekends of 10 and 11, 17 and 18, and 24 and 25 October 2026, then Monday 26 to Wednesday 28 October, with parking, toilets and a café.
No 2026 times or prices yet. For past years only: the 2024 listing said 10am to 3pm with no pre-booking and free parking, and in 2023 pumpkins started at £1.
The rain-proof choice, because the patch is indoors. Each full-paying child picks one free pumpkin, and the ticket covers pirate games, the Magic Merlin show, witches school, fancy dress, a carving station and the rest of the farm park. Dates: 10, 11 and 16 to 18 October, then daily 23 to 31 October 2026.
Online it's £18.50 per child (2 to 16), £16.95 per adult, or £64.95 for a family of four; under 2s are free with a paying child. Tickets aren't refundable, but you can move your date free up to six hours before, which in a Northumberland October is worth a lot. The Walkway of Terror (doll room, clown house, graveyard) comes with no scare rating, so scout it before sending in a jumpy four year old. There's a Tots Pumpkin Party on 13 to 15 and 20 to 22 October too.
The Pumpkin Garden at The Alnwick Garden isn't pick-your-own, by the way. It's a scavenger hunt round the garden, free with Garden entry.
Northumberland has more castles than it knows what to do with, and in half term a few lean right in. None of these charge extra for the Halloween bit, which makes the membership card in the glovebox look like a bargain.
Lilidorei is the garden's play village (they say its Elfwin Drin is the world's largest play structure), and from 10 October to 1 November 2026 it becomes Spookydorei. By day you pick the Spooky or the Not so Spooky trail, hear the Storyteller, and can buy a trick or treat bag for the riddle stops. Until 23 October it's 10am to 5pm but Lilidorei opens Wednesday to Sunday only; in half term it's daily, 10am to 4pm. The Pumpkin Garden hunt runs in the main garden on the same dates.
Spookydorei Nights, Friday 23 to Saturday 31 October, 5pm to 9pm, warns of mild jump scares and is pitched at 11 to 15 year olds. Big kids, not toddlers.
October prices: Lilidorei only is £16.65 for adults and children 3 to 16 alike (£18.35 with Gift Aid). Garden only is £17.90 per adult with up to four children free. Under 3s are free.
English Heritage's half-term Halloween, Saturday 24 October to Sunday 1 November 2026, 10am to 4pm: storytelling, spooky games, a themed trail, a selfie spot and a daily fancy dress competition with prizes. It's included with admission, free for members, and 15% cheaper booked online by midnight the day before. Prices change by date, so pick your day on EH's booking page.
This is the family castle day I'd pick first: flat paths, a play area by the café, then the quarry garden walk that ends at a real 14th century tower.
Jim the storyteller does the grisliest ways people have met their maker in the Keep Hall on 24, 25, 30 and 31 October 2026, at 11.15am and 2.15pm. The castle warns it contains mild horror and may be too much for younger or sensitive children, which for a certain kind of seven year old is the entire selling point. There are steps up to the Keep.
Also included with a castle ticket: drop-in Halloween clay modelling on 24, 25 and 31 October and 1 November, a gruesome old-medicine show called The Doctor Will See You Now on 26 and 29 October, and a short All Stars Choir set at 12.30pm on Halloween.
The National Trust turns the Basement and Stables into a trail of ghostly legends, wicked witches and giant spiders from Saturday 24 October to Sunday 1 November 2026, 11am to 4.30pm, with costumes and imaginative play on the West Wing stage. The trail is free with normal admission and you don't need to book. It's mostly under a roof, which matters at Seaton Sluice in late October, when the rain comes in off the sea sideways.
A rule every parent learns eventually: "not too scary" means something very different to a six year old and to the fourteen year old who's been sent to look after them. Read the organiser's warning, then believe it.
My pick for value. From Monday 26 October to Sunday 1 November 2026, people and businesses in Ford, Etal and Heatherslaw put out homemade scarecrows. You grab a map and score sheet from a village shop (or download it the week before), then hand it back so they can crown Scarycrow 2026. It's been going over 19 years and it's free, with a donation for the map going to a local charity.
Most of it is walkable, a few bits you'll drive between, and it's best in daylight, which after the clocks go back runs out at about half four. Sunday 1 November is also the Heatherslaw Light Railway's last day of the season (£12.50 adult return, £6 child), so that's a canny day out.
Northumberland Wildlife Trust hides 12 pumpkins in the woods round the giant landform lady, Monday 26 October to Sunday 1 November 2026, 10am to 3pm, £3 per child. It's for ages 3 to 10, the map comes when you book, and there's a treat from the café at the end. On Saturday 31 October storyteller Jim Grant does Mystical Halloween Stories at 11am and 1pm (£3 per child), and there's a Halloween Nature Celebration at 10.30am on Friday 30 October.
Forestry England's 1.5 mile Room on the Broom trail from Kielder Castle gets cauldrons all through October: solve the clues, finish the crossword, earn a sticker. The Halloween sheet is £1.50, or free with the £4 trail pack, which Visit Northumberland says you buy from Team Cycles. The gravel path suits pushchairs apart from one short steep bit. Kielder is a long way from anywhere, and the castle building and café are still closed for renovation, so pack the flask.
Pumpkins hidden in shadowy corners of the museum and the old colliery buildings, Wednesday 14 October to Sunday 1 November, 10am to 4pm, with a sweet at the Welcome desk for a finished sheet. Under 18s get in free and adults pay for an annual pass (£11, concessions £10), so it's a cheap wet-afternoon hour. Woodhorn usually opens Wednesday to Sunday, but daily in Northumberland school holidays.
Count the skulls hidden round the galleries and hand in your sheet for a reward, Saturday 10 October to Sunday 1 November, 10am to 4pm, included with admission. There's a drop-in Make a Groaning Ghost craft on the same dates. On Halloween morning, 11am to 1pm, the artist Jonny Hannah runs a free Spook Night poster workshop at the Moot Hall, making wanted posters for the Hexham Heads, the carved stone heads found in a Hexham garden in 1971 (booking needed).
Two and a half hours of spooky woodland play for children up to 10, on Tuesday 27 and Saturday 31 October, 10am to 12.30pm, £14 per child: crafts, campfire stories, Scotch pancakes toasted over the fire, and a treat for anyone in costume. Adults stay throughout. Meet at the Chillingham Wild Cattle Pavilion (NE66 5NP) and walk in together. Wellies, waterproofs, and a costume they can still climb in.
Halloween is the last Saturday of half term this year and the sun sets at about half past four, so the evening stuff starts early.
Hexham Town Council's annual Spook Night takes over Beaumont Street on Saturday 31 October 2026, 2pm to 9pm, with rides, competitions and fun for all the family. The council lists no prices or road closures, so ring 01434 609575 if that matters. Do the Old Gaol skull trail in the morning and the day's sorted.
Blyth does the most for nothing. Free drop-in crafts at the Market Pavilion (NE24 1BW), Tuesday 27 to Saturday 31 October, 10am to 4pm, build a giant spooky creation over the week, and there's a parade in the Market Place on Friday 30 October at 3pm. On Halloween, Mermaid Car Park by the beach gets a funfair, food stalls and a spooky disco from 4pm, a low-noise firework display at 6pm for little ones and anyone who hates bangs, and the full display at 7.30pm. All free.
The catch: the car park closes completely at 4pm, there's no parking on site, and the council asks you not to park on verges or residential streets. Get the bus if you possibly can.
Steam-hauled trains out of Lionheart Station on Saturday 31 October and Sunday 1 November, with a bat trail and, in the railway's own words, "spookily things going on". Departures at 11am, 12.15pm, 1.45pm and 3pm. Normal fares: £12.50 adult return, £6 child (4 to 15), £33 for two adults and two children. You can buy on the day, but seats aren't guaranteed.
Grown-ups without children in tow have fewer choices, but they're proper ones.
Chillingham makes a lot of its ghosts, and charges for meeting them. Ghost hunts start at 8.30pm, last four hours, cost £50 a head, are over 18s only and are booked by phone on 01668 215 359. No drinking beforehand; they're firm on that. No Halloween dates are published, and Historic Houses says the daytime season ends on 1 November.
A small Amble museum built round objects and the stories behind them. On Thursday 29 October at 7pm there's spooky candle making (£45) and a two-hour Amble ghost walk from the Memorial Clock Tower, and on Halloween night a paranormal investigation runs from 7pm to 2am. Twilight Tales tours take six people at most, and there are family spell jar workshops on 20 and 27 October at 5pm.
If it chucks it down, Whitehouse's patch is indoors, Seaton Delaval's trail is in the basement, Bamburgh's Gory Stories are in the Keep Hall and Woodhorn is a museum. The field patches are, well, fields.
What's on this weekend The short list for the coming Saturday and Sunday, checked every week. →
See what's on in The Northumbrian AlmanacFree, two short emails a week, and you choose which. Read the latest one first.
No spam, no ads. Unsubscribe from any email with one click. Privacy
Hexham Spook Night 2026 is on Saturday 31 October, 2pm to 9pm, on Beaumont Street, run by Hexham Town Council. It has rides and competitions; the council hasn't listed any prices.
A Lilidorei-only ticket is £16.65 per person in October (adults and children 3 to 16 pay the same, under 3s free), so a family of four pays £66.60 plus £3.75 parking. It's worth it if your children are the age to climb and run for a few hours; if not, a Garden-only ticket (£17.90 per adult, up to four children free) includes the Pumpkin Garden hunt.
Under 3s go free, and Spookydorei Days has a Not so Spooky trail, so a toddler can come along in the daytime at no cost. Skip Spookydorei Nights (23 to 31 October), which has mild jump scares and is pitched at 11 to 15 year olds.
At some patches. Brocksbushes allows dogs on leads only on its dog sessions (10 and 11 October, and Wednesdays 21 and 28 October), and Broxfield Farm near Alnwick is listed as pet friendly. Whitehouse Farm Centre and Oxford Farm don't say, so ask first.
Yes, until Thursday 22 October 2026, according to the castle's FAQ (another of its pages says 20 October). It is closed for the whole of October half term, 24 October to 1 November, and reopens at the end of March 2027.
Pumpkin patches open from 3 October at Brocksbushes and from 10 October at Broxfield, Oxford Farm and Whitehouse, and the Alwinton Show is on Saturday 10 October. Half term (24 October to 1 November) brings Halloween trails at Belsay, Bamburgh, Seaton Delaval, Lilidorei and Ford and Etal, and Halloween night has Hexham Spook Night and free fireworks at Blyth.
Broxfield Farm (NE66 3RQ) runs the Alnwick Pumpkin Patch on the weekends of 10 and 11, 17 and 18, and 24 and 25 October 2026. The Alnwick Garden's Pumpkin Garden (10 October to 1 November) is a scavenger hunt rather than pick-your-own.
Yes: Brocksbushes Farm at Stocksfield (NE43 7UB), about 10 minutes from Hexham, opens on 3 and 4 and 10 and 11 October, then daily from 16 to 31 October. Tickets are £3.50 per person aged 3 and over, or £12 for up to five, booked online.
Facts checked against 37 pages on Tuesday 29 September 2026. Opening times and prices change, so confirm with the venue.
