Halloween has crept up on us again. The supermarket aisles have been orange since roughly August, and half-term (26–30 October) is now close enough that it's worth getting a plan together — especially as a few of the best bits are already selling out.
So we've rounded up what's on in and around Wycombe this year, from pumpkin picking out in the Chilterns to an after-dark ghost hunt at the museum.
Some of it's free, most of it's aimed at little ones, and there's one for the 16+ crowd who actually want to be scared. Nearly everything needs booking, so don't leave it too late!
🦇 Halloween at the Hellfire Caves
📍 Where: Hellfire Caves, West Wycombe
📅 When: 18th October - 1st November
⏰ Time: 10am-4pm
💷 Cost: £9.50 (adults); £8 (under 16s)
👶 Age: All ages
The caves were made for Halloween, and they go all out at this time of year. As well as General Admission (see details) above, they've also got some special events on:
👻 Spooky Walks (all ages, family friendly) on 24th and 28th-31st October at 4pm
😈 Haunted Hellfire Club Fright Nights (16+) on 24th and 28th-31st October from 6-9.45pm.
🦸 Halloween at Adams Park
📍 Where: Adams Park, Wycombe Wanderers
📅 When: Wednesday 28 October
⏰ Time: From 11am, with film screenings at 12pm and 4pm
💷 Cost: Film £2 per person. Pumpkin carving £5 extra (pre-book). Arts, crafts and apple bobbing £5 extra
👶 Age: Families. There’s a SEN-friendly session in the morning
Wycombe Wanderers and the Foundation are turning the stadium into a half-term Halloween afternoon. There’s pumpkin carving, arts and crafts and apple bobbing, plus a screening of the 2002 Scooby-Doo film on the giant screen in the fanzone.
The timetable:
🧡 11am: SEN-friendly activities begin in the Caledonian Suite
🎬 12pm: SEN-friendly screening in the fanzone
🎨 3pm: Activities resume in the Caledonian Suite and fanzone
🍿 4pm: Family screening in the fanzone
Pumpkin carving has to be booked in advance. Arts and crafts and apple bobbing can be booked ahead or bought on the day.
Book pumpkin carving · Book arts, crafts and apple bobbing
🎃 Pumpkin picking at Peterley Manor Farm
📍 Where: Peterley Manor Farm, Great Missenden (HP16 0HH)📅 When: Every weekend in October from 3 October, plus daily 27–31 October
⏰ Time: During farm opening hours (check the website before you go)
💷 Cost: Free entry — you just pay for the pumpkins you pick👶 Age: All ages
Peterley grows around 15,000 pumpkins, so you're not going to run short of choice. There's no need to book: turn up, grab a wheelbarrow and head into the patch. Parking's free, dogs on leads are welcome, and there's face painting (extra cost), photo spots and food vans on the go. If you fancy lunch in the Barn Kitchen afterwards, book a table ahead — it fills up fast on pumpkin weekends.
🐐 Pumpkin Festival at Odds Farm Park
📍 Where: Odds Farm Park, Wooburn Common (HP10 0LX)
📅 When: Weekends in October, plus daily 24 October – 1 November
⏰ Time: 10am–5.30pm (last entry 4.30pm). Pumpkin Family Nights on Saturday 10 and Saturday 24 October, 4.30pm–8.30pm
💷 Cost: Child tickets from £3 online; pumpkin carving £3 extra per child
👶 Age: All ages
Odds is a safe bet for a full day out. Every paying child gets a free small pumpkin from the patch, and there's a carving station if you'd rather leave the mess at the farm (carving finishes before closing, so don't leave it too late in the day). On top of the Halloween bits you get the usual Odds favourites: the animal barn, soft play, tractor rides and acres of outdoor play. The two Pumpkin Family Nights are the only chance to see the place after dark this season.
🎨 Halloween crafts at The Walled Garden
📍 Where: The Walled Garden, West Wycombe
📅 When: Monday 26 – Friday 30 October
⏰ Time: Most days have a 9.30am and a 3pm session
💷 Cost: Varies
👶 Age: Family workshops for all ages
Easely Does It are running a different family craft workshop almost every session over half-term, all with an autumn or Halloween theme. There's Owl Post, Forest Phantom, Haunted House, Magic Potion, Little Boo, Fairy Cottage, Make Your Own Mini Witch, Plush Pumpkins and a Winnie Whiskers watercolour. For older kids there's also a hand-building clay workshop on Monday 26 October where they make a spooky ghost tealight. Each workshop is booked separately, so pick the theme your lot will like best.
🎨 Kids Autumn Crafting at Patch
📍 Where: Patch, Queen Victoria Road
📅 When: Thursday 29th October
⏰ Time: Sessions at 10:30am and 1pm, each 1 hour 15 minutes
💷 Cost: £12 per child, £10 for each additional sibling
👶 Age: 6+
Children make their own pumpkins from card, beads and wool, with simpler and trickier versions depending on age and confidence. A parent or carer has to stay for the whole session. You can wait at Django’s coffee house, right next to the crafting room.
👻 Halloween Ghost Hunt at Wycombe Museum
📍 Where: Wycombe Museum, Priory Avenue
📅 When: Sunday 25 October
⏰ Time: 2pm–6pm, in timed slots lasting about an hour
💷 Cost: £7 per child; adults go free
👶 Age: 4–11 (younger ones welcome with a grown-up's help)
The museum's Halloween afternoon is always a good one. Kids come in costume for ghoulish games and creepy crafts, with the event running across the museum and out into the gardens as it gets dark. Children need an adult with them, but grown-ups don't need a ticket.
🎃 Pumpkin-Fest at The Walled Garden
📍 Where: The Walled Garden, West Wycombe (HP14 3AP)
📅 When: 17 October – 1 November
⏰ Time: Timed 30-minute entry slots, then stay as long as you like
💷 Cost: From £4.50 (child); pumpkins are extra
👶 Age: All ages, aimed at under-12s
Now in its fourth year, Pumpkin-Fest turns the Walled Garden into a proper pumpkin patch with the Chiltern Hills as a backdrop. Your ticket gets you into the patch along with printed photo booth snaps, a pumpkin bingo sheet and more than ten photo spots. At weekends there's face painting, Albert's coffee truck parked up in the patch and the Pumpkin Patch People wandering about, while the café is doing pumpkin soup, spiced lattes and cinnamon doughnuts. Dogs on leads are welcome. Book ahead — walk-ins aren't guaranteed.
🌸 Messy play and Junior Farmers at Rosie's Petal Patch
📍 Where: Rosie's Petal Patch, The Walled Garden
📅 When: Mini Pumpkins on Thursday 15 and Saturday 24 October; Junior Farmers Halloween sessions on 27, 29, 30 and 31 October; adults' Flower Workshop on Friday 30 October (evening)
💷 Cost: Varies per activity
👶 Age: Mini Pumpkins and Junior Farmers are for little ones; the Flower Workshop is adults only
Rosie's Petal Patch has a run of messy play sessions for little ones this autumn. Mini Pumpkins is extra-messy play with a pumpkin twist. Over half-term the 90-minute Junior Farmers sessions each get a Halloween extra: spooky potion making on the 27th, bird feeders made from local tallow, bird seed and pumpkin seeds on the 29th, and a Halloween treasure hunt with a treat at the end on the 30th and 31st. Grown-ups get their turn on the evening of Friday 30 October — an adults-only flower workshop with cocktails and pumpkins.
🦇 Film Club: Dracula (1958) at Patch
📍 Where: Patch, Queen Victoria Road, HP11 1BG
📅 When: Sunday 1 November
⏰ Time: 6:15pm to 8:30pm, film starts 6:30pm
💷 Cost: From £9
👶 Age: 12+
One for the grown-ups and older teens. Film Club’s Halloween screening is the 1958 Hammer Dracula, followed by a talk with fun facts, the film’s influence on horror and some behind-the-scenes stories.
🧪 Halloween workshops at Hughenden
📍 Where: Hughenden (National Trust)
📅 When: Family Painting Workshops on selected dates 24–31 October; Plush Pumpkins on Sunday 25 October; Potion Workshops on selected dates 26–30 October; Pumpkin Wooden Lantern craft on 28–29 October
⏰ Time: Varies
💷 Cost: Varies
👶 Age: Potion, lantern and painting workshops for families and younger children
There's a workshop most days over half-term, and each one is booked separately. Potion Workshops are the spooky option, while the Pumpkin Wooden Lantern session is a shorter hour for little crafters getting ready for Halloween. Easely Does It is running family acrylic painting sessions, with each person taking home their own canvas. Plush Pumpkins on the Sunday is all velvets and bouclé, making fabric pumpkins to keep for the autumn.
🧑🌾 Little Farmers: Pumpkin Edition
📍 Where: The Dutch Barn, Peterley Manor Farm
📅 When: Weekends 10–31 October, plus daily 27–31 October
⏰ Time: Four 75-minute sessions a day
💷 Cost: £10.10 (kids) & £4.60 (adults); under-1s go free
👶 Age: Walking age to 7 (older siblings up to 10 welcome)
Peterley's Little Farmers usually sells out, and this October it's had a spooky makeover. Think messy trays, mud kitchens, water play and Halloween crafts, mostly made from natural or recycled bits and spread across the Dutch Barn and outside. The best part? You don't have to clear up. Dress them in something you don't mind getting painted — the barn isn't heated and there are no overalls. Booking is essential, grown-ups stay for the whole session and a few slots have already gone. There are SEND sessions on 18 and 28 October too.
🏃 Run the Patch: 5K & Family Pumpkin Run
📍 Where: Peterley Manor Farm
📅 When: Wednesday 28 October
⏰ Time: 8am start
💷 Cost: £22 (adults); £10 (under 13s)
👶 Age: 5K for adults, 2K fun run for children
An early start, but a good one. The 5K route loops round the farm and right through the pumpkin patch, and there's a 2K children's fun run so the whole family can get involved. Everyone who finishes gets a T-shirt, a pumpkin and a pumpkin medal. Money raised goes to Nepal Run, which is funding a running track in Nepal.
🎃 Pumpkin Hunt Trail at Wycombe Museum
📍 Where: Wycombe Museum, Priory Avenue
📅 When: Sunday 11 October – Sunday 1 November (the museum is closed on Mondays and Saturdays)
⏰ Time: 10am–4pm
💷 Cost: £3.15 per child, including a sweet treat prize
👶 Age: 3–11 (smaller ones welcome with a bit of help from a grown-up)
A gentle one for younger kids. Multicoloured pumpkins are hidden around the museum and gardens — find them all, solve the puzzle and claim a sweet treat. You can drop in on the day or pre-book, and a pre-booked ticket works on any day the trail is running. Just show your confirmation email at the front desk. If you're heading to the Ghost Hunt on 25 October, it's an easy one to tick off at the same time.
🐾 Halloween trails at Hughenden
📍 Where: Hughenden (National Trust)
📅 When: The Great Big Halloween Hunt runs until Sunday 1 November; Creepy Chilterns runs until Monday 2 November
⏰ Time: 10am–4.30pm
💷 Cost: Free with admission
👶 Age: Great Big Halloween Hunt for ages 2–5; Creepy Chilterns for ages 8–12; Stranger Folk for families
Hughenden has two self-guided trails on the go this autumn, pitched at very different ages. The Great Big Halloween Hunt is for toddlers and pre-schoolers, based on the Nosy Crow picture book of the same name. Creepy Chilterns is for older kids, following the myths, legends and folklore of the Chiltern Hills around the estate. Handy if you've got one of each. They've also got an app-based game trail, Stranger Folk.
🎃 Hughenden Valley Halloween Trail
📍 Where: Hughenden Valley. Trail maps from Hughenden Valley Village Store
📅 When: Saturday 24 October to Sunday 1 November
💷 Cost: £2.50 per trail map
👶 Age: All ages
Residents around Hughenden Valley have decorated their houses, and you follow the map from one display to the next. Each map includes a ballot, so children can vote for their favourites in three categories: Most Spooktacular Display, Most Wickedly Creative and Most Boo-tiful Display. Post the ballot at the village shop and they get a sweet treat.
The trail is run by the Friends of Hughenden Primary School, a registered charity run by volunteers. Every map sold goes towards the children at the school.
Know of a Halloween event we've missed? Drop us a line at hello@wycombepulse.co.uk and we'll add it in. 🎃
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