AD: Contains days out that have been previously gifted
Autumn is well and truly upon us bringing shorter days and spooky nights. Here is the ultimate guide of things to do in and around Sevenoaks this October Halloween holidays
To keep up to date with all things Sevenoaks why not join my Facebook Group Incidentally Sevenoaks. You can share your own events and things of local interest in there too!
Let’s get things rolling (tee hee) with…
Pumpkin Picking in Kent
There are loads of pumpkin patches right here in Kent – check out my full roundup of them by clicking this link: The BEST pick your own pumpkins Kent
Don’t forget Bonfire Night is just around the corner too!
For a full round up of the best fireworks displays check out my post Bonfire Night Firework Displays in and around Sevenoaks. It’s even in date order!
Riverhill Himalayan Gardens, Sevenoaks, Kent
As you probably know we LOVE Riverhill Himalayan Gardens (our review is here), we love it so much we got married here this summer! Riverhill always make a special effort in the school holidays.
Pumpkin Festival, Saturday 18th October to 2nd November 2025
It’s back – Our Season finale and favourite event of the year!
NO NEED TO PRE BOOK, JUST COME ALONG AND PAY ON ARRIVAL AT THE TICKET OFFICE
We will have BRING YOUR OWN pumpkin carving in our grotto (Or you can buy one here). We supply the tools and the inspiration.
Our fun Pumpkin Hunt around the Gardens (find them all and collect some sweet treats)
Plus enjoy our gorgeous grotto and summer house, full of pumpkin carving inspiration and autumnal colours.
The Gardens are also magnificent in Autumn, enjoy the display of golden colours from our trees, especially our acers in the Wood Garden.
PLEASE NOTE WE WILL BE CLOSED MONDAYS AND TUESDAYS AS NORMAL.
No Additional charge after our usual entry.
Drop-in, no need to book.
During busy times, our carving grotto may be full so you might be asked to come back later on.
Halloween Magic at The World Garden, Lullingstone Castle
Halloween Magic – 26th October – 11am – 6pm
Join us to celebrate Halloween magic on our last day of our 20th season; pumpkin carving, pumpkin trail, spooky garden tours and more – perfect for all the family. Tom will give garden tours at 1pm and a dusk tour at 5pm, learn about the origins of pumpkins, colours and varieties and children can spot the Halloween tricks in eerie torchlight! There will also be a chance to meet and even hold some critters with the help of a Zoolab ranger from 3pm to 4pm.*
Fancy dress is welcome – let’s celebrate the end of our special season in style!
*For those that wish to hold or feel some of the animals, numbers maybe limited on the day to ensure their welfare, thank you for your understanding.
Additional £5 donation for the pumpkin carving (please bring cash for pumpkin carving to be placed in a collection bucket!)
Manor House is open 11am – 4pm (last entry 3:30pm)
Admission price – £12.50 adult – children under 16 go FREE
Penshurst Place & Gardens
Halloween Garden Trail – The Penshurst School of Sorcery and Spells: Cloak disaster!
- Dates: Daily, from 18 October – 2 November | 10am – 5pm
- Included in admission to Penshurst Place
The Penshurst School of Sorcery and Spells recently visited Penshurst Place for a school trip. However, several students got so distracted whilst honing their magical skills that they left their cloaks in the gardens!
This half-term, wander through the garden rooms and help track down lost cloaks using a free code-cracker trail sheet. Match up the symbols with the letters and discover who each of the lost cloaks belongs to before returning to the Gift Shop, where completed lists can be popped into the Penshurst School of Sorcery and Spells ‘lost-property box’ in return for a little celebratory treat.
Spooky Crafting
- Dates: Daily from 18 October – 2 November | 11:30am – 3:30pm
- Included in admission to Penshurst Place
Children can unleash their creativity with a range of hands-on Halloween crafts to make and take home, from spooky spiders to ghostly ghouls. They can also choose to add their handiwork to the Halloween display wall in the Old Coach House, where creations will be showcased for everyone to enjoy throughout the half-term holiday.
Halloween Storytelling – Bogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
- Dates: 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 27th, 28th, 29th October
- Performances at: 11.15am, 12 noon, 12.45pm, 2pm, 2.45pm
- Included in admission to Penshurst Place & Gardens (maximum capacity per show; first come, first served)
At Bogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Barry Trotter and Don Cheesely are preparing for their exams and practising some final spells before an invisibility incantation accidentally causes havoc! Join them and Professor Balbus Bumbledoor this half-term for a charming tale of magic and sorcery with just a sprinkling of puns and a spoonful of audience participation.
Halloween Gift Shop
Fast becoming a seasonal attraction in its own right, no admission ticket is required to visit Penshurst Place’s Halloween-themed Gift Shop. Stop by to see the spookily dressed displays, brimming with haunting décor and everything needed for a perfectly ghoulish celebration.
All Halloween and half-term activities are included in standard admission to Penshurst Place & Gardens.
For event information, visit https://www.penshurstplace.com/whats-on/events-and-activities/2025-10/ and for full visitor information (including admission prices and opening times) visit http://www.penshurstplace.com/.
Coolings Green and Pleasant, Knockholt, Nr Sevenoaks, Kent
Coolings Green and Pleasant isn’t your run of the mill garden centre. Here they have a wonderful nature trail with various animals as well as Willows Bird of Prey Centre who put on displays at various times during the day. Check here for prices
Polhill Garden Centre, Polhill, Sevenoaks, Kent
Keeping in the garden centre theme Polhill is more than a garden centre. It also houses Maidenhead Aquatics with their HUGE koi carp tank. You can buy food to feed them – it’s awesome. It also has a free outdoor play area behind Novell’s Resturant. This is astro turf and features a climbing frame and small slide for little ones.
Hever Castle, Edenbridge, Kent
HALLOWEEN HALF TERM FUN: 18th to 26th October
Treat your little ones to a spine-tingling visit to Hever Castle over the Half Term break.
Explore the Castle grounds on the Bones and Giggles Halloween Trail as you search for clues to claim your reward. Spot bony beings getting up to spooky mischief in the most entertaining scenes, including a skeleton party, pumpkin picking and camping. Look out for Halloween spooky characters roaming the grounds and be entertained with interactive stories along the way.
Halloween themed craft activities will engage spooky young minds in the Garden Exhibition with ‘make your own movable skeleton friend’ craft fun or, for younger visitors, there’s a chance to have a go at skeleton silhouettes. Themed face painting is available for children to enjoy on select dates during the Halloween Half Term holiday, subject to weather.
Click here to book
Free playgrounds in Sevenoaks, Kent
For a quick and free way to let off some steam there are plenty of free playgrounds in Sevenoaks, including Pontoise Close. There are sure to be plenty of leaves to kick about and conkers to find if you take a walk up and around the Sandy Mountains.
There is also the Environmental Park behind the leisure centre, Otford, Hollybush which will hopefully be open following it’s refurbishment, Julian’s Meadow, Greatness, Seal, Dunton Green and a little one on the Vine next to the lovely cafe, although that one is definitely more for toddlers and younger.
For a free wander there is always Bradbourne Lakes, opposite the Wildlife Reserve on Bradbourne Vale Road. We also like the Kent Country Parks, Lullingstone is a particular favourite.
Bluewater, Dartford, Kent
If all that doesn’t float the kid’s boat Bluewater now offers a soft play with a difference in the form of Dinotropolis. We reviewed it when it first opened, read what we thought here. I went back recently – far too many kids in an enclosed space for my liking but then I never was a fan of soft play!
Don’t forget there is also Gravity, mini golf, cinema, a nature reserve and much, much more!
Finally it’s the turn of National Trust! As always they have lots of different spooooky events going on in and around Sevenoaks, and a little further out:
1. Pumpkin patches at Sissinghurst Castle Garden and Chartwell
Around 250 pumpkins fill the vegetable patch at Sissinghurst Castle Garden in autumn. Look out for the ‘Rouge Vif d' Etamps’ or ‘Cinderella pumpkin’, reported to be the inspiration for Disney’s famous midnight carriage. Plus spooky specimens like the ‘Jack o’ Lantern’ and the warty ‘Zombie’. Thanks to Sissinghurst’s organic ‘no-dig’ method, the largest varieties can grow up to 400g and nearly a metre in height. You can even take home your own perfect pumpkin and other autumn treats from the shop.
Over a dozen pumpkin varieties make for a colourful display in Chartwell’s Walled Garden too. Unusual names include the ‘Polar Bear’, ‘Sweet Lightning’ and Halloween favourite, ‘Goosebumps’. The biggest pumpkins are ‘Atlantic Giants’, which can weigh the equivalent of 20 building bricks. There’s a chance to take a Chartwell pumpkin home in return for a small donation
from the last Thursday of October half term.2. Top spots for autumn snaps and selfies
From fiery reds to intoxicating aromas and crunchy leaves underfoot, National Trust gardens serve up a feast for the senses in autumn. Grab your camera and head over to Scotney Castle in Lamberhurst for scene-stealing selfies and panoramas that pack a punch. Ready to step into the frame are the 100-year-old purple cut-leaved Japanese Maples. They’re best-viewed from the Bastion, with the Old Castle in the background and Kentish countryside rolling beyond. Then capture the stunning Liquidambar styraciflua tree down by the boathouse. The fiery leaves reflected in the rippling water below are a true sight to behold.
Other autumn garden highlights include yellow tulip trees and the Oriental bittersweet Celastrus Orbiculatus at the Old Castle. Plus follow the red estate walk for a leafy-crunchy wander through Kilndown wood.
Emmetts Garden | Kent | National Trust
3. Fabulous fungi at Emmetts Garden Fungi Festival
Escape into a fungi fairy tale with expert talks, workshops, family events and more at the Emmetts Garden Fungi Festival. From the stinkhorn to shaggy parasols and a fairy’s bonnet, there’s loads to discover about nature’s weirdest wonder. Book tickets to hear from the experts in a series of talks during the weekend of 19 & 20 October. Learn about the ‘forgotten kingdom in the web of nature’, unlock the secrets of mushroom production, delve into the world of fantastical fungi found at Emmetts Garden and learn how to recognise toxic mushrooms.
Families can tackle a mushroom-tastic trail from 11 October and games on the meadow during half-term. Don’t miss the wild play area with climbing frame, balance beams, play net, tunnels and a fairy ring of wooden toadstools. Plus, book the family in for graffiti and crafts workshops, over the weekend of 26 & 27 October, all inspired by the beautiful fungi found at Emmetts and beyond.
Subject to charge, see website for details.
Emmetts Garden Fungi Festival runs from 11 October to 3 November
Emmetts Garden | Kent | National Trust4. Hit the trails at Ightham Mote and Knole
Immerse yourself in golden countryside colours on an autumn walk. Get two for the price of one on the circular trail between Ightham Mote and Knole. Pass through areas of outstanding natural beauty, under red and bronze woodland canopies and across glowing open countryside.
Starting at Ightham Mote, follow signs for the Greensand Way. Take in views of the 14th-century moated manor house reflected in the moat. The route passes through both the Ightham Mote and Knole estates, local orchards and past historic Hopper Huts.
The Brewhouse Café at Knole is the perfect place for a pit-stop, with hot drinks and bites in the Ightham Mote café to finish on. Pop into the new Visitor Centre at Ightham to browse the shop including an extensive choice of plants. Ightham Mote circular walk to Knole is approximately 8.5miles and includes footpaths, bridleways, fields and woodlands. Paths climb and descend throughout the walk. Dogs are welcome on leads in the surrounding estates.
Circular walk: Ightham Mote to Knole │ Kent | National Trust
5. Spooktacular family fun with Spell Quest at Bodiam Castle
Calling all witches and wizards! Spell Quest is back at Bodiam Castle with more suspense and mystery than ever before. Join a thrilling quest to save the castle from the clutches of a wicked warlock. With the guidance of Midnight, a mischievous bat, unlock your magical powers and wield spooky spells to conquer the warlock.
Follow an immersive family trail with magical lights, spooky characters and a witch’s cauldron. Complete all the activities to become hero of the castle and claim your prize. Halloween costumes for magical, spooky photos are welcome – there’s even a best dressed costume competition on select weekends (19, 20, 26, 27, 31 October and 2, 3 November).
Spell Quest runs 12 October to 3 November, 10am to 5pm, £3.50 plus admission.
Suitable for 4 to 8 year olds.
Bodiam Castle | Sussex | National Trust
Scotney Castle October 2018
That’s all from me have a fun-filled spooky,
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
If you would like to be featured in any of my guides please email erica@theincidentalparent.com
