If you’re looking for some gentle Halloween-y half-term fun, you might want to take a look at visiting Calke Abbey! We’ve written about the lovely Calke Explore before – the fab nature playground and outdoor hub that you can find in the parkland – but there’s seasonal fun to be had in the gardens and house too, when it gets close to Halloween!
NOT TO BE MISSED!
The formal gardens at Calke have an impressive “auricula theatre” – a special housing for, unsurprisingly, auricula plants. (Its actually the only known example of an original auricula theatre in the country!) However, come the autumn, the gardeners replace the flowers with a huge display of pumpkins from the kitchen garden! The sheer number of varieties is incredible – there’s every size, shape and colour you can imagine! Our kids love marvelling at them every year! You’ll find the auricula theatre in the corner of the formal walled garden. (Not to be mixed up with the garden of imagination!)
If you’re over in the formal gardens, why not head on over to the ice cellar next? It’s a fun little thing to explore at the best of times (our kids love how much it echoes!), and being underground it’s a teeny bit spooky on a cold damp day anyway, but sometimes in previous Octobers there have been a few fabric ghosts hanging around in there, which the kids love discovering! Find it on the far side of the gardens – look out for the path leading you underground! (And wear wellies if it’s been raining – the path to get over there goes through grass!)
The biggest part last year (2022), was a Halloween trail through the tunnels underneath the house, with lots of coloured lights, and displays with little bits of information about celebrating Halloween in the past. It was far more pretty than spooky, though the damp gloominess of the tunnels did lend a distinct Halloween vibe to it all! Plus, it was a fab way to see parts of the house that are not usually open to the public!
As an aside, Calke Abbey around Halloween-time is the only place our family has ever seen Fly Agarics – the quintessential spotted fairytale toadstools – in the wild! Keep your eyes open, particularly underneath silver birch trees, if that’s your sort of thing! (Though don’t let the kids touch them – they’re toxic!)
With Halloween fun that’s suitable for even the tiniest tots, you’ll have a lovely afternoon wandering the Calke Abbey grounds and discovering all the seasonal, Halloween-y touches! Its really lovely, and something our family looks forward to every year! We can’t wait to see what 2023 has in store!!!
The important bit – how to get there:
Calke Abbey,
Ticknall,
Derby,
Derbyshire,
DE73 7JF.
For current prices and opening times please check the National Trust Website.
A Different Way To Go 