Dan Norris: Region fast becoming the perfect destination for Halloween

Imet some ghosts and ghouls last week during a fact-finding mission to discover everything our brilliant West of england region offers this Halloween. Because our area is fast becoming the UK’S best go-to spook-tac-ular tourist destination.

The pumpkin king turns out to be just down the road in Keynsham at Avon Valley Adventure and Wildlife Park. Currently, it’s home to the South West’s biggest pumpkin patch. There is family fun and mischief galore. Pick your own pumpkins, admire the tunnel of carved pumpkins, enjoy theatrical performances, fire shows and even take a shot on the apple cannon. Take your little monsters for a devilish day out, or adult thrill-seekers can put their mettle to the test at the ominous sounding ‘Scream Park’ – so scary it’s for over 15-year-olds only!

It’s not just Keynsham vying for the crown (or maybe witch’s hat) as the best place in the whole country for those who love the spooky season.

There are more fab-boo-lous patches where you can pick your own, and enjoy fun Halloween trails and other surprises too! Think the Picking Patch in Newton St Loe, or how about Pumpkin Fest at Farrington’s Farm?

Near Bristol, there are some great ghost tours in the city if you want to enjoy a dose of history and learn some Bristol trivia on the way. Near Chipping Sodbury, the Creepy Hollow haunted house could be the place to be: you can sit in the graveyard and hear spinechilling tales. Just watch out for the spiders!

In Bath, why not immerse yourself in the spooky history of how Mary Shelley penned her bestselling Frankenstein in the city? Or try their fantastic escape room?

These are just some of the spooky things to do and see in our neck of the woods. It can be scarecrow trails at Dyrham Park one minute, zombie archery at Brocks Outdoor Adventures the next, and then fancy-dress competitions galore at the Holburne Museum.

In 2022 Brits are expected to spend a whopping £28 million on pumpkins for Halloween, with a quarter of all households buying one this year.

Unsurprisingly, like everything else, they are up in price by 22p this year – that’s the cost-of-living crisis – and as a local farmer told me, with the weird weather it’s not been a great growing year. So please buy local! But what the increasing Halloween tourism market means is that farms can increasingly diversify, and other shops and tourism businesses have a growing market to cater to residents who want to decorate their homes, wear spooky costumes or attend ghoulish events.

And more organised Halloween fun means those who do want to join in can, but those who don’t want to, like many older people and more sensitive folks, are now less likely to have to put up with the unwanted trick or treaters.

So now is the time to spice up your autumn and explore local, if you think you’re brave enough.