Fright Night

Howick Historical Village spends the eve of Halloween as somewhere else entirely. The settlers' cottages are decorated, the grounds are lit, and the villagers who greet visitors by day take on rather more fiendish roles after dark.

A Halloween trail leads through the site, past a graveyard and a haunted house, with an old-fashioned sweet shop to break the journey and food vendors on the green. It goes ahead in any weather, and the village advises booking ahead because only a limited number of tickets are held back for the gate.

The village is straightforward about the tone: the content, decorations and entertainment are meant to be frightening, and it asks parents to judge whether that suits their own children. Children under fourteen need an adult with them.