Halloween in Canterbury: children go free at Howletts from 23 October to 1 November, the Beaney's £6 trail runs to 1 November, and St Augustine's has a £5 tour.

Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, 31 October 2026, at the end of Kent’s half term week (Monday 26 to Friday 30 October). The biggest family offer in the district is at Howletts, where children go free from 23 October to 1 November if you book online. In the city, the Beaney’s Halloween trail is already running, English Heritage takes adults round St Augustine’s Abbey at dusk, and the Canterbury Festival’s final weekend has a free mask workshop and a silent horror film with live music.

The quick answer

Howletts’ Howloween runs 23 October to 1 November, 10am to 5pm, and children aged 3 to 15 go free on new online bookings (adults £26 online). The Beaney’s £6 Fright at the Museum trail runs to Sunday 1 November, with a dressing-up Spooky Day on 31 October. St Augustine’s Abbey has a one-hour Halloween tour at 4pm on 31 October and 1 November, £5 adults, ages 12 and over. On 31 October the Canterbury Festival runs a free drop-in Halloween mask workshop at the Malthouse Theatre. We found no 2026 programme yet for Herne Bay’s Halloween week and no pick-your-own pumpkin field in the district that we could confirm on the farm’s own website.

Every listing below was checked on the organiser’s own website on 3 October 2026.

Howletts: Howloween, 23 October to 1 November

Howletts Wild Animal Park at Bekesbourne calls its half term event Howloween and bills it as “playful, never petrifying”. Five things are included in the normal day ticket, with “no extra tickets”:

  • The Creepy Cave, an undercover space with reptiles, amphibians “and other cheeky critters”
  • Feast for Beasts, keepers handing out pumpkins at scheduled feeds (“see who can out-crush a pumpkin (we’re looking at you, elephants)”)
  • Whose Poo Trick Trail, a clue trail round the park
  • Little Monster of the Day, a costume photo competition with a Halloween treat as the prize
  • Conservation Station, ranger-led talks and activities

The park is open 10am to 5pm (Howletts: Howloween).

How the free child ticket works. The offer covers “new online purchases of Child (aged 3-15years) tickets” for visits between 23 October and 1 November 2026. It cannot be claimed at the Gatehouse, cannot be combined with other offers (Tesco Clubcard and Love to Visit tickets are named), and the park says it “can be withdrawn at any time”. Under-3s are always free, and every child under 16 must be with an adult. The terms do not say how many free children each adult can bring.

What adults pay. Adult day tickets for 2026 are £26 online including the voluntary donation (£23.64 without it), against £29 at the gate. Concessions are £24 online (Howletts: book your tickets). Book online, both for the free child ticket and the lower adult price.

The Beaney: Fright at the Museum, to 1 November

The Beaney’s Halloween puzzle trail, Fright at the Museum: Tudor Traitors, opened on 3 October and runs to Sunday 1 November. Children work through the museum solving puzzles about the “shadowy figures” in this year’s mystery, and finish with “a tasty treat”.

  • £6 per trail, including a participation prize and a competition entry. Buy on arrival or pre-book to be sure of a trail.
  • Closed Mondays, except Monday 26 October, so it is open every day of Kent’s half term week.
  • Saturday 31 October is Spooky Day: come in costume, and the museum turns the lights down.
  • The museum says the trail is “very popular with children aged 5 to 10 years old”; younger children may need help with the reading. Sensory Halloween resources and a symbol version of the trail are available.

The Beaney is at 18 High Street, CT1 2RA, and entry to the museum is free (Canterbury Museums and Galleries).

St Augustine’s Abbey: Shadows of the Abbey, 31 October and 1 November

English Heritage’s Halloween history tour at St Augustine’s Abbey, Longport, CT1 1PF, runs on Saturday 31 October and Sunday 1 November, 4pm to 5pm. It is a one-hour guided walk round the ruins, pitched as long-forgotten stories “with just a touch of Halloween mystery”, that ends at dusk on the Campanile Mound.

Ticket Price
Adult £5
Concession £4.50
Child, 5 to 17 £3.50
English Heritage members Free (book a member ticket)

It is for ages 12 and over, so it is an older-children and adults’ event, not one for toddlers. You can arrive from 3.30pm to look round the museum and use the facilities, and English Heritage asks for sensible shoes on the uneven paths (English Heritage).

Canterbury Festival’s Eerie strand

The Canterbury Festival runs to Saturday 31 October, and its “Eerie” strand is the nearest thing the city has to a Halloween programme (Canterbury Festival: Eerie). Ticket prices are from the festival’s box office and are shown before its £1.50 per-ticket booking fee.

  • Night Creatures, Saturday 31 October, 10am to 12.30pm and 1.30pm to 4pm, Malthouse Theatre dining room, CT2 7JA. Free, drop in, no booking. Make “your own eco-Hallowe’en inspired mask from recycled cardboard” with local artists. Aimed at ages 7 and over with an adult (Canterbury Festival).
  • Mary Shelley graphic novel workshop: The Mortal Immortal, Saturday 31 October, Malthouse Theatre. Free but booking is required, for ages 6 and over with an adult. The 1.30pm session has sold out; the 10.30am session still had places on 3 October.
  • Hugo Max: Nosferatu (1922) with live score, Friday 30 October, 8pm (doors 7.15pm), Augustine Hall, Rhodaus Town, CT1 2YA. Murnau’s silent horror film with a live soundtrack on viola, piano “and an ever-changing variety of smaller instruments”. Standard £21, concessions and under-16s £19, under-30s £8.50.
  • The Mystery of Canterbury Festival, Saturday 24 October, 12pm and 2.30pm, St Mary’s Hall Studio Theatre. A board-game style murder mystery show for ages 7 and over. Adults £11, children under 12 £7.
  • Malcolm Gaskill: Worlds of Fear and Wonder, Saturday 24 October, 1pm, Augustine Hall. The author of The Ruin of All Witches on alchemy, witchcraft trials and “the unseen world”. Standard £13.50.

The same day as the mask workshop, the festival’s free Family Takeover fills the Malthouse Theatre from 10am to 4pm.

For older teenagers: Paranormal Activity at the Marlowe

The stage version of Paranormal Activity is at the Marlowe from Tuesday 20 to Saturday 24 October, 7.30pm, with 2.30pm matinees on Thursday 22 and Saturday 24 October. On 3 October tickets ran from £19 to £85, and the Marlowe recommends it for ages 15 and over, warning of “high tension moments and strong language” (The Marlowe). It is the week before Kent’s half term.

Not Halloween, but on in half term

  • Canterbury Cathedral runs a family creature trail and Bayeux Tapestry embroidery sessions from 24 October to 1 November, included with admission, and children go free (Canterbury Cathedral).
  • Wildwood, Herne Common, had no Halloween event on its own site on 3 October. It switches to winter hours, 10am to 4pm, from Monday 26 October, so on Kent’s half term week the last entry is 3pm (Wildwood: times and prices).

School-by-school half term dates (several Canterbury schools break a week earlier or later than Kent) are on our October half term in Canterbury page.

What we could not confirm

  • Herne Bay’s Halloween week. KentOnline has reported Herne Bay zombie crawls and Halloween week events in past years, but we found no 2026 programme published by an organiser. We will add it if one appears.
  • Pumpkin picking. We could not find a pick-your-own pumpkin field inside the Canterbury district advertised on the farm’s own website. Listings sites point to farms near Ashford and Maidstone, which we have not been able to check with the farms themselves, so we have not listed them.
  • Trick or treating is not organised by anyone, so there is nothing to list.

Getting there

The Beaney is on the High Street, and St Augustine’s Abbey is a five-minute walk east of the Cathedral, outside the city walls. The Malthouse Theatre and Augustine Hall are both close to the centre. Howletts is at Bekesbourne, about three miles south-east of the city, and is easiest by car. For car parks and park and ride see our parking in Canterbury page, and check Canterbury roadworks and travel before you set off. The clocks go back on Sunday 25 October, so by half term the sun sets before 5pm.

Just after Halloween

Kent Cricket’s fireworks evening at the St Lawrence Ground is on Thursday 5 November; prices and times are on our Canterbury fireworks page. For everything else on this month, see What’s on in Canterbury.

Sources