If you’re a fan of history, the paranormal, and Halloween, Warwick Castle is the place to be from now until the 31st of October.
Warwick Castle is hosting a Halloween celebration both during the day, and after dark! The events and entertainment range from being very kid friendly, to the not-so kid friendly. (Trust me, unless you want to be dealing with nightmares for the next few months, don't take you child to the Halloween Seance.)
Last weekend I visited the opening day of the Halloween festivities at Warwick Castle with the good folks from Visit England, and I had an absolute blast. Being American, I have an overly enthusiastic love for All Hallows Eve, and seeing the castle covered in spider webs, fake rats, a giant witch’s cauldron and ghoulish looking folk was the best way to spend an October weekend.
Spooks for the Whole Family
If you’re visiting The Haunted Castle with your spawn, you’ll definitely want to visit the Merlin Dragon Tower, enjoy a Castle Hot Dog, and take your daughter to the Witches Tower. However, despite Warwick Castle being flooded with families, the spooks and scares aren't boring and overly childish, so it keeps it interesting for people of all ages.
One of the best attractions at Warwick Castle's Halloween celebrations is the Owl Show. An absolutely amazing experience to watch, this is a rare opportunity to see this many kind of owls doing their thing so up close. There’s also an opportunity to "meet" the owls and different birds of prey later in the afternoon, which gives you a chance to speak to Warwick Castle’s falconer, and ask him any questions about the fantastic owls - or his Bald Eagle, Sydney, which lives at the Castle, too.
The Castle After Dark
As Warwick Castle is owned by the Tussuad's group, there is of course a tour of the Dungeon, complete with scary shows and skin crawling entertainment. We visited the dungeons at Warwick Castle as part of their Dungeons After Dark banquet, which includes a quick tour of the dungeons (which is truly freaky and entertaining - trust me, I slept in them), as well as a three course banquet with unlimited ale and wines and delicious food, as well as lots of medieval and Halloween themed entertainment.
If you’re ever wondered what it was like to chow down in a medieval-style banquet hall while chugging ale out of a jar, you should totally do this. Not only was the atmosphere brilliant, as it’s for adults 18 and over, the humour is pretty brilliant, as well.
Halloween events aside, Warwick Castle makes for an amazing day out or indeed weekend away. The grounds are massive and there are plenty of tours and events to experience even when there aren’t singing plague victims and zombified castle guards running about.
The views from the towers at Warwick Castle are breathtaking, and if you happen to visit on a gorgeous, crisp Autumn day like I did, it will be hard to resist falling in love with the place. The history nerd in you will be thrilled to bits, trust me.
For more information on Warwick Castle, please visit warwick-castle.com. For more ideas for fantastic days out and weekend away, check out the fantastic Visit England, who made our trip to Warwick Castle possible.
All photos © Iain Buchanan for BitchBuzz