The Rotherwick Patch opens Saturday 10 October, with pumpkins from £1. Festival Place has free Trick or Treat Street on 31 October and The Malls a free trail.

Halloween in Basingstoke starts in a field near Hook. The Rotherwick Patch opens for pumpkin picking on Saturday 10 October, and from there the season builds to half term: free trails and trick or treating in both shopping centres, three free activity days at the Top of the Town, a Victorian science fair at Milestones and a nine-day Halloween at Wellington Country Park. Saturday 31 October itself falls on the last day of half term, and Festival Place runs a free Trick or Treat Street from 11am to 4pm that day.

The quick answer

  • Pumpkin picking: The Rotherwick Patch, Frog Lane, Rotherwick, RG27 9BE, from Saturday 10 October. No entry fee; you pay for parking, £10 a car booked ahead or £15 on the day, and for your pumpkins, £1 to £10 by size (The Rotherwick Patch).
  • Free on Halloween: Trick or Treat Street at Festival Place, Saturday 31 October, 11am to 4pm. Come dressed up; dogs are welcome (Festival Place).
  • Free all half term: The Malls Halloween Trail, 24 to 31 October, plus wand-making on Thursday 29 October (The Malls). The town centre’s own three free days run 28 to 30 October; see our October half term page.

At a glance

Date What Where Price
From Sat 10 Oct Pumpkin picking The Rotherwick Patch Parking £10 booked, £15 on the day
Fri 23 to Sat 31 Oct Hallo’Welly’Ween Wellington Country Park, Riseley Day ticket, booked
Sat 24 Oct, 11am to 4pm In for a Pumpkin, In for a Pound Festival Place Free
Sat 24 to Sat 31 Oct Halloween Trail The Malls Free
Sat 24 Oct to Sun 1 Nov The Strange Science of Jekyll & Hyde Milestones Museum £19.50 adult, £13.50 child
Tue 27 Oct, 10.30am to 12pm Trick, Treat and Create Trail Whitchurch Silk Mill £7.50 per child
Wed 28 to Fri 30 Oct, 11am to 3pm Spooktacular Half-Term Top of the Town Free
Thu 29 Oct, 11am to 3pm Mischief at The Malls The Malls Free
Thu 29 Oct, from 5.30pm Willis Museum by Torchlight Willis Museum £6 per child
Fri 30 Oct, 7.30pm Nosferatu with live score The Forge, The Anvil £18
Sat 31 Oct, 11am to 4pm Trick or Treat Street Festival Place Free
Sun 1 Nov, 7.30pm Hauntings The Haymarket £25

Pumpkin picking: The Rotherwick Patch

The nearest pumpkin patch to Basingstoke is on Tylney Park farm at Rotherwick, which its owners put at 7.5 miles from Basingstoke and about 3 miles from Hook. It is in its seventh year and grows more than 20 varieties of pumpkin, squash and gourd. Opening days, from the patch’s own site:

  • Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 October: 10am to 5pm, last entry 4pm
  • Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 October: 10am to 5pm, last entry 4pm
  • Friday 23 and Saturday 24 October: 10am to 5pm, last entry 4pm
  • Sunday 25 to Friday 30 October: 10am to 4pm, last entry 3pm
  • Saturday 31 October: 10am to 2pm, last entry 1pm

It is closed on weekdays before half term. There is no entry charge: the cost is parking, £10 a car if you book online, £15 on the day, and the patch warns it cannot promise space to cars without a booking at busy times. Weekends go first. Pumpkins are priced by size and, the farm says, have not gone up since it opened: munchkin £1, small £2.50, medium £5, large £7.50, jumbo £10 (FAQ). Stems are already cut, so you need no tools. Card is taken, but not Amex, and cash is accepted.

Some things worth knowing before you go:

  • Dogs are welcome on leads; the farm calls itself one of England’s only dog-friendly pumpkin patches.
  • Autism-friendly hours: a quieter session from 9am to 10am on Sunday 18 and Saturday 24 October, before public opening. These are not on the normal booking system; email info@rotherwickpatch.com.
  • It gets very muddy. Wellies, a waterproof and a bag for the pumpkins are the farm’s own advice. Robust pushchairs and wheelchairs are welcome on the farm tracks, but the toilets cannot take wheelchairs and there is no baby changing.
  • Do not park in the village. The farm asks walkers not to leave cars elsewhere in Rotherwick. There is a drop-off point with a five-minute limit.

An old Visit Hampshire listing still quotes parking at £5 and £10; those are not this year’s prices. The farm’s own page is the one to trust.

Free: the two shopping centres

Festival Place has two free Halloween Saturdays, both 11am to 4pm (Festival Place):

  • Saturday 24 October, In for a Pumpkin, In for a Pound: four game show challenges, “Play your creepy cards right”, a spooky stop clock, a Halloween hoop challenge and 60-second charades, with spooky gift bags to be won.
  • Saturday 31 October, Trick or Treat Street: pick a door and see what is behind it, with characters and treats. Come in costume; dogs are welcome.

Festival Place notes that content is subject to change.

The Malls runs a free Halloween Trail from Saturday 24 to Saturday 31 October. Collect a sheet from The Works, find the missing words round the centre, unscramble them and post your entry back at The Works for a draw for a £50 The Works voucher. On Thursday 29 October, 11am to 3pm, there is free witches and wizards wand-making, with a witch walking the centre (The Malls).

Hallo’Welly’Ween at Wellington Country Park

Over the Berkshire border at Riseley, Wellington Country Park runs Hallo’Welly’Ween from Friday 23 to Saturday 31 October, 9.30am to 4.30pm, its 13th year (Wellington Country Park). The published programme includes circus shows in the big top at 11am, 1pm and 3pm, family shows and discos in the white marquee, a silent disco, exotic animal encounters, sessions at the animal farm, a spooky train ride (£1 a person on top), and pumpkin carving or decorating, with pumpkins sold by size. A barbecue runs on 24, 25 and 31 October only. Tickets are sold through the park’s booking site; the event page does not print a price. The park warns that sound, lighting and special effects are used across the site.

Milestones, the museums and the mill

  • The Strange Science of Jekyll & Hyde, Milestones Museum, Saturday 24 October to Sunday 1 November, from 10am. A Halloween Victorian science fair for ages 5 to 12, billed as “spooky, not scary”: families judge four scientists, with a live science show on the bandstand every 90 minutes. Adult £19.50, child £13.50, concession £18.50, under 5s free, family £64.50; an existing Milestones annual ticket covers it (Milestones Museum).
  • Willis Museum by Torchlight, Thursday 29 October, entry at 5.30pm, 6pm or 6.30pm. Torchlit trails and games for ages 5 and up; this year’s theme is carnival rather than Halloween. £6 per child with a goody bag (Hampshire Cultural Trust).
  • Halloween Trick, Treat and Create Trail, Whitchurch Silk Mill, Tuesday 27 October, 10.30am to 12 noon, booked slots. £7.50 per child, one adult free, ending with a bag of treats; tell the mill about dietary needs (Whitchurch Silk Mill).
  • The Vyne’s autumn programme, to Sunday 8 November, includes Stranger Folk, a digital adventure for ages 7 to 12 played on a phone, which the National Trust says is “set to haunt The Vyne this autumn” (National Trust).

For older children and adults

  • Nosferatu with live music by Chris Green, Friday 30 October, 7.30pm, The Forge at The Anvil. The 1922 silent Dracula film with a live electronic and acoustic score first commissioned for a screening at Whitby Abbey. Certificate PG. £18, under 25s £16 (Anvil Arts).
  • Hauntings, Sunday 1 November, 7.30pm, The Haymarket. Gerard Logan performs three classic ghost stories. £25, under 25s and students £20 (Anvil Arts).
  • Basingstoke Bison are at home on Halloween night, Saturday 31 October, 6.30pm, at Planet Ice (Basingstoke Bison).

Is there trick or treating in Basingstoke town centre?

Yes, indoors: Festival Place’s Trick or Treat Street on Saturday 31 October is the only organised trick or treating we have found in the town for 2026. The Top of the Town’s free days end on Friday 30 October, and neither Love Basingstoke nor the council lists anything in the streets on Halloween itself. The council’s road closure register has no closure for a Halloween event; its only October closures are for the Diwali parade on 23 October and the half term days, 28 to 30 October (Basingstoke and Deane).

Getting there

Festival Place and The Malls are both in the town centre, a short walk from the station; car parks and tariffs are on our parking in Basingstoke page. The Rotherwick Patch and Wellington Country Park are realistically car trips. Milestones is on the Leisure Park off Churchill Way West. Check roadworks and travel before you set off, especially on 23 October when the Diwali parade closes town centre streets from 4pm.

Bonfire Night follows a week later, with one confirmed display in the borough: see Basingstoke fireworks. Everything else on in town is on What’s On in Basingstoke this month.

Sources

All checked on 3 October 2026.