Pumpkin Moon at Sandling opens 10 October, Loddington's £1 patch 17 October; then Leeds Castle, Kent Life, the museum and the Monster Mash. Dates, prices.
Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, and Maidstone’s season starts three weeks early: Pumpkin Moon at Sandling opens its pick-your-own field on Saturday 10 October, and Loddington Farm at Linton follows on 17 October with £1 tickets. Half term then brings Leeds Castle’s Horrible Histories trail, trick or treating at Kent Life, the town centre Monster Mash, and five Halloween events at Maidstone Museum. Every date and price below was checked on the organiser’s own page on 3 October 2026.
The quick answer
- Cheapest pumpkin patch: Loddington Farm, Linton, 17 to 31 October, 10am to 4pm, £1 a person, booked online.
- Earliest pumpkin patch: Pumpkin Moon, Old Chatham Road, Sandling, from 10 October, entry £2.75 weekdays, £3.75 weekends, pumpkins extra.
- Biggest family day out: Leeds Castle’s Horrible Histories Halloween, 17 October to 1 November, included with an admission ticket.
- Free in town: One Maidstone’s Monster Mash, 25 to 31 October, giant monsters and a trail around the town centre.
- On the night itself: the museum’s kids’ party (5pm, £5) and an adults’ fancy dress ball (8pm, £15) on Saturday 31 October.
Most Maidstone schools are off for half term 26 to 30 October; Invicta, Valley Park, SST and Cornwallis are off from 19 October. Our October half term page has the school-by-school dates and the non-Halloween things on.
Everything on, in date order
| When | What | Where | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 Oct to 31 Oct (selected days) | Pick your own pumpkins | Pumpkin Moon, Sandling | £2.75 to £3.75 entry |
| 17 Oct to 31 Oct | Pick your own pumpkins and flowers | Loddington Farm, Linton | £1 |
| 17 Oct to 1 Nov | Horrible Histories Halloween | Leeds Castle | With admission |
| Thu 22 Oct, 7pm | Paranormal Activity in Kent, talk (16+) | Maidstone Museum | £15 |
| Fri 23 Oct, 8pm | Ghost hunt (18+) | Maidstone Museum | £30 |
| 24 Oct to 1 Nov | Halloween Spooktacular, trick or treating | Kent Life, Sandling | Book online |
| 25 Oct to 31 Oct | Maidstone Monster Mash | Town centre | Free |
| Fri 30 Oct, 8pm | Ghost hunt (18+), sold out | Maidstone Museum | £25 |
| Sat 31 Oct, 5pm | Spooky Fun and Halloween Giggles kids' party | Maidstone Museum | £5 |
| Sat 31 Oct, 8pm | The Spellbound Soirée fancy dress ball (18+) | Maidstone Museum | £15 |
| Sun 1 Nov, 2pm | Dame Dolly's Spooktacular Pirate Show | Hazlitt Theatre | Ticketed |
Pumpkin picking near Maidstone
Pumpkin Moon, Sandling
Pumpkin Moon grows over 100 varieties of pumpkin, squash and gourd and runs two Kent farms, one at Rainham and one on Old Chatham Road, Sandling, ME14 3BE, just north of the town. It opens on 10 and 11 October, 17 and 18 October, then every day from Wednesday 21 to Saturday 31 October (Pumpkin Moon).
- Entry: £2.75 a person on weekdays and £3.75 at weekends, adults and children alike. A family ticket for four is £10 on weekdays and £12 at weekends. Under-2s and carers (with carer ID) go free. Pumpkins are paid for in the field and cost £1 to £20 (FAQs).
- Booking is required. Tickets give a half-hour arrival slot from 10am, last entry 3.30pm, and you can stay as long as you like once in. The farm states different closing times on different pages (4pm on its FAQs, 5pm on the Maidstone page), so plan to be finished by 4pm.
- Practical: car parking, toilets, baby changing, contactless card machines, a café stall. Assistance dogs only. It is a bumpy field, so wellies, and something to protect the car boot. Tickets are not refundable unless the farm closes the day.
Loddington Farm, Linton
Loddington Farm, a regenerative fruit farm south of the town, runs its patch with the flower growers Blooming Green: pumpkins and autumn flowers to pick, a flower safari and field games, with food trucks at weekends only. It is open daily 17 to 31 October, 10am to 4pm, at Loddington Lane, Linton, ME17 4AG, and tickets are £1 a person, booked through TryBooking (Loddington Farm; booking page). The farm’s own page gives no year, but the booking page is dated 17 to 31 October 2026.
Leeds Castle: Horrible Histories Halloween
From Saturday 17 October to Sunday 1 November, the castle grounds become a “ghost getter’s trail” with live performers and stops built around Eleanor of Castile, Joan of Navarre (accused of witchcraft by her stepson and held at Leeds Castle) and Catherine of Aragon, plus a witches’ potion zone, a relay race and a Ghostly Gala finale at the maze. Fancy dress competitions run twice daily. The castle bills it as “intriguing rather than frightening” (Leeds Castle).
It is included with a standard admission ticket; the trail booklet is “a small additional cost” and comes with a gold coin prize. Explorer tickets are £34.50 for adults and £24.50 for children aged 3 to 15 when booked online (£38.50 and £28 on the gate), under-3s free, and the ticket then lets you back in free for a year. Family tickets start at £87 online (Leeds Castle pricing). From 1 October the grounds are open 10am to 5pm, last entry 3pm (opening times).
Kent Life: Halloween Spooktacular
Kent Life at Sandling, Lock Lane, ME14 3AU, runs trick or treating around its spooky house “every day throughout the half term period”, with pumpkin carving and painting, a “creepy corner”, farm rides and a fancy dress competition every day (Kent Life).
Two of its own pages disagree on the last day: the event page says 24 October to 1 November, while the prices calendar labels the Halloween event 24 to 31 October. Tickets must be booked online through the prices page; Kent Life prints no Halloween prices, and the cost only appears once you pick a date. October opening on that page is 10am to 4pm (last admission 3pm) on low and mid-season days and 10am to 5pm (last admission 4pm) on high-season days (Kent Life prices and opening times).
Maidstone Monster Mash, town centre
One Maidstone, the town centre business improvement district, is running the Maidstone Monster Mash from Sunday 25 to Saturday 31 October: “giant monster installations, a spooky town centre trail and lots of fun activities this October half term” (One Maidstone). It is free to walk round. One Maidstone has not yet published where the monsters will stand, how the trail works or any activity times; this page will be updated when it does.
Maidstone Museum: five Halloween events
All five are at the museum on St Faith’s Street, ME14 1LH, must be booked, and are non-refundable unless the museum cancels (events listing).
- Paranormal Activity in Kent, Thursday 22 October, 7pm to 8.30pm. Local author Neil Nixon on Kent’s ghost legends, Blue Bell Hill and UFO sightings. £15, ages 16+, 40 places (listing).
- Ghost hunts, Friday 23 and Friday 30 October, 8pm to 11pm. A night in the 500-year-old building with ghost hunters and detection equipment. 18+ with ID, 25 places each. The 30 October hunt (£25) is sold out; the museum added 23 October (£30) as a new date (23 Oct; 30 Oct).
- Spooky Fun and Halloween Giggles, Saturday 31 October, 5pm to 7pm. A kids’ party with games, crafts and a prize for the best dressed, aimed at 10 and under. £5 a person (listing).
- The Spellbound Soirée, Saturday 31 October, 8pm to midnight. An adults-only fancy dress ball run with Maidstone Pride: come as a fairy, monster, witch or anything mythical. £15, 18+ (listing).
Hazlitt Theatre
Dame Dolly’s Spooktacular Pirate Show plays the Hazlitt on Sunday 1 November at 2pm: a one-hour family show recommended for ages 2 to 12 (Parkwood Theatres box office listing, read 3 October 2026). Book through the Hazlitt Theatre.
Getting there and parking
Pumpkin Moon and Kent Life are both at Sandling, a few minutes apart. Pumpkin Moon has its own car park, and booking is in arrival slots to avoid queues on the lane. For the Monster Mash and the museum, use a town centre car park: the options, prices and evening rates are on our parking in Maidstone page, and any closures on the routes in are on Maidstone roadworks and travel.
Still to come
The borough’s fireworks displays are the weekend after half term, on 6, 7 and 8 November: times and prices are on our Maidstone fireworks page.
Sources
- Pumpkin Moon, home page, Maidstone farm and FAQs
- Loddington Farm, PYO Pumpkins, and its TryBooking page
- Leeds Castle, Horrible Histories Halloween and pricing
- Kent Life, Halloween Spooktacular and prices and opening times
- One Maidstone, Maidstone Monster Mash
- Maidstone Museum, events
- Parkwood Theatres, Hazlitt Theatre box office listings, read 3 October 2026
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