Bury schools break up Friday 23 October and return Monday 2 November. Ghost trains, a haunted garden, half-term shows at The Met and a lantern parade, priced.

October half term in Bury runs from Monday 26 to Friday 30 October 2026. Pupils at council-pattern schools finish on Friday 23 October and go back on Monday 2 November. Holy Cross College students get two weeks, finishing on Thursday 15 October. Halloween falls on the Saturday at the end of the week, which is why most of the local events cluster from Thursday 29 onwards.

The quick answer

  • Half term: Monday 26 to Friday 30 October 2026, per Bury Council. Holy Cross College: 16 October to 1 November.
  • The big one: the East Lancashire Railway’s Halloween Ghost Trains, Thursday 29 to Saturday 31 October, 5.30pm to 8.30pm from Bury Bolton Street.
  • Free: the Haunted Garden on Stubbins Lane the weekend before, and the Halloween Lantern Parade in Nuttall Park at 5pm on Saturday 31 October.

Updated 4 October: Jersey Girls’ pumpkin picking added (24 to 31 October, £13 per picker). Halloween itself has its own Halloween page.

School-by-school dates, including the sixth-form colleges, are on our term dates page.

What’s on, day by day

Every listing below is from the organiser’s own page or the Visit Ramsbottom events calendar, checked on 24 September. Prices are as published; book before you travel.

Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 October, the weekend before

  • The Haunted Garden, The Ashton Goit Garden, Stubbins Lane, Ramsbottom BL0 0PR, 3.30pm to 7.30pm both days. Its sixth year: walk-through displays, craft stalls, hot food, face painting. Free entry, cash donations welcome.
  • Ramsbottom Makers Market, Civic Hall, Market Place, Sunday 25 October, 11am to 3.30pm. Handmade goods and local produce, free to browse.

Monday 26 to Friday 30 October, all week

  • JG Pumpkin Pickin’, Jersey Girls, Higher Woodhill Farm, Woodhill Road, Bury BL8 1BS, every day from Saturday 24 to Saturday 31 October in booked sessions of about an hour. Pick a pumpkin in the field and carve it in the barn, £13 per pumpkin picker, who can bring up to two more visitors. Non-refundable; free parking.

  • Pumpkin Patch Soft Play, MotherZen, 2 Market Place, Ramsbottom, 9.30am to 3pm daily. Booking through MotherZen.

Tuesday 27 October

  • October half-term drama day: Doorway to Dimensions, The Box at The Met, Market Street, Bury, 10am to 4pm. Ages 5 to 11, twenty places, £25 per child.
  • The Brain Bending Science Illusion Show, The Met, 2pm. Optical illusions and science tricks from the Magical Mr West, ages 6 and up, 60 minutes, £12 including fees.

Thursday 29 and Friday 30 October

  • Wizard Adventure, East Lancashire Railway, Bury Bolton Street. A day at the “Wizard Academy” with a train ride, wand skills and a dragon egg, £18 to £20.50.

Thursday 29 to Saturday 31 October

  • Halloween Ghost Trains, East Lancashire Railway, 5.30pm to 8.30pm each evening. A haunted walkthrough with jump scares, then the “Scream Train” with Vampire Brian and Veronica the Witch, themed this year around the Swamp Monster of Irwell Vale. The railway’s chairman Mike Kelly calls it a “spooktacular family adventure”; the listing warns of jump scares, so it is not one for the very young. Times are from the Visit Ramsbottom listing, the description from the railway’s September announcement. Prices are on the railway’s booking page, which blocks automated readers, so we could not check them.

Friday 30 October

  • Room on the Broom Halloween Special, MotherZen, Ramsbottom, 11.30am to 3pm. A 90-minute session for under-fives with storytelling, potion making and a take-home treat; one adult and one child per ticket, booking essential.
  • Halloween Family Wellness, Ramsbottom Civic Hall, 3.30pm. Parent and child movement, mindfulness and crafting for roughly ages 5 to 10, £25 per pair, £5 each extra child.

Saturday 31 October, Halloween

  • The Magic Stick, The Met, 2pm. Indian dance, storytelling and stage magic for ages 6 to 12, 40 to 45 minutes plus a question session, £12 including fees.
  • Halloween Lantern Parade, Nuttall Park, Ramsbottom. Tea room from 10am, cake, soup and hot dogs at 3pm, parade round the park at 5pm, listing here.
  • Family Halloween Party with Magic Mark, Ramsbottom Civic Hall, 6pm to 8.30pm, tickets through Skiddle.

Getting there and parking

The Met is two minutes from Bury Interchange, and the Ghost Trains leave from Bury Bolton Street, five minutes’ walk from the tram. Tram frequencies are on our tram times page; council car parks in the town centre are free after 6pm, which covers the Ghost Train evenings, and the full tariff is on our parking page. Ramsbottom events are on the ELR line or the 472/474 bus. Check the roadworks page for any closures that week.

Not yet listed

Bury Art Museum, the libraries and The Rock had published nothing for the week when we checked. Bury Market’s website still carried a Halloween family fun day from a previous year with no 2026 date. We will re-check all four in the second week of October and add anything confirmed.