Dinton After Dark is 31 October, 4.30pm, £9 adult, £4 child. Pumpkin Fair 25 October at £2, under-12s free, plus a new half-term trail. Half term 26 to 30 Oct.
October half term in Wokingham borough runs from Monday 26 to Friday 30 October 2026, and the borough’s own Halloween night is Dinton After Dark on Saturday 31 October, 4.30pm to 6.30pm, at £9 an adult and £4 a child. The holiday dates are the council’s published calendar for community and voluntary controlled schools, which has term 1 ending on Friday 23 October and term 2 starting on Monday 2 November (Wokingham Borough Council term dates 2026 to 2027, PDF). Academies and voluntary aided schools set their own dates, so check yours.
Updated 3 October: the JL Events fun day is now the Pumpkin Fair, £2 entry with under-12s free; a new Pumpkins and Phantoms trail runs 24 October to 1 November; Paulo’s Circus is listed for 8 to 11 October; Wellington has published its farm talk times.
Almost everything worth booking is already listed, with prices, on the borough’s own countryside site. Here is the week as it stands.
The dates, in order
| Date | Event | Where | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thu 8 to Sun 11 Oct | Paulo’s Circus | Dinton Pastures | £9 to £14, book direct |
| Sat 10 Oct | Mobile climbing tower pop-up, 10am to 4pm | California Country Park | £4 per climb |
| Fri 23 to Sat 31 Oct | Hallo’Welly’Ween, 9.30am to 4.30pm | Wellington Country Park, Riseley | Not published |
| Sat 24 Oct to Sun 1 Nov | Pumpkins and Phantoms trail, 9am to 4pm daily | Dinton Activity Centre | Per map, book online |
| Sun 25 Oct | Pumpkin Fair, 11am to 3.30pm | Dinton Pastures | £2, under 12s free |
| Mon 26 to Fri 30 Oct | Autumn and Winter Wild Days, 9.30am to 4.30pm | Dinton Activity Centre | £27 half day, £54 full day |
| Sat 31 Oct | Dinton After Dark, 4.30pm to 6.30pm | Dinton Pastures | £9 adult, £4 child |
| Sat 31 Oct | Guided Evening Paddle, 5pm to 7pm | Black Swan Lake | £30 adult, £20 child (8+) |
| Sat 31 Oct | Twyford Halloween bonfire and fireworks, gates 6.30pm | King George V Fields, Twyford | £8 adult, £2 under-12s in advance |
| Sun 1 Nov | Hollywood under the Stars, 5pm to 8pm | Dinton Pastures | £9.95 adult, £5.95 child |
Except Wellington’s week and Twyford’s bonfire, which come from their organisers’ own pages (the bonfire is on our fireworks page), those dates and prices come from the borough’s countryside events calendar and the individual event pages behind it (Wokingham Countryside, events).
Dinton After Dark, Saturday 31 October
This is the one to book. It runs 4.30pm to 6.30pm on Halloween night itself and it is built as a walk, not a scare maze: a “spooky (but not scary!) lakeside trail”, marshmallow roasting round the fire, friendly characters to spot, and food and drink through the evening (Dinton After Dark).
The prices are set out per person, not per family:
- £9 per adult, 18 and over
- £4 per child, ages 3 to 12
- Under 3s free
- Parking is included in the ticket
A booking fee is added, marshmallows and food cost extra, and no under-18s are let in without an adult. Pre-booking is essential, so this is not a turn-up event. The organisers now say torches are required, and they advise warm clothing and sturdy footwear, which is fair for a lakeside path at dusk in late October.
Barnes Fitness runs a separate fun run on the same site at 7.15pm, at £22 an adult and £17 for ages 11 to 17, and head or chest torches are compulsory: “NO TORCH = NO RUN”.
If you would rather be on the water, the activity centre’s Guided Evening Paddle runs the same evening, 5pm to 7pm on Black Swan Lake, at £30 an adult and £20 a child aged 8 or over, with a buoyancy aid, glow sticks and a hot chocolate back on shore (Guided Evening Paddle).
Daytime: the trail and the Pumpkin Fair
The Pumpkins and Phantoms Halloween Trail runs every day from Saturday 24 October to Sunday 1 November, 9am to 4pm, from the Dinton Activity Centre. You pick up a map at Reception, hunt for hidden pumpkins and ghosts on a loop of just under 2km, about 45 minutes, and hand the finished map back for a small prize. The paths are wheelchair and buggy accessible, adults do not need to book, and normal parking charges apply. The listing does not print the price per map, which shows in the booking system (Pumpkins and Phantoms).
The Pumpkin Fair is on Sunday 25 October, 11am to 3.30pm, at Dinton Pastures: donkey rides, farm animals, craft stalls, children’s rides and food. Entry is £2 and under-12s go free, there is no need to pre-book, dogs on leads are welcome and usual parking charges apply. JL Events, the organiser, is blunt on one point: “this is not a pumpkin patch” (Pumpkin Fair).
Childcare that week: Wild Days
If you need the daytime covered rather than the evening, the Wild Days holiday sessions run Monday to Friday through the half term week, 9.30am to 4.30pm, for ages 8 to 14, at the Dinton Activity Centre by Black Swan Lake. They cost £27 a half day or £54 a full day, and the activities are land and water sports on the lake (Autumn and Winter Wild Days).
Hallo’Welly’Ween at Wellington Country Park
Wellington Country Park at Riseley runs its Halloween week from Friday 23 to Saturday 31 October 2026, 9.30am to 4.30pm daily, in what it calls its 13th year. The park has published a full daily timetable rather than a vague listing (Hallo’Welly’Ween):
- Family circus shows in the Big Top on the Main Green at 11am, 1pm and 3pm, about 45 minutes each
- White Marquee shows and discos at 10.30am, 11.30am, 1.30pm and 2.30pm, about 30 minutes each
- Recycled crafts with Junk Jodie, 10am to 4pm, last entry 3.30pm
- Exotic animal encounters in the Adventure Room, 10am to 4pm, last entry 3.40pm
- Silent disco near soft play, 10.30am to 4pm
- Halloween train rides, 10.30am to 4pm, charged separately at £1 a person
- Pumpkin painting, with pumpkins bought outside Main Reception and charged by size
The animal farm sessions are now published: ferret racing at 11am, a chicken talk at noon, goat meet and greet at 1pm, pig talk at 1.30pm, enrichment making at 2pm and tortoise meet and greet at 3pm. The park still does not publish the day ticket price on the event page, so the cost only appears once you start a booking. The park also warns that sound, lighting and special effects run through the site, and asks anyone sensitive to those to call ahead on 0118 932 6444.
The alternative to fireworks, Sunday 1 November
Hollywood under the Stars is the borough’s answer to a bang-free display, and it lands the day after Halloween. Doors and pre-show run 5pm to 7.15pm with a brass band playing film themes, a DJ, a choir doing Disney and musical numbers, character walkabouts, rides and stalls, then a laser light show at 7.15pm lasting 25 to 30 minutes. Numbers are capped at 2,000 and there are no tickets on the gate. Tickets are £9.95 an adult, £5.95 a child and £7.95 for carers, who must show ID on arrival (Hollywood under the Stars).
The organisers are explicit about two things. Parking is a separate £5 per car, pre-booked only, valid from 4pm to 9pm, and dogs are not allowed, because of capacity limits and low lighting. Use the Davis Street entrance, RG10 0TH, with your confirmation email ready.
It is worth reading that alongside our fireworks page: the town’s own display at Cantley Park is a week later, on Saturday 7 November, and it is a very different evening.
Parking and getting there
Dinton Pastures charges for parking as normal, and only the Dinton After Dark ticket includes it; the trail, the Pumpkin Fair and the paddle all say normal charges apply. The two entrances are Davis Street, Hurst, RG10 0TH for the country park and Sandford Lane, Hurst, RG10 0SU for the Activity Centre, which is where the Wild Days and the workshops run. Our parking page covers the town centre tariffs if you are combining a trip with the shops, and the roadworks and travel page has anything closing that week.
Still to be published
- Paulo’s Circus weekday show times; the town council’s calendar gives weekend shows at 1pm, 3.30pm and 6.30pm and tickets at £9 to £14 (Love Wokingham).
- Hallo’Welly’Ween day entry, which Wellington shows only inside its booking system.
- Wokingham Libraries’ half term programme, which in past years has included Halloween story sessions run with the Dinton rangers.
We will update this page as each is published.
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