Pick pumpkins at Moggerhanger for £5 from 4 October, Russell's Halloween circus on Longholme Way from 23 October, then Halloween fireworks on the 30th.

Bedford’s Halloween is mostly out of town. The borough council has published no Halloween programme for 2026, and its park events calendar holds only one booking for half term: Russell’s Big Halloween Circus on Longholme Way. The pumpkins are at The Secret Farm in Moggerhanger, open from Sunday 4 October, and the two big attractions within reach, Wrest Park and Woburn Safari Park, both run Halloween programmes for the whole of half term, from Saturday 24 October to Sunday 1 November.

The quick answer

  • Pumpkin picking: The Secret Farm, Moggerhanger, MK44 3RA, weekends from 4 October and every day of half term, £5 a person aged 3 and over, booked ahead.
  • Russell’s Big Halloween Circus: Longholme Way, Friday 23 October to Sunday 1 November, shows at 3pm and 7pm most days.
  • Halloween itself is a Saturday this year. The Secret Farm closes at 3pm that day; its Halloween fireworks are the night before, Friday 30 October.

Bedford Borough schools break for half term from Monday 26 to Friday 30 October; some independent schools start a week earlier. Our October half term page has the school-by-school dates and the non-Halloween workshops at The Higgins.

Pumpkin picking at The Secret Farm, Moggerhanger

The Secret Farm on Blunham Road, Moggerhanger, is inside Bedford Borough, east of the town towards Sandy. Its “Secret Pumpkin” patch is in its sixth year, according to the farm’s ticket page.

Opening days, as the farm lists them:

  • Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 October, Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 October: 10am to 6pm.
  • Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 October, Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 October: 9am to 6pm.
  • Monday 26 to Thursday 29 October: 9am to 6pm.
  • Friday 30 October: closes at 5pm, so the field can be cleared for the fireworks.
  • Saturday 31 October: 9am to 3pm.

When we checked on 3 October, the booking calendar offered dates from Sunday 4 October onwards, so today’s session is no longer on sale online. The farm says tickets are reviewed daily and an empty date means nothing is left.

What it costs. Entry is £5 for everyone aged 3 and over; under-3s need no ticket. The ticket covers parking, a wheelbarrow, the straw maze, straw bale climbing, a graveyard and a “Hunt the Golden Pumpkin” game, pedal go-karts, mini tractors, a ground trampoline, children’s entertainers and an activity trail. Pumpkins are not included: the farm prices them by a measuring box, from £1 to £10 or more by size. Tractor rides, the scare maze, face painting, bouncy castles and pumpkin carving cost extra, paid with tokens bought on the day.

Rules worth knowing before you go. Tickets are arrival slots and you can stay until closing; arriving within 30 minutes of your slot is fine. Bookings are non-refundable and cannot be moved unless you added the 10% flexible ticket option at checkout, which allows one date change up to 24 hours before. Only guide and assistance dogs are allowed. The patch is an open field, so dress for mud. Card and cash are both taken, though some activity stations may not take cash.

Quieter sessions. A one-hour Special Educational Needs session runs before general opening on Sunday 11 October and Monday 26 October, with the music off, the pumpkin cannon stopped and fewer visitors, at the same £5 (SEN session page). Monday 12 October is set aside for home educators and childminders (home ed page).

Russell’s Big Halloween Circus, Longholme Way

Russells International Circus brings its Halloween show to Longholme Way, MK42 0BX, by the river south of the town centre, from Friday 23 October to Sunday 1 November. Show times on the circus’s tour page:

  • Every day at 3pm and 7pm, except:
  • Friday 23 October: 7pm only.
  • Sunday 25 October: noon and 3pm.
  • Sunday 1 November: noon only.

Online tickets carry a £2 booking fee per ticket and cannot be exchanged or refunded, according to the circus’s booking page. When we checked the listing on 28 September, grandstand seats were £22 for adults and £16 for children or concessions, rising to £26 and £20 ringside, and the on-site box office charged no booking fee.

The council’s own park events calendar books the site from 19 October, which covers the build; the circus itself gives 23 October as the first show.

Halloween half term at Wrest Park, Silsoe

English Heritage’s Wrest Park listing runs a Great Pumpkin Party from Saturday 24 October to Sunday 1 November 2026, 10am to 4pm: interactive storytelling, spooky games, a themed trail, a seasonal selfie spot and a fancy dress competition every day, with prizes.

It is included in normal admission, so there is no separate event ticket. English Heritage members get in free, and booking ahead saves 15% on the gate price. Bring the booking confirmation or a membership card. Wrest Park is at Silsoe, MK45 4HR, south of Bedford off the A6.

Woburn Safari Park: Madagas-scare half term

Woburn Safari Park’s half term page gives 24 October to 1 November 2026. Everything listed is included in a normal day ticket:

  • Spooky keeper talks and demonstrations. Collect six stamps on a card from the talks, post it in the cauldron at the Junglies Gift Shop, and you are in a draw for an off-road safari for four. One entry per family; the winner is contacted on 3 November.
  • The “ghostly” Great Woburn Railway, a miniature train from Bison Halt to Alpaca Outpost with Halloween tales from the driver. Feeding the alpacas costs £1 a pot.
  • Madagas-scare Charity Weekend, Saturday 31 October and Sunday 1 November, because Halloween falls on World Lemur Day. It raises money for IMPACT Madagascar.

The park’s page does not repeat the day ticket price, so check it on the booking page before you go.

Halloween night: the fireworks on Friday 30 October

The Secret Farm’s Halloween fireworks are the only display in the area on Halloween weekend: Friday 30 October, opening at 5pm, bonfire at 7.30pm, fireworks by Selstar at 8pm and music until 10.30pm. £14.50 for ages 12 and over, £7.50 for ages 3 to 11, under-3s free, and pre-booking is required.

The town’s big display, the Bedford Blues Fireworks Display and Funfair at Goldington Road, is a week later on Friday 6 November. Our fireworks page has times and prices for every display around Bedford.

What Bedford does not have

  • No council Halloween programme or town centre trail, so far. The council’s park events calendar lists nothing Halloween-themed for its parks apart from the circus, and its news pages carry no half term activities for 2026. If it announces any, we will add them here.
  • No Halloween show at the Corn Exchange this year. Two Halloween-titled shows sit on the venue’s listings, but one is an old 2023 tour date and the other is dated for 2027.

If you are running a Halloween event in Bedford, Kempston or the villages, email the date, time, venue and price to hello@bedfordtimes.co.uk and we will add it.

Getting there and parking

The Secret Farm and the circus both have parking on site; the farm’s is in the ticket price. Longholme Way is a short walk over the river from the town centre, so the evening shows are easy on foot from the town’s car parks. On Saturday 31 October the Blues play Hartpury at Goldington Road at 3pm and Bedford Town play Macclesfield at the Eyrie at 3pm, so expect traffic on both sides of town that afternoon.

Our page on parking in Bedford has car park prices and free hours, and the roadworks and travel page lists closures. For everything else on this month, see What’s On in Bedford.

This page was checked against each organiser’s own page on 3 October 2026 and will be updated before half term.

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