Halloween near St Albans: Pop Up Farm pumpkins from £8.15, Willows' festival to 31 October, Hatfield Park's Haunted Forest from £8 and every date to book.

Halloween 2026 falls on a Saturday, at the end of Hertfordshire’s half-term week (26 to 30 October). St Albans has no council-run Halloween event, so the season belongs to the pumpkin patches on the edge of the district and to Hatfield Park. The first of them, The Pop Up Farm at M1 junction 9, opens today.

The quick answer

  • Pumpkin picking starts 4 October at The Pop Up Farm, M1 junction 9 (AL3 8HT), on set days through October, 9.30am to 4.30pm, pre-booked tickets £8.15 to £11.20 (The Pop Up Farm booking page)
  • Willows Pumpkin Festival runs 10 and 11, 17 and 18, and 23 to 31 October in London Colney; adults and children over 90cm pay £20.95 to £22.95 plus 75p, and each paying child picks a free pumpkin (Willows Activity Farm)
  • Hatfield Park’s Witches and Wizards Week is 24 October to 1 November, adult £16, child £8, parking free (Hatfield House)

The Pop Up Farm, M1 junction 9

The Pop Up Farm opens for a handful of ticketed events a year, and its Pumpkin and Squash Festival is the first Halloween event in the district this year. Its booking page lists the 2026 festival from Sunday 4 October, 9.30am to 4.30pm, on set days through the month, with tickets £8.15 to £11.20. Tickets are pre-booked online by date.

The address is The Pop Up Farm, M1 Junction 9, Flamstead, AL3 8HT, which is the roundabout where the A5183 from Redbourn meets the motorway.

The farm also runs Moonlit Pumpkins on Thursday 29 October, 6.30pm to 9.30pm: the patch after dark with firepits, marshmallows, live music and hot apple cider. Its booking page shows tickets up to £9.47 (Moonlit Pumpkins).

Willows Pumpkin Festival, London Colney

Willows Activity Farm on Coursers Road (AL4 0PF) is the big family day out of the season. The farm lists the festival as “10th/ 11th, 17th/ 18th and 23rd – 31st October”. The ticket covers pumpkin picking and a pumpkin hunt, a Halloween maze, arts and crafts, character shows including the farm’s own Patch the Pumpkin, a Halloween disco, tractor rides and the usual Peter Rabbit play areas (Willows Activity Farm).

Prices on the farm’s booking site, read 4 October:

  • Adult (16 and over): £20.95 to £22.95 plus 75p booking fee; adults must come with a child
  • Child 90cm and over: £20.95 to £22.95 plus 75p, including one free standard pumpkin from the patch
  • Child under 90cm: free plus 75p, or £2.95 plus 75p to pick a pumpkin
  • Essential companions with an Access Card or similar go free

(Willows booking site)

The half-term programme (23 to 31 October) has the Halloween maze, pumpkin patch and pumpkin carving open from 10am to 4.30pm last entry, the Mini Monster Mash Disco at the Ranch from 4.30pm to 5.10pm, and the farm closing at 5.30pm (Willows programme, 23 to 31 October). The farm is cashless. Members do not need to book.

For pre-school children in term time, Willows runs a Pre-School Pumpkin Patch on weekdays from 12 to 22 October, with pumpkin picking, tractor rides and funfair rides, at £17.95 online or £18.95 on the day, plus 75p (Willows pre-school pumpkin patch).

Hatfield Park: Witches and Wizards Week

Hatfield Park’s half-term event runs Saturday 24 October to Sunday 1 November. A ticket gets you into the park and the Haunted Forest walk through the Woodland Walks (10.30am to 4pm, last entry 3pm), plus one drop-in hat-decorating workshop run by Splodgers in the Riding School (11am to 4pm, last entry 3pm). Children keep the hat.

  • Adult, Haunted Forest and workshop: £16
  • Child, Haunted Forest and workshop: £8
  • Hat-decorating workshop only: £12

Drivers should use George’s Gate for the main visitors’ car park (AL9 5HX), and parking is free. The pedestrian entrance is opposite Hatfield station. The house warns that the woodland paths are grassy, uneven and muddy, so wellies are sensible (Hatfield House).

In town: concerts and films

  • Halloween In Concert, Friday 23 October, 7.30pm, The Alban Arena. A live band and a prize for the best costume, from £31 plus a £3.50 transaction fee (The Alban Arena)
  • The Odyssey on London Road is showing Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom from Saturday 10 October and Hocus Pocus (1993) from Monday 26 October (Odyssey Pictures)
  • Ghost walks: the City of St Albans Tour Guides run their Ghosts and Ghouls walk “at Halloween and over the winter months”, plus Haunted Harpenden, but had no 2026 dates on their public walks page on 4 October. They say the content may not suit children under 12 (St Albans Tour Guides public walks)

Is there a city centre Halloween trail this year?

Not announced yet. The St Albans City Centre BID has run free shop-window Halloween trails in past years (the 2024 one, Totally Spooking Out, ran from 19 October to Halloween), but the Enjoy St Albans Halloween page still carries the 2024 programme and no 2026 trail had been listed by 4 October (Enjoy St Albans). This page will add it if one is published. For non-spooky half-term days out, Verulamium Museum has a mosaic workshop on 26 October and Archaeology for Families from 27 to 30 October (St Albans Museums); the rest of the week is on our half term page.

Parking and getting there

Both farms are outside the city: Willows is on Coursers Road, London Colney, and The Pop Up Farm is on the M1 junction 9 roundabout. The A414 and M1 closures on our St Albans roadworks page are worth checking before a half-term trip. For the Arena and the Odyssey, our parking in St Albans page has every council car park and tariff.

What is still to be confirmed

  • A 2026 city centre Halloween trail from the St Albans City Centre BID: none listed yet.
  • The Pop Up Farm’s exact open days after 4 October: shown only in its booking calendar.
  • Ghosts and Ghouls walk dates: none published by 4 October.