A day at Powderham Castle’s ‘Festival of Frights’ #DevonBloggerSquad

Over the holidays, Lynsey attended The Festival Of Frights event for Halloween at Powderham Castle in Devon. It was their first visit there and here’s what she thought of it..

The little homewreckers were up at silly O’Clock dressed in their spooktastic attire and raring to go! My eldest opted for Frankenstein’s Bride, middle child chose to be a witch and smallest decided to be scary Optimus Prime with a lightsabre (pretty scary in my opinion).

We arrived at 11.15

There was a bit of a queue, but the children were handed a bag of sweets to keep them occupied (which was a nice touch). We collected our tickets and spooky trail sheets from the delightful team at the ticket booth. The kids had to find ten numbered pumpkins, Cobwell the Owl, Squeak the Rat and Casper the Owl to receive a prize at the end of the day.

12 noon

We headed to the spooky school (in the old riding school) to meet Professors; Delores Pendragon, Morticia Sanderson, Clarissa Nyx, Withermena Ravencroft and Azura Darke from the Pocketwatch Theatre Company. Here we made a potion to bring “Jeff” back from the dead. The Professors were on hand helping out all of the little ones, which made it a stress free couple of hours.

If you feel like trying the potion out, you will need

Gentian Violet, Werewolf fur, Bat Bogey, Coffee Beans x2 , Peppermint leaves, Lavender Petals and finally Mix with a warty finger.

My eldest (9), middle child (8) and smallest (5) were all captivated throughout the performance and potion making. They especially enjoyed digging out the warty finger from the graveyard. Once the potion was complete it was showered over Jeff…..and then he awoke! …Racing around the barn and fleeing through the door.

Afterwards the Children were invited to participate in crafts, each were given a wooden Halloween themed placard to decorate with paints, tissue paper and sequins. To finish of the Spooky school you had the option of either a glitter tattoo or facepaints.

1.45pm

We headed off to the Deer Park Safari. We all loved jumping on this HUGE trailer pulled along by a tractor, which was driven around to view all of the amazing views of the 3500 acre grounds and the Exe Estuary. My three have never seen so many fallow deer, from the ferns through to the giant stags.

2.30pm

We decided to have a look at Walled Garden Play area and Pets Corner. Which is home to various pets including pigs, goats, chickens, sheep, hamsters, chinchilla’s, stick insects, birds and tortoises…Including a giant tortoise who we had the pleasure to feed.

3.30pm

Off to the Castle to join the guided Ghost Tour!… We were greeted at the main doors by a “stern” ghostly maid and the Butler. As we headed through we were told of ghostly going-ons throughout the 600 years, shown the secret doors saw the fabulously decorated Staircase Hall. All while the Stern Maid crept through the crowds, staring and standing motionless.

At the end of the day the Children excitedly handed in their Spooky Trail sheets to the gift shop to receive their prize.

To sum up the day

We all had a spooktastic time at this amazing event, and highly recommend it. We’ve already put it in our diaries for next year – Especially as all three Children were asleep by 8pm – record time in our house!

More information on Powderham Castle here.

Other blogs you might like

Halloween at World Of Country Life

Halloween at Crealy

5 Halloween activities in Exeter

About the Author: Lynsey Hill

Originally from Essex, Lynsey moved to Starcross, Devon with her Husband in 2001. She loves Exeter and currently lives in Newton Abbot with her husband, their Three Children, Cheeky the hamster and Slither the African land snail.

Lynsey is passionate about living a frugal lifestyle and passing on her tips and knowledge to the future generations through her blog Optimum Frugal. 

Disclaimer: We received free passes for the day but all opinion is OURS!!