Dorset Council's half term is 26 to 30 October, Thomas Hardye pupils are off from 21 October. Nine things on that week, with prices from the organisers.

Dorset Council’s October half term is Monday 26 to Friday 30 October 2026. That is the week for The Gryphon School in Sherborne, The Blandford School and every primary the council maintains. It is not the week for everyone: The Thomas Hardye School in Dorchester finishes on Tuesday 20 October and has INSET days on 21, 22 and 23 October, and Bryanston is off from Friday 16 October to Sunday 1 November. Check your own school before you book, because a Dorchester household can easily have one child in school and one out on the same day.

The attractions have planned for the council week and the weekend either side. Nothe Fort’s Halloween programme runs from Saturday 24 October to Sunday 1 November, the Tank Museum’s half-term activities cover the same nine days, and Abbotsbury Swannery closes for the winter at the end of the month. Below are the things that were actually listed by their organisers on 25 September, with prices from their own sites. Details for the week are still being added by some venues; the gaps are marked.

The quick answer

  • Dates: 26 to 30 October for council schools, The Gryphon and The Blandford School. Thomas Hardye: off from 21 October. Bryanston: 16 October to 1 November. Full calendars on our school term dates page.
  • Best value indoors: the Tank Museum, open 10am to 5pm with half-term activities from 24 October to 1 November; online tickets are £19.60 an adult and £4.80 a child and every ticket is a free annual pass.
  • Best value outdoors: Moors Valley’s Great Halloween Mystery trail at £3.50 a pack, running until 1 November, or Kingston Lacy, where parking is free.

Whose week it is

Dorset Council’s published calendar puts the first half of the autumn term from Tuesday 1 September to Friday 23 October, the holiday from 26 to 30 October, and the return on Monday 2 November.

The Thomas Hardye School lists Tuesday 20 October as the “last day of half term for students”, then three INSET days, so its pupils have Wednesday 21 October to Friday 30 October off. The Gryphon School has a single INSET day on Friday 23 October, so its pupils start the break a day early. The Blandford School matches the council week exactly. Bryanston gives its half term as 16 October to 1 November.

The clocks go back on Sunday 25 October, the night before the council week starts, so the whole week has dark by about 5pm. That is why the Halloween evening events below are timed as they are.

What is on, and what it costs

Nothe Fort, Weymouth: Halloween Half-Term Fun, Saturday 24 October to Sunday 1 November, 10am to 4pm. The fort’s event page lists a Halloween mouse hunt, a wand-making workshop, pumpkin golf, games in the family room, ghosty boo bowling and crafts every day, plus spooky bingo at 11am and 2pm. Family ghost tours are limited to ten people and booked free at the shop desk on the day; their dates were “to be announced”. All of it is “included in the price of admission and is FREE with an Annual Pass”. Admission on the fort’s what’s on page is £11 adult, £4.50 child (5 to 16), £26.50 family of four, under-5s free. For older teenagers and adults, Nothe of the Living Dead: The Freak Circus runs on 30 and 31 October from 6pm and is ticketed separately. The fort closes for the season after 1 November.

The Tank Museum, Bovington: October half term, 24 October to 1 November, 10am to 5pm. The museum’s half-term page lists a Magical Mouse Witch Trail through the exhibitions, a creepy colouring station, a COBI brick-building competition, Commander Basil’s Spook-taculator quiz, dress-up in the Second World War galleries, the outdoor play area on the Centurion and Mark II tanks, free soft play for ages 3 to 11, and daily Vehicle Conservation Centre tours from 1.30pm to 3pm. Online tickets, which the museum says save 20 per cent, are £19.60 adult, £4.80 child (3 to 15), £12.25 concession, under-3s and serving military free, and every ticket comes with a free annual pass.

Moors Valley Country Park, near Verwood: Halloween, throughout October. Moors Valley’s Halloween page has the most to choose from. The Great Halloween Mystery trail runs 1 October to 1 November, 9am to 5pm, at £3.50 a pack including a prize, for ages 4 and up; the Room on the Broom trail is £4 a pack. The Halloween Experience, an after-dark booked event, runs 23 October to 1 November with sessions from 4pm to 9pm. Booked workshops in the week are a wall clock creation session on 27 or 29 October at £7 and Halloween suncatcher making on 28 October at £4 a child. The Moors Valley Railway runs daily from 24 October to 1 November, 10.45am to 4.30pm, from £3.20 a person, and the Adventure Valley Land Rovers run daily the same week, 11am to 3pm, at £9 a car for two laps. Halloween laser tag is from £23 a person for ages 8 and up. Parking is charged; the park’s own site has the tariff.

Abbotsbury Swannery: last week of the season. The Swannery is open “Mid-March until End of October”, 10am to 5pm with last entry at 4pm, at £15 adult, £7.50 child (5 to 15), under-5s free, according to its prices and opening times page, which advertises “HALF TERM HALF PRICE - Halloween Ghostly Games”. Last year’s Halloween week was cancelled when the Swannery closed early over suspected bird flu, so check the site the day before you go.

Monkey World, Wool: open daily, 10am to 5pm. No half-term event is listed, but the park is open every day except Christmas Day and the entrance prices page gives £19 adult and £12.75 child (3 to 15) at the gate, or £18 and £12 online, with a family of four at £53.50 at the gate or £50.75 online. An autism-friendly early opening at 9am is on Saturday 17 October, the weekend before the council week.

Kingston Lacy, Wimborne. The National Trust house and parkland near Wimborne is open through the autumn, with free parking for all visitors and admission of £23 adult, £11.50 child (5 to 17) and £57.50 for a family, from the Trust’s Kingston Lacy page. The Trust’s events listing for October would not load for us; the house’s Christmas ball opens on 21 November, and our Kingston Lacy at Christmas page has that season’s detail.

Dorset Museum, Dorchester: open daily, 10am to 5pm, last entry 4pm. The museum’s what’s on page had no half-term event listed on 25 September beyond a quiet opening on Saturday 3 October, 10am to noon. It is the wet-weather option in the county town; admission is on the museum’s tickets page.

Swanage Railway. The railway’s timetable calendar shows a Halloween timetable in the half-term week alongside its ordinary autumn services. Day Freedom tickets on the tickets page are £27.50 adult, £14 child (5 to 15) and £77.50 for a family, valid all day between Swanage, Corfe Castle and Norden. The railway suggests parking at Norden, where the park-and-ride sits next to the station, rather than driving into Swanage.

Free: the beaches and Maiden Castle. Neither needs a ticket, and our things to do in Dorset page has the costs of a full day out for a family at each of the paid attractions for comparison.

Getting there

Our roadworks and travel page has the current closures, and the parking in Dorset page has the town-centre car parks and charges.

Still to come

  • Nothe Fort’s family ghost tour dates.
  • The National Trust’s October events at Kingston Lacy and Corfe Castle, which we could not read on 25 September.
  • Any Dorset Museum or Dorset Council library half-term programme, if published.

Sources