Nine of the ten Sevenoaks schools we checked break up on 16 October, not 23, so the local holiday is 19 to 30 October. What opens in each week, and the cost.

Kent County Council’s October half term is Monday 26 to Friday 30 October 2026. Almost no school in Sevenoaks follows it. Nine of the ten local schools we checked end Term 1 on Friday 16 October and do not reopen to pupils before Monday 2 November, which makes the holiday two weeks, 19 to 30 October, for most children in the town.

That is the single thing worth getting right before you book anything, because the two weeks are not alike. The first, 19 to 23 October, is the quieter one: the Halloween programmes at Hever, Leeds Castle, Riverhill and Godstone Farm are all already running by then, while the schools Kent maintains, and every school outside the district, are still in lessons. The second is Kent’s own week, when the clocks have gone back, the attractions are full and most garden seasons are days from closing.

This is a practical guide rather than a list: whose dates are whose, what is open in each week, what it costs, and what to do when it rains. Every date and price here comes from the school’s or the venue’s own website.

Whose half term? The dates split two ways

Kent County Council’s determined dates for 2026-27 put Term 1 from Tuesday 1 September to Friday 23 October 2026, the holiday from Monday 26 October to Friday 30 October, and Term 2 starting Monday 2 November (Kent County Council).

Those dates bind only the schools the county maintains. Academies, grammar schools and independent schools set their own, and in Sevenoaks that is almost every school. Knole Academy, Trinity School, Weald of Kent Grammar School, Sevenoaks School, Walthamstow Hall, Sevenoaks Prep, The New Beacon, Solefield and The Granville all end Term 1 on Friday 16 October and none reopens to pupils before Monday 2 November. Knole Academy gets there by putting three staff development days on 19, 20 and 21 October, immediately in front of the county holiday; Trinity simply publishes its half term as “19th Oct 2026 - 30th Oct 2026”; Walthamstow Hall gives it as Monday 19 to Friday 30 October.

Sevenoaks Primary School is the exception and even it does not match the county exactly: Term 1 ends Thursday 22 October and Friday 23 October is a staff development day (Sevenoaks Primary School). Our Kent school term dates page sets out all ten calendars school by school, with the training days and the December finishes. Check your own school before booking anything that costs money, and check it again if you have children at two of them, because a Sevenoaks household can easily have one child off on 19 October and the other in school until the 23rd.

Date strip for October half term 2026 in Sevenoaks: most local schools break up 16 October, the extra local week runs 19 to 23 October, Kent's Term 1 ends 23 October, clocks go back 25 October, Kent's half term is 26 to 30 October, Halloween 31 October, garden seasons end 1 November and Kent's Term 2 starts 2 November
Two break dates, a week apart, and the catches either side: the clocks change between the two weeks, and the garden seasons end the day after the second one finishes.
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What is on and what it costs

October half term options near Sevenoaks, with cost and opening, drawn from the sections below
PlaceCostOpen in half termBest for
Knole ParkFree on footDaily, dawn to duskDeer, running about, no planning
Sevenoaks Wildlife ReserveFree, parking £2.50 to £3.50Daily, dawn to duskPlay park, hides, cafe
Hever CastleFrom £19.95 adult onlineDaily to 1 NovA whole day, Halloween trail included
Riverhill Gardens£14 adult, £7.50 childWed to Sun onlyPumpkin festival, half a day
Godstone Farm£19.95 from age twoDaily, 10am to 4.45pmWet weather, under 8s, Halloween included
Bedgebury ForestFree entry, paid parkingDaily from 8amBikes, Go Ape, long walks

The single most useful thing to know is that Riverhill is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, which are exactly the days most families are looking for something to do (Riverhill Himalayan Gardens).

Week one, 19 to 23 October: use it

If your school is one of the nine, the first week is the better half of the holiday and hardly anyone treats it that way. Every Halloween programme within reach of Sevenoaks opens on Saturday 17 October, two days before it starts, so nothing is waiting for the county’s week:

  • Hever Castle, Spooktacular Science, 17 October to 1 November, included with admission (Hever Castle)
  • Leeds Castle, 17 October to 1 November, included with admission (Leeds Castle)
  • Godstone Farm, 17 October to 1 November, no separate ticket (Godstone Farm)
  • Riverhill’s Pumpkin Festival, 17 October to 1 November, though the gardens open Wednesday to Sunday, so Monday 19 and Tuesday 20 are out (Riverhill Himalayan Gardens)
  • The Gruffalo trail at Knole, up in the parkland until Sunday 1 November (National Trust)

What you gain by going in week one is space. The schools Kent maintains, which is most of the county outside this district, are in lessons until Friday 23 October, as are the schools in every neighbouring authority, so the car parks, the trails and the cafes are working an ordinary term-time Tuesday rather than a national holiday. The clocks have not gone back either, so a 19 to 23 October afternoon has an hour of daylight that the same afternoon a week later does not.

Two things do wait for the second week. Hever’s face painting, the one paid extra in its programme, runs on 17 and 18, 22 to 25 and 29 to 31 October only, so it is not on for the first three days of the local break (Hever Castle). And Godstone Farm’s Mini Fireworks Festival is fixed to the weekend of 24 and 25 October. Beyond those, week one buys the same programme with fewer people in it.

The free days out

Knole Park is the obvious one and still the best. Pedestrians walk into the 1,000-acre medieval deer park free of charge, without booking, dawn to dusk, and the fallow and sika herd roams loose across it (National Trust). You only pay to go inside the house or to use the car park, so walking up from the town centre costs nothing at all. If the weather turns, the showrooms open 11am to 4pm, with an outdoor and tower ticket at £6 for an adult and £3 for a child, or £19 and £9.50 for the ticket that includes the showrooms (National Trust). One caveat for half term: twelve giant Gruffalo sculptures are up in the parkland until Sunday 1 November, and the free walk-in does not cover them. The Trust counts the trail as part of normal admission, so the minimum is an Outdoor and Tower ticket per person, pre-booked (National Trust). The deer, the walks and the views stay free. Our Gruffalo trail at Knole Park guide has the prices and the access detail.

Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve on Bradbourne Vale Road is free to enter, open daily dawn to dusk, and has bird hides, five lakes and a new play park following the £2.1 million refurbishment of the Jeffery Harrison Visitor Centre in March 2026. You pay only for parking, at £2.50 on weekdays and £3.50 at weekends, card only, and the visitor centre opens 10am to 4pm on weekdays and 9am to 5pm at weekends (Kent Wildlife Trust).

Two Kent country parks are worth the short drive. Lullingstone Country Park at Eynsford, postcode DA4 0JF, has a Discovery Trail with a zip wire, over 300 veteran trees and a visitor centre with a cafe, and it runs activity trails during school holidays (Explore Kent). Trosley Country Park near Vigo, DA13 0SG, has three waymarked routes including a yellow easy-access trail suitable for buggies and wheelchairs, plus the Bluebell Cafe. Both open 9am to dusk (Explore Kent).

The bigger paid days out

Hever Castle is the strongest single option this half term because its Halloween Half Term Fun runs 17 October to 1 November 2026 and is included with normal admission (Hever Castle). The programme was still unnamed in August and is now published: the theme is Spooktacular Science, with a Mad Scientists trail round the grounds collecting hidden letters, a goggle-making craft in the Garden Exhibition from 11am to 4pm, and Dr Frankenstein’s Science Adventure Show at the Think Tank at 11.30am, 12.30pm, 2pm and 3pm. Activities run 10.30am to 4.30pm and the trails shut at 4pm. Face painting is the only extra, at £6 a child, first come first served through the Courtyard Shop, and it runs on 17 and 18, 22 to 25 and 29 to 31 October only (Hever Castle). Booked online for the 2 September to 19 November period, a Gardens Only ticket is £19.95 for an adult and £12.50 for a child aged 5 to 17, or £54.65 for a family of two adults and up to three children. Castle and Gardens costs £25.50, £14.05 and £66.60, and both cost more bought at the gate (Hever Castle). With 125 acres, a yew maze, water maze, playgrounds and the lake walk, it is one of the few places near Sevenoaks that genuinely fills a whole day with young children.

Leeds Castle runs its Halloween event from 17 October to 1 November 2026 (moved forward a week from the 24 October start it first listed), also included with admission, though in early September the castle was still saying that plans were being finalised and would be announced later in the year (Leeds Castle). It is about forty minutes away on the M26 and M20.

Riverhill Himalayan Gardens, two miles from the town centre, holds its Pumpkin Festival as the season finale, and the 2026 dates now run right through half term: 17 October to 1 November, 10am to 4pm, with a pumpkin hunt and a carving grotto and no booking needed (Riverhill Himalayan Gardens). Admission is £14 for an adult, £7.50 for a child aged four and over and £39 for a family, and the gardens open Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm, cashless (Riverhill Himalayan Gardens). Those closed days take Monday 19 and Tuesday 20 out of the first week and Monday 26 and Tuesday 27 out of the second, so plan Riverhill for a Wednesday onwards either way.

Lullingstone Castle at Eynsford closes its twenty-first season with Halloween Magic on Saturday 31 October, 11am to 6pm, with pumpkin carving, a pumpkin trail, torchlit garden tours and a live-animal session. Adults pay £13.50, under 16s go free, and there is no pre-booking (Lullingstone Castle). Our Lullingstone Castle and World Garden guide covers the estate, the free Roman villa next door and the country park, and our Halloween events guide has the full picture on all of these.

When it rains

It will, at some point in the week. Three answers.

Godstone Farm, about twenty-five minutes west on the A25, has over 500 animals, what it calls Surrey’s largest indoor soft play, an outdoor adventure playground and a dinosaur discovery trail. It opens 10am to 4.45pm with free parking, at Tilburstow Hill Road, Godstone, RH9 8LX. Its Halloween programme covers the whole break, 17 October to 1 November, and needs no separate ticket: a mystery trail with prizes, a daily craft session, reptiles and creepy crawlies, and the farm’s dinosaur character. Admission is £19.95 for an adult and for any child aged two or over, £9.95 at age one, free under one and free for carers, with pumpkins to carve at £5 and marshmallows to toast at £3.50 bought on the day (Godstone Farm). For nearer options, see our guide to soft play near Sevenoaks.

The Stag on London Road is the town’s own answer: a not-for-profit community arts centre with two cinema screens, a 451-seat theatre and a studio, running current-release films alongside live shows (Ents24). Check the week’s listings for what is on, because the holiday programme goes up close to the date. It is a five-minute walk from the High Street.

Knole’s showrooms are the cheap indoor option if you are already walking in the park, at £19 for an adult including the outdoor and tower ticket (National Trust).

The fireworks night that opens the break

The same farm runs a Mini Fireworks Festival on Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 October 2026, the weekend between the two weeks, gates from 4.30pm and the display at about 7pm. It is sold as a sensory-friendly, low-bangs show with lasers rather than bangs, with stilt walkers, fire performers and a children’s disco around it, and the ticket buys after-hours use of the indoor soft play and the outdoor play areas. It costs £17.95 for an adult and for a child aged two or over, £13.95 under two, free under one and free for carers, and numbers are capped, so it is pre-book only (Godstone Farm).

What it means for you: it is a week before the first of the local bonfire nights, Tonbridge on 1 November, and the low-noise format is the one to pick for a child who found last year’s display too loud. Our fireworks displays near Sevenoaks page has the November dates.

Two dates that catch people out

The clocks go back on Sunday 25 October 2026, which falls neatly between the two weeks. From the Monday onwards it is dark by about half past four, so afternoon plans in the second week need to start earlier than you think, and anything that wants daylight is better done in the first.

Venues adjust accordingly. Bedgebury National Pinetum and Forest at Goudhurst, TN17 2SJ, is open daily from 8am, but its closing time drops from 8pm to 5pm on 27 October 2026, in the middle of the second week. Go Ape runs 10am to 2pm and the cafe until 4pm on weekdays and 5pm at weekends (Forestry England).

Most garden seasons end around 1 November. Riverhill treats its Pumpkin Festival as the season finale, Hever’s Autumn Colour ends on 1 November and Lullingstone’s World Garden closes on 31 October (Hever Castle; Lullingstone Castle). Half term really is the last chance at these until spring.

Free holiday clubs do not run in October

Worth knowing before you go looking. Kent’s Holiday Activities and Food programme pays for free holiday clubs, with a healthy meal, for children aged 4 to 16 on benefits-related free school meals, but the council’s own wording is that it offers those places “in the Easter, summer and Christmas holidays”, so there is no HAF provision at October half term (Kent County Council). The next window is Christmas.

Two things to know for when it does run. Places are for children from Reception to Year 11 who get benefit-related free school meals, and children on universal infant free school meals are not eligible, which catches out a lot of families with a child in Reception to Year 2. And you cannot simply turn up: you request a place through the link in the HAF e-voucher your child’s school sends you, or email kenthaf@kent.gov.uk if the school cannot help (Kent County Council).

For this half term, the free options are the ones at the top of this page: Knole Park, Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve, and the two country parks.

If you want to build the week out further, the pumpkin picking guide covers the Kent farms and their booking rules, family walks near Sevenoaks has the routes that work with small legs, our year-round guide to things to do with kids in Sevenoaks has the indoor and wet-weather options for the other school holidays, and things to do in Sevenoaks covers the rest of the year.

Frequently asked questions

When is October half term 2026 in Sevenoaks? For most children in the town it runs Monday 19 to Friday 30 October 2026, a fortnight. Nine of the ten local schools we checked end Term 1 on Friday 16 October and none reopens to pupils before Monday 2 November: Knole Academy, Trinity School, Weald of Kent Grammar School, Sevenoaks School, Walthamstow Hall, Sevenoaks Prep, The New Beacon, Solefield and The Granville. Kent County Council’s own determined half term, which binds only the schools it maintains, is the single week of Monday 26 to Friday 30 October (Kent County Council). See the Kent school term dates page for all ten, calendar by calendar.

Is anything open in the extra week, 19 to 23 October? All of it. The Halloween programmes at Hever Castle, Leeds Castle, Godstone Farm and Riverhill all start on Saturday 17 October and run to 1 November, and the Gruffalo trail at Knole is up until 1 November too (Hever Castle; Riverhill Himalayan Gardens). Riverhill is the only catch, shut on Monday 19 and Tuesday 20 as it is every Monday and Tuesday of the season.

What can you do in Sevenoaks in half term for free? Walk into Knole Park, which is free on foot and open dawn to dusk with a wild deer herd (National Trust), or go to Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve, which is free to enter with a new play park and only charges for parking (Kent Wildlife Trust). Lullingstone and Trosley country parks are also free to walk in.

What is open near Sevenoaks on the Monday and Tuesday of Kent’s half term week? Knole Park, Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve, both country parks, Bedgebury and Godstone Farm all open daily, and Hever’s Halloween run covers 17 October to 1 November without a break. Riverhill Himalayan Gardens is the exception, closed Mondays and Tuesdays throughout its season (Riverhill Himalayan Gardens).

What is there to do with toddlers in October half term? Godstone Farm covers indoor soft play and animals in one ticket (Godstone Farm), and Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve has the play park, cafe and flat paths with no admission charge (Kent Wildlife Trust). Lullingstone Castle’s Halloween day on 31 October is free for under 16s (Lullingstone Castle).

Is there a free holiday club in Sevenoaks at half term? Not through the county scheme. Kent’s Holiday Activities and Food programme funds free places, with a meal, for children on benefits-related free school meals, but only in the Easter, summer and Christmas holidays, so October half term is not covered and the next window is Christmas (Kent County Council). Children on universal infant free school meals are not eligible even when it does run.

Do I need to book half term activities in advance? Book online for Hever, Leeds Castle and Godstone Farm, all of which price online tickets below the gate price (Hever Castle; Leeds Castle). Godstone Farm’s fireworks nights on 24 and 25 October are pre-book only and capped (Godstone Farm). Riverhill and Lullingstone Castle take no bookings at all (Riverhill Himalayan Gardens; Lullingstone Castle), and the parks and reserves need nothing.

How much does a half term day out near Sevenoaks cost? Anywhere from nothing to about £55 for a family. Knole Park and the reserves cost only parking. Riverhill is £39 for a family ticket. Hever is £54.65 for a family Gardens Only ticket booked online, which buys the largest single site and includes the Halloween programme (Riverhill Himalayan Gardens; Hever Castle).

Sources

Prices and opening times were re-checked against each venue’s own website on 8 September 2026. The school calendars, and the Hever and Riverhill Halloween dates, were read again at source on 23 September 2026. Leeds Castle’s programme is still unpublished and the Stag has loaded no half-term film listings yet, so check those two again in October.