Free-entry pumpkin picking at Sompting to 31 October, Connaught Horror-Fest films from £6, £5.75 museum crafts and a ghost train: Worthing's Halloween, checked.

Worthing has no single town Halloween event, so the season is spread around it. The biggest draw is the pick-your-own pumpkin field at Sompting, free to get in and open daily through half term. The Connaught’s Horror-Fest film season has its scariest dates in Halloween week, and the museum runs £5.75 craft workshops.

The quick answer

  • Pumpkin picking: Sompting Pumpkins on Halewick Lane, BN15 0NE, is open weekends from 3 October and every day from 24 to 31 October, 10am to 4pm. Entry and parking are free; you pay for pumpkins by size.
  • On Halloween night: Halloween III at the Connaught at 8.15pm (from £6), or Amberley Museum’s ghost train from 6.30pm (£17, 12 and over).
  • For young children: the museum’s Spooky Crafts workshop on Thursday 29 October (ages 7 to 11, £5.75), and WWT Arundel’s scare-free SUPER Natural week from 24 October to 1 November.
  • Half term for West Sussex council schools is 26 to 30 October. Some schools break earlier; see our October half term page.

Everything below was checked on 3 October 2026 against each organiser’s own page, linked in each entry. WTM prices are the lowest ticket before its transaction fee, which is 75p for films and workshops and £1.75 for shows.

Pumpkin picking at Sompting

The nearest pumpkin field to Worthing is Sompting Pumpkins, at Lychpole Farm on Halewick Lane, just off the A27 on the eastern edge of the borough. It is run by the family who farm the land; the FAQ is pointed about it, saying they “took the event back in house in 2022” and are not the separate Picking Patch business that shares the same Google pin.

The 2026 dates, from the farm’s FAQ page:

Dates Hours
Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 October 10am to 4pm, last entry 3.30pm
Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 October 10am to 4pm, last entry 3.30pm
Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 October 10am to 4pm, last entry 3.30pm
Saturday 24 to Saturday 31 October, every day 10am to 4pm, last entry 3.30pm
  • Entry and parking are free, and you do not need to book.
  • Pumpkins are priced by size. The team measures them before you pay at the craft and activity area. The farm has not published prices.
  • Cash and card are both taken.
  • Tractor rides at weekends, a face painter every day, and Halloween crafts in a marquee.
  • Food stalls sell burgers, ice cream, coffee, soft drinks and cakes.
  • No dogs in the pumpkin field. They are welcome in the car park, which joins the footpaths on the Downs.
  • The farm says there is a bus stop on Halewick Lane, and it stays open in the rain unless the site becomes unsafe. Wear boots.

(Sompting Pumpkins, FAQs)

Horror-Fest at the Connaught

Worthing Theatres and Museum’s cinema runs a horror season every autumn, and the 2026 Horror-Fest is now on sale. Each screening has a “Trick or Treat” snack pack for £5.50: a small popcorn, a small drink and a bag of Halloween sweets. ID is checked for 15 and 18 certificates.

  • Manhunter, Thursday 29 October, 8.15pm, Connaught Theatre. Michael Mann’s first Hannibal Lecktor film. Certificate 18, from £6 (WTM).
  • The Silence of the Lambs, Friday 30 October, 8.15pm, Connaught Theatre. Certificate 15, from £6 (WTM).
  • Halloween III: Season of the Witch, Saturday 31 October, 8.15pm, Connaught Theatre. The Halloween-night film. Certificate 15, from £6 (WTM).
  • Donnie Darko, Monday 2 November, 8.15pm, Connaught Theatre. Certificate 15, from £6 (WTM).
  • Pan’s Labyrinth in 3D, Wednesday 4 November, 8pm, Connaught Studio. Certificate 15, from £7 (WTM).

Cape Fear opens the season on Sunday 4 and Tuesday 6 October (WTM). Outside Horror-Fest, the Connaught is showing Hammer’s Dracula in a new 4K restoration on Thursday 22 October at 6pm (certificate 12A, from £5.50) (WTM).

For children, Saturday Morning Pictures has Minions & Monsters on Saturday 17 October at 10.15am in the Connaught Studio, certificate U, from £4 (WTM).

Halloween for children in Worthing

  • Kids Workshop: Spooky Crafts, Thursday 29 October, 2pm, Worthing Museum and Art Gallery, Chapel Road. Pumpkins, witches, bats and cats, for ages 7 to 11, 90 minutes, materials included. From £5.75 (WTM).
  • Kids Workshop: Autumn Crafts, Thursday 29 October, 11am, same venue. Leaves, pine cones and twigs, for ages 5 to 7. From £5.75 (WTM).
  • Lantern making with twigs and tissue, Wednesday 28 October, 11am, same venue. From £5.75 (WTM).

Workshop places are limited and booked through WTM. Highdown Gardens has no Halloween event listed this year, but entry is free and in October it is open every day from 10am to 4.30pm (Highdown Gardens, opening times). Its autumn photography sessions include one on 29 October (Highdown Gardens).

Halloween for adults

  • Halloween in Concert, Thursday 22 October, 7.30pm, Assembly Hall, Stoke Abbott Road. Halloween songs with a live band; under 14s must be with an adult. From £23.75 (WTM).
  • Halloween pumpkin arrangements with Bloomin’ Great, Thursday 22 October, 6pm to 8pm, Bay Cafe, The SAND Project, 1 Thorn Road. The college announced it in September as part of its autumn programme; no price or booking route has been published (our report).
  • Sight Support Worthing Halloween Quiz, Wednesday 28 October, 6pm to 9pm, Rose & Crown, BN11 3DA. Teams of up to six, with a prize for the winners and another for the best outfit (Sight Support Worthing).

The big attractions within half an hour

WWT Arundel Wetland Centre, Mill Road, Arundel, BN18 9PB, runs SUPER Natural from 24 October to 1 November. WWT calls it a “scare-free” Halloween for younger children. Daily activities are a willow wand workshop (11am to 12.30pm and 1.30pm to 3.30pm), a marshland potion, a toadstool craft and a self-led fungi hunt. A fancy dress silent disco and the Wetland Wizard’s potions show run on 30 and 31 October only. The activities are included with a standard entry ticket, and booking online saves 10%. Boat safaris (£3 a person) and pond dipping (£3 a group) are extra (WWT Arundel).

Amberley Museum, New Barn Road, BN18 9LT, has two things:

  • Halloween Evening and Ghost Train, Saturday 31 October, 6pm to 9pm. All exhibits are open after dark, and the ghost train leaves every 15 minutes from 6.30pm to 8.15pm, alternating between Amberley and Cragside stations. Tickets are £17 for everyone, members included. Not suitable for under 12s, and no dogs. Bring a torch (Amberley Museum).
  • Half term, Sunday 25 and Wednesday 28 to Friday 30 October, 11am to 2pm. There is a free drop-in trail and leaf workshop, plus woodturning on the 29th for £2. Halloween pumpkin pinch pots at the pottery cost £2.50 a person, Wednesdays to Sundays through October. Normal museum admission applies (Amberley Museum).

Getting there and parking

Sompting Pumpkins has its own free field car park off Halewick Lane. For the Connaught, the museum and the Assembly Hall, the nearest multi-storey is Civic Quarter off Richmond Road. Evening charging there runs to 10pm, and Civic Quarter is the one multi-storey that still charges overnight. Current tariffs are on our parking in Worthing page.

One closure near the field: West Sussex County Council will shut a 50m stretch of Steepdown Road in Sompting, starting 85m north of Halewick Lane, from 12 to 19 October, 8am to 6pm, for electricity cable work (WSCC notice dated 24 September 2026, on the Public Notice Portal). The notice does not name Halewick Lane itself as closed. For other works, see Worthing roadworks and travel.

The next big night is Bonfire Night: Worthing Lions’ free fireworks from the end of the pier are confirmed for Thursday 5 November at 7.30pm. Details are on our fireworks page.

Frequently asked questions

Where can I go pumpkin picking near Worthing?

Sompting Pumpkins, Halewick Lane, BN15 0NE, just off the A27. In 2026 it is open on the weekends of 3 and 4, 10 and 11, and 17 and 18 October, then every day from 24 to 31 October, 10am to 4pm. Entry and parking are free.

Is there a Halloween event in Worthing town centre?

No town-wide event has been announced for 2026: we found no Halloween event in Worthing Town Centre BID’s listings or posts on 3 October. The town-centre options are ticketed: the Connaught’s Horror-Fest, Halloween in Concert at the Assembly Hall, and the museum’s craft workshops.

What is on in Worthing on Halloween night?

Halloween III: Season of the Witch at the Connaught Theatre at 8.15pm (from £6, certificate 15). Further out, Amberley Museum’s Halloween Evening and Ghost Train runs from 6pm to 9pm (£17, 12 and over).

When is October half term in Worthing?

Monday 26 to Friday 30 October 2026 for West Sussex council schools, but some Worthing schools break earlier. Our October half term page lists each school’s dates.

Sources