There are some places that seem to have a particularly good relationship with autumn. The leaves turn golden, the mornings acquire that delicious nip in the air, pumpkins suddenly appear everywhere you look – and at Tulleys Farm in West Sussex, the entire season seems to have been turned up to eleven.
This autumn, Tulleys is giving us not one but two very different reasons to head for the countryside: pumpkins by day and some seriously scary business after dark.
And, as you might expect from Tulleys, neither is likely to be a quiet affair.
Pumpkins: Lots and LOTS of pumpkins
If your idea of autumn involves choosing the perfect pumpkin, taking an indecent number of photographs and generally wallowing in the seasonal splendour of orange gourds, Tulleys Pumpkin Festival is pretty much your natural habitat.
Running until 31 October, the festival has grown a very long way from the simple pleasure of going to a farm to pick a pumpkin. More than 1.5 million pumpkins and gourds, representing more than 100 varieties, now fill the site, with the Pumpkin Festival stretching across more than 100 acres.
And there is a brand-new reason to explore this year.
Welcome to Pumpkin Valley
The biggest addition to the festival for 2026 is Pumpkin Valley, a newly landscaped area created with streams, ponds, wooden bridges, giant pumpkin sculptures, a Pumpkin Farm House and even a Hobbit House.
In other words, somebody at Tulleys clearly decided that simply putting pumpkins in a field wasn’t quite ambitious enough.
The result is a wonderfully theatrical autumn landscape surrounded by pumpkins and seasonal planting – and one that looks made for photographs.
There are more than 30 photo opportunities around the festival, alongside the giant pumpkin displays, roaming musicians, street theatre and seasonal food and drink. And if looking at pumpkins from ground level isn’t enough, there’s also a 33-metre Observation Wheel, offering views across the pumpkin fields and surrounding Sussex countryside.
Of course, you can still do the important bit: head into the Pick Your Own fields and select your own pumpkin to take home.
Because, let’s be honest, choosing one is half the fun.
And then the sun goes down…
This is where Tulleys’ autumn personality changes rather dramatically.
From selected evenings between 26 September and 31 October, Pumpkin Nights takes over after dark. The pumpkin displays are illuminated, woodland walks take on an entirely different atmosphere and the evening becomes a mixture of glowing pumpkins, music, food and drink.
There are two undercover live music stages, seasonal street food, drinks and those 30-plus photo opportunities – while the new Pumpkin Valley also becomes part of the evening experience for the first time. Pumpkin Nights runs from 5.30pm to 10pm on selected dates.
It’s autumn with the volume turned up: less country walk and cup of tea, more pumpkin-lit evening out with music and cocktails.
And if that sounds like your kind of night, don’t hang around too long before booking. The evening events are separately ticketed and run only on selected dates.
Then comes the really scary bit…
If pumpkin picking is Tulleys’ wholesome autumn face, Shocktober Fest is what happens when that face disappears into the darkness.
And this year is rather special.
2026 marks the 30th anniversary of Shocktober Fest, which began at Tulleys in 1996 with a single haunted house. Three decades and more than two million visitors later, it has evolved into what Tulleys describes as Europe’s largest scream park.
For its anniversary season, Shocktober Fest returns for 26 selected nights from 2 October to 1 November, and Tulleys has pulled out some suitably enormous new tricks.
Four new experiences headline the 2026 event.
Enter the House of Hades
This is not another haunted house.
House of Hades is a full-scale live theatrical production combining fire, aerial performance, high-energy dance, music and storytelling, with internationally renowned The Fuel Girls taking centre stage.
If that name rings a bell, you may have seen their spectacular performances elsewhere in the world – including Universal Orlando’s Halloween Horror Nights. Now they’re bringing the flames to West Sussex.
Expect fire. Expect aerial performers. Expect music. Expect dancing.
And possibly expect to question whether you really did just see that happening in Sussex.
The Cellar Returns
Some doors, apparently, should remain firmly shut.
The Cellar takes guests underground through damp tunnels, crumbling passageways and oppressive chambers after an entrance that has been boarded up for years is finally opened.
What could possibly go wrong?
Quite a lot, judging by the description.
Welcome to the Appleton County Farm
The Appleton story continues with two new walkthrough experiences – Appleton County Farm and Appleton Saw Mill.
The first takes visitors back to an apparently ordinary American family farm where the Appleton legacy began. The second heads into the family’s saw mill, where rusting machinery, timber and a rather darker history await.
It’s all part of Tulleys’ increasingly elaborate approach to Halloween: you’re not simply walking through a room while somebody jumps out at you. You’re entering a story.
Doom Town gets even darker
One of Shocktober Fest’s best-known attractions, Doom Town, is also getting a new addition.
This year sees the arrival of Ross Records, a retro record shop created in collaboration with writer and podcaster Honey Ross, who has been visiting Shocktober Fest for years.
And yes, the rather wonderfully incongruous haunted Greggs is coming back for a second year.
Because apparently even a zombie-infested town needs somewhere to get a sausage roll.
Alongside the new experiences, returning attractions include Purgatory, Electrick Circus, Doom Town, Wastelands Penitentiary, Route 666 Haunted Hayride, Chop Shop, HELL-EMENTS, Creepy Cottage and The Village Coven of 13.
It’s not all about being frightened
Although the screams are obviously the main attraction, Shocktober Fest is more than a collection of haunted attractions.
There will be live bands, resident DJs, roaming street theatre, fairground rides, games and adrenaline attractions, as well as themed bars and the FeastWyk Food Court.
The entertainment programme includes CarnEvil Cabaret, the Wastelands Fire & Light Show, Poker’s 30th Birthday Party and Burleys Hoedown, alongside the new House of Hades.
So you can arrive intending to spend the evening screaming and leave having spent half of it dancing.
That’s Tulleys for you.
One farm: Two very different autumns
What makes Tulleys particularly good fun at this time of year is the sheer contrast.
Come during the day and you have pumpkins, autumn colour, woodland, family photographs, food, music and the gentle chaos of trying to choose exactly the right pumpkin.
Come after dark and the mood changes completely.
The pumpkins glow. The woodland becomes mysterious. Music gets louder. The actors emerge. And somewhere in the distance, somebody is almost certainly regretting having volunteered to go first into the haunted attraction.
Whether you’re looking for a quintessentially autumnal family day out, an atmospheric evening with friends or an excuse to discover just how brave you really are, Tulleys has managed to pack an extraordinary amount into the season.
Just remember one thing.
If you’re going to Shocktober Fest, don’t let the person who says “I’m not scared” go first.
They never are.
Until they are.
Tulleys Farm Autumn 2026
Tulleys Pumpkin Festival: Until 31 October 2026
Pumpkin Nights: Selected evenings, 26 September–31 October 2026
Shocktober Fest: 26 selected nights, 2 October–1 November 2026
Where: Tulleys Farm, Turners Hill Road, Crawley, West Sussex
Check dates and book tickets before travelling, as Pumpkin Nights and Shocktober Fest operate on selected dates and require separate tickets.
Tulleys Farm – official website
Photos (c) Tully’s Farm
