There are few places better suited to an autumn day out than Penshurst Place.
As the gardens begin to take on their golden October colours, the historic Kent estate is embracing the season with an unusually tempting programme of events. There will be apples by the basketful, traditional pressing, autumn walks, a three-course murder mystery dinner and, when half-term arrives, a liberal sprinkling of poisons, potions and Halloween mischief.
In fact, you could probably spend most of October at Penshurst Place and still find something new to investigate.
And the story begins with the humble apple.
A 460-year-old apple tradition
On Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 October, Penshurst Place will hold its first-ever Apple Weekend, celebrating a fruit-growing tradition that stretches back to the 1560s.
It was then that Sir Henry Sidney created the first walled design in the gardens, helping to protect the hundreds of fruit trees being cultivated there.
More than four centuries later, the tradition continues. There are now more than 130 apple trees growing within the gardens, including historic and unusual varieties.
The new Apple Weekend offers visitors the chance to see apples being pressed and, naturally, taste the results.
There will be apple-themed activities throughout the grounds, local produce tastings in the Gift Shop and plenty to keep younger visitors occupied, including an apple-finding ‘spot and see’ trail, crafts and the rather enticingly named game Hook an Apple.
And then there’s the cake…
Food is, inevitably, going to be an important part of any celebration involving apples.
The Porcupine Pantry will be taking over the weekend with an apple-themed menu, including Bill’s Apple Box, featuring homemade apple and pork sausage rolls, apple scones and Lady De L’Isle’s apple cake.
Recipes will also be available so that visitors can attempt to recreate the Penshurst treats at home.
Meanwhile, the Victorian Kitchen will be getting into the spirit of the harvest with historic apple recipes and adapted displays.
The Gift Shop will be showcasing locally produced apple products and offering tastings, while younger visitors can help themselves to a free small apple to take home – while supplies last.
So if you have children, expect the words “May I have another apple?” to acquire a rather different meaning.
Apple Weekend runs from 10am–5pm on Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 October and is included with standard garden admission.
Find out more about Apple Weekend at Penshurst Place
Fancy solving a murder over dinner?
If your tastes run less to apple cake and more towards murder, mystery and a three-course dinner, Penshurst has that covered too.
On Saturday 10 October, the historic house becomes the setting for Revenge of The Scarecrow, an interactive murder mystery from Moneypenny Murder Mystery Productions.
Guests will be transported to the misty marshlands of Olde England, where the legendary Pyrate King o’ the Marshland – known rather ominously as The Scarecrow – has met a blood-chilling fate.
Your job?
Question the suspects, uncover their secrets and work out who committed the crime.
The evening combines comedy, intrigue and audience participation with a three-course dinner served in Penshurst Place’s private Sunderland Room, surrounded by sandstone walls and historic portraits.
It begins at 7.30pm and runs until 10pm, with tickets costing £72 per person, including the murder mystery and dinner.
And costumes aren’t compulsory, but they are positively encouraged. Guests can dress in 1800s or Regency-inspired clothing, scarecrow outfits or go down the highwayman or highwaywoman route.
Which is considerably more interesting than simply turning up in your usual Saturday-night outfit.
Book the Revenge of The Scarecrow murder mystery
Take an autumn amble through the estate
On Sunday 18 October, there’s an opportunity to explore a part of Penshurst Place that many visitors don’t usually see.
The Autumn Amble Walk and Lunch takes visitors beyond the formal gardens and into the wider 2,500-acre estate.
The two-hour guided walk is described as all-terrain, so this is one for sensible footwear rather than your best Sunday shoes. Along the way, you’ll discover more about the estate’s history, wildlife and changing autumn landscape.
And after all that walking, there’s a rather excellent reward: a two-course roast lunch served in the Sunderland Room, a private upstairs banqueting space.
The £49 ticket also includes admission to the formal gardens and historic house, meaning you can continue exploring afterwards.
Better still, because the walk takes place on the second day of Apple Weekend, you can combine the two experiences and enjoy the apple activities after your lunch.
The Autumn Amble runs from 10.30am–2pm on Sunday 18 October.
Book the Autumn Amble and Lunch
Halloween arrives: beware the Bad Apple
Then, just when you’ve got your fill of autumn walks and apple cake, Penshurst Place takes a distinctly more mischievous turn for October half-term.
From 24 October to 1 November, families can enter the world of Poisons and Potions, with a new Halloween garden trail called Beware the Bad Apple.
Young visitors are invited to help Fergus Fang gather ingredients for a mischievous potion. His aim is to teach his troublesome brother, Frightful Fred, a lesson.
Naturally, nothing involving a character called Fergus Fang and a potion is likely to go entirely according to plan.
Children follow the trail around the gardens, collecting the ingredients needed for Fergus’s spell. Once everything has been found, a final clue is revealed.
And if your little ones like their Halloween with plenty of atmosphere but without anything genuinely terrifying, there’s more.
Halloween storytelling – but not too scary
From 26–31 October, Aardvark Productions will bring its panto-style Halloween storytelling to the Garden Room.
The lively performances will explore the world of poisons and potions, with animated characters, audience participation and plenty of Halloween silliness.
There are performances at:
11.15am, 12 noon, 12.45pm, 2pm and 2.45pm
That gives families several opportunities to catch a performance during the half-term holiday.
There will also be seasonal Halloween crafts in the Old Coach House from 24 October to 1 November, running from 11am–3.30pm.
And naturally, the Gift Shop will be getting in on the act, with Halloween decorations and pocket-money tricks and treats.
All of the Halloween activities are included with standard garden admission.
Find out more about Penshurst Place’s Halloween events
An autumn worth getting out for
What makes Penshurst Place particularly appealing this October is the variety.
You can come for the history and ancient gardens, follow the story of its remarkable apple-growing tradition, take a proper autumn walk through the estate, sit down to a roast lunch, attempt to solve a murder over dinner – or bring the children along during half-term to hunt for potion ingredients and discover whether Fergus Fang’s plan succeeds.
And underneath all of it is the landscape itself.
October is arguably when a historic country estate really comes into its own. The formal gardens, ancient trees and wider parkland take on their autumn colours, while the seasonal events give visitors plenty of reasons to explore them.
So whether your ideal October involves apples, autumn leaves, murder mysteries or a little Halloween magic, Penshurst Place has rather neatly managed to cover all four.
Just don’t eat any suspicious apples.
Penshurst Place, Penshurst, Tonbridge, Kent
Apple Weekend: 17–18 October, 10am–5pm
Revenge of The Scarecrow Murder Mystery: 10 October, 7.30pm–10pm
Autumn Amble & Lunch: 18 October, 10.30am–2pm
Halloween – Poisons and Potions: 24 October–1 November
Halloween storytelling: 26–31 October
Halloween crafts: 24 October–1 November
Photos (c) Penshurst Place
