October is the time for fearsome fun and games as Halloween arrives for another year.
Ireland’s connections with the spookiest time of year harks back to over two thousand years when Samhain – a Celtic festival that heralded the end of the harvest season and beginning of winter -was celebrated in the country’s Ancient East.
People believed that Samhain happened when the walls between our world and that of the dead were at their thinnest, allowing spirits and sprites to pass between the two unhindered.
Ireland has embraced Halloween ever since and in County Laois and Roundwood House, families and fun-seekers can have a lot of seasonal fun and adventures to make good use of the weeks between the end of the summer and start of the run-up to Christmas.
Here are some ideas to help you celebrate Halloween in style during a late autumn stay at Roundwood House – the perfect venue for a half-term break.
Pumpkins galore
Halloween would not be complete without some cheerful, orange pumpkins, carefully carved into intricate Jack o’ Lanterns and lit up from within with a candle or tea light.
You can pick and carve your own pumpkin at Castleview Open Farm anytime between 24 and 31 October (11am until 5pm).
Visitors can also pet farm animals and enjoy lots of indoor and outdoor fun and games. More pumpkin-y fun can be crafted after a visit to the Laois Pumpkin Patch, open for pick your own pumpkins, scarecrow dressing and family trails from Sunday 29 October at Clonad GAA Club in Port Laoise.
Dracula’s Dublin
Bram Stoker created the world’s best known vampire, Dracula and kickstarted a whole gothic literary genre.
He was born in Dublin in in 1847 and raised during the Great Famine, in which over one million people died. It was not all that surprising, then, that Bram Stoker took his inspiration from stories of horror and hardship a when he wrote his terrifying vampire tale.
Dublin hosts a Bram Stoker Festival every year around Halloween (running this year from 25 to 28 October).
Highlights include music, comedy, theatre, films and tours, as well as lots of chances to dress up for Halloween and indulge your inner goth.
An easy drive from Roundwood House.
Other reasons to visit Roundwood House this October
Even if you are not a fan of Halloween or gothic vampires, a late autumn visit to Roundwood House is still something special. Glorious autumn colours burst across the trees around our garden and grounds of and across to the far-reaching views and woods and forests nearby.
Glorious walks in the Slieve Bloom – one of the oldest regions of hills in Europe – are made even more special with autumn leaves, spiders webs strung with dewdrops in the trees and the cool autumn air enticing you on a bracing seasonal stroll or hike.
Afterwards, curl up with a book and hot drink in the library or enjoy a delicious home-cooked meal made from top-quality local ingredients in our beautiful dining room.
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