11 dated events coming up in and around Stockport, Greater Manchester. Collected from the organisations running them, not from anyone paying to appear.
Three weeks of Halloween on a working farm on Stockport's edge: a pumpkin patch, a Halloween village and the animals and play areas that are there the rest of the year. Small children get more out of this than they do out of anything with a jump scare in it.
The quieter version, on term-time weekdays before half term starts. Same farm, same pumpkins, a fraction of the people.
Three evenings when the pumpkin patch is lit up after dark. A glowing patch rather than a scary one, and two of the three fall on the first weekend of half term.
An interactive outdoor art installation for half term: step through a series of mysterious doorways to find local folklore, old traditions and ghost stories. The listing gives no separate price, so assume normal Lyme admission until the National Trust says otherwise.
Batilda the witch has dropped her potion ingredients all over the house, and children hunt them down room by room for a small prize. Recommended from age 3; adults pay normal house admission.
Always on the fifth itself, with a children's display at 7pm and the main one at 8pm. There is strictly no parking at the centre, so it is Notcutts car park, the 42B bus or a mile's walk from Poynton or Bramhall stations.
Two Bonfire Night evenings at the farm, from 5pm, with a Pyrotex firework display set to music. Tickets through the farm's website; prices were not shown when we checked.
Tenth year of this one, with a separate children's display at 7.15pm and a 'best bits of ten years' main show at 8.45pm. Families with little ones can see the early display and leave well before the late one.
The house is dressed room by room in Christmas traditions from around the world, made by Handmade Theatre. The car parks shrink when it is wet. A bus or train ticket gets you into the park and garden free, but not the house, so you still pay for this bit.
A guided walk-through at the farm: passport control, a naughty-or-nice machine, a teddy to build and stuff, Mrs Claus's kitchen, the reindeer stable, then a personal visit with Father Christmas and a coin to spend in his toy shop. Marshmallow toasting by the fire costs extra, so decide before anyone spots the fire pit. Free parking.
Stockport's family panto at the Plaza on Mersey Square, with Todd Carty as Fleshcreep. BSL-interpreted shows on 5 and 10 December; book at the box office to dodge the booking fee.
Places you can turn up to whether or not anything is on.
A black and white Tudor manor house sitting in around 60 acres of parkland with woods, brooks and lakes. The park costs nothing, under 16s go into the hall free, and all-day parking is £3.
A big lake crowded with waterfowl, a flat path alongside it and a cafe where you left the car: the easiest small-child walk in the Stockport area. Entry is free, the car park is not.
The UK's only museum of hats and hatting, back open after a four-year refurbishment. The galleries are free and you can try hats on; the Victorian factory floor is a £7.50 guided tour. An hour well spent, not a full day.
Go on a steam day. The rest of the time this volunteer run collection of gas and oil engines, one of the largest in the country, sits still on the site of the old Anson Colliery in Poynton.
A proper deer park on the edge of the Peaks: 1,400 acres, a herd of red deer, the Crow Wood adventure playground, and the house from the BBC's Pride and Prejudice.
A proper small farm park tucked into the Tame valley on Stockport's edge: cows, goats, shire horses and alpacas, zip wires outside and a play area under cover for when it rains. Book online, the gate price is higher.