Kentwell Hall announces Scaresville 2020 is cancelled

The stately home however will be keeping its gardens open this autumn, and will still run its Halloweenies event.

One of Suffolk’s most beloved annual Halloween events, Scaresville, has announced that this year’s edition will not take place due to Covid-19 restrictions.

The spooktacular event, which has taken place every October since 2007, made the decision this week, following the government’s latest coronavirus restrictions and guidelines.

In a post on its website, Scaresville said: “It is with a heavy heart that we have decided that, alas, the steady drip-drip of threatened, but unspecified, further virus influenced restrictions have forced us to cancel Scaresville for this year. We shall refund those who have bought tickets.”

Kentwell Hall owner Patrick Phillips had been hopeful that Scaresville would still go ahead as planned up until very recently. He said: “First of all we wondered, with the rule of six, whether or not we could comply with that. Initially I thought we couldn’t, but after reflecting, I thought we could probably manage it - it would just mean we would have to make some changes to accommodate it.

“We thought because it was only announced a week or two ago, that would be it. But then to find out within a few days that the government started saying we were going to have to do other things, it made it apparent we couldn’t rely on things staying as they were. With restrictions likely to get stricter, we thought we’d be better to take a decision now before we incurred the major cost of setting Scaresville up.”

Scaresville, which took home the Best Multi Part Scream Event award at the 2018 SCARE Awards, has built up a sizeable cult following over the years, with legions of dedicated fans flocking in from across the region to attend.

“We’ve got a lot of very faithful followers here at Scaresville – it’s very popular amongst local people, and of course everybody is extremely disappointed. But we’re having to be realistic in the face of increasing restrictions imposed by the government, and the prospect of those restrictions being enlarged at any time.”

However, Kentwell Hall will still keep its extensive gardens open for the foreseeable future, alongside Halloweenies – a family-friendly event that encourages fancy dress and in the past has featured an array of activities including wand-making classes and spell sessions.

“Normally, the gardens would close at the end of September because once we start setting up for Scareseville, there’s so much work going on - but this year, we’re going to keep the gardens open for as long as the weather makes it worthwhile.

“More importantly though, we’re still going to do Halloweenies over half term, assuming, of course, nothing further happens that would prevent us from doing that. We’re keeping our fingers crossed.”

To stay up to date with Kentwell Hall’s events, visit www.kentwell.co.uk