We have held many successful events over the years here at Grimscote Manor, including our ‘Greatest showman afternoon tea’, our ‘Breakfast with Santa’ and many more. This year we decided with everything going on we wanted to hold an event for Halloween, allowing children to have a bit of normality to celebrate and have fun in a safe way.
When we first decided that we wanted to host a Halloween event we knew it might be a bit of a long shot about whether or not we’d get to see it through, but we didn’t let that deter us.
This year has been strange for all of us; however we can’t even imagine how strange it must be for all the children out there with home schooling, social distancing not seeing family and friends. Here at Grimscote Manor we’ve done all that we can to ensure we adhere to the government guidelines and provide safety for all our guests. This year with things being so different and trick or treating being cancelled, we decided to host our first ever ‘Halloween tea and trail’ event. Allowing those who joined us to celebrate this year’s Halloween with some safe and spooky fun.
Our guest’s night started off with a delicious Spooktacular alcoholic drink or mocktail, burger and chips which went down a treat in our spectacular Waldron Suite which had been dressed up for the special occasion.
Each table holding no more than 6 people had been decorated with a white tablecloth for the base and a spider-web table runner down the middle, finished off with a Silver candelabra on an orange charger for the centrepiece. We also had our larger candelabras placed around the room all lit to create the perfect spooky atmosphere and of course no Halloween is complete without pumpkins which we had lots of on show around the room, and grounds carved by our very own staff. Once each group had finished their meal they then enjoyed a walk around our woodlands, times had been allocated to keep everyone distanced and safe.
Not only did we go all out with our decorations inside the hotel with our entrance, reception
and the hallway leading up to our Waldron suite all dressed up in our Halloween decor. We also made sure that our beautiful woodland trail had its own Halloween makeover. Beginning at the Grimscote Manor arch way, our guests began their walk through the smoke, with candles leading their way along the trail and a few of our special effect lights dotted throughout the woods illuminating the trees, creating the perfect Halloween setting. Our guests also made sure to keep an eye out for any spooky creatures that lurked including ghosts, scarecrows even our chickens! As families wandered along the dark paths looking at all the decorations, scary sound effects could be heard.
However we didn’t just stop at decorations as we also had our members of staff participating in our scare fest with Paul and Carol as Frankenstein’s monster and wife jumping out at guests. We also had Chloe dressed as a dead prom queen running around the woods in her white prom dress. Not to forget Luc and Matt who were dressed all in black with scary masks, taking every opportunity to jump out and scare those walking through. Finally at the end of our trail under the wonderfully decorated bandstand our guests were treated with a a little goody bag filled with sweets to take home.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who joined us for our first ever Halloween event and due to the roaring success and popular demand we look forward to welcoming back both those who joined us this year and any who dare to join us next year. It just goes to prove that Covid cannot dampen the spirit of Grimscote Manor.
