Norfolk's most haunted home for Halloween

If you are after a properly spooky night out this Halloween, Norfolk has a clear frontrunner. The National Trust's Blickling Estate in Aylsham has been named the most haunted place to visit this season, and on paper it earns the title. It is a red-brick Jacobean mansion sitting in the Bure Meadows, set across 4,600 acres that take in 950 acres of woodland and park and 3,500 acres of arable land. The estate is mentioned in the Domesday Book, it was the birthplace of Anne Boleyn, and during the Second World War RAF personnel were put up there.

There is plenty to see beyond the ghosts. The most striking feature is the mausoleum, a pyramidal landmark built from 1900,000 blocks of Portland stone and designed by Joseph Bonomi between 1796 and 1797. The estate also holds about 1,000 veteran trees across 500 acres under the Queen's Green Canopy, including ancient small-leaved limes. The lake, formed in 1729 and measuring 2km at its widest, has been generating green energy since 2016 via a water heat pump, saving an average of 69 tonnes of carbon emissions a year. Inside, the Long Gallery houses one of the most notable country house libraries in England, with more than 12,500 books, and the Brown Drawing Room keeps a fireplace with carved angels originally from Caister Castle. The walled garden, which supplied food for the families living on the 5,000-acre estate for four centuries, has been under restoration since November 2014, and the ceiling of the Upper Ante Room was repaired with help from the government's £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund. If you are bringing a dog, the estate carries a three-pawprint rating.

Blickling is not the only haunted name on the list. Grime's Graves, near Thetford, is Britain's only open Neolithic flint mine and the only one open to the public, with 430 shafts some 13 metres deep and a new English Heritage entrance that lets you descend 9 metres below ground. Castle Acre Priory is one of the largest and best-preserved monastic sites in England, a Cluniac priory dedicated to St Mary, St Peter, and St Paul that dates back to 1090 and was founded by the Warenne family shortly after the Norman Conquest. Strangers' Hall in Norwich, a Grade I listed domestic history museum with a 14th-century undercroft, is also on the list, though it is currently closed for repairs.

And if you would rather do something active than stand around a haunted house, the county is full of events over the next week. For families, there is pumpkin painting on 28 October, make-your-own pumpkin houses from 27 to 29 October, Halloween at BeWILDerwood from 24 October to 1 November, and a family event at Thursford running 23 to 31 October. For adults, Norwich Ghost Walks is running Halloween specials from 23 to 31 October, the Norwich Spooky Story Walk goes from 23 October to 1 November, and The Ghosts of Norwich by the Norfolk Folklore Society is at Octagon Chapel on 28 October, £12 and 16 plus. The Assembly House is busy too, with a murder mystery dinner on 30 October and the Grand Dragular Halloween Ball that same evening, 7pm to 11.30pm and 18 plus. Round it all off with the Mid Norfolk Railway's Halloween Express on 31 October, and you have a full week of it.