Fright Nights at Margam Park – review

Paid collaboration with Dramatic Heart of Wales, the tourism board for Neath Port Talbot.

Fright Nights at Margam Country Park is a brand new Halloween experience for 2024. Choose from Spooky Family Fun, a PG-rated event with an age guidance of 5+, or the Spine Chilling Extreme Horror, with a strict age guidance of 15+ and designed to truly scare.

We headed along to the Spooky Family Fun session. It runs from 4.30pm to 7pm and we arrived a little after 6pm, when it was starting to get duskier and spookier, ready to be scared.

The trail started at the ruins of Margam Abbey, which was lit up with an eerie glow. As we walked along the path to the castle, we were met by spooky scenes featuring graves, skeletons and witches, ‘statues’ suddenly coming to life, and spooky music and sounds.

Watch our experience at Margam Park Fright Nights in our Instagram Reel

We soon arrived at Margam Castle, the Victorian gothic mansion which looks eerie at the best of times and is perfect for this kind of event , not least because there have been many claims of paranormal activity inside the house. The haunted house experience was so well executed with brilliant decorations, lights and sounds and spooky characters appearing from nowhere; my 14, 13 and 10 year olds loved it.

As a family-friendly event, it isn’t anything truly scary – expect a few jump scares, creepy looking characters and plenty of giggles.

We saw lots of younger children, many dressed up in their own Halloween costumes, when we visited. None of them seemed to be especially scared – but if you have sensitive children then parental guidance is definitely recommended.

After the house, we arrived at the Spooky Village area, where you’ll find food vendors, hot and cold drinks, fairground rides and a few free game such as throw the hoops on the witch’s hat

We bought some super tasty pizzas from Gower Dough Co, who were serving from a spookily decorated double decker bus, and went on the Ghost Train ride, which again was mildly spooky rather than anything too scary.

As we headed back down the spooky path on our way out, we saw the park’s famous herd of deer grazing on the lawn illuminated by the lights, nothing to do with Scare Nights but a truly special moment. 

By this point it was properly dark with the castle lit up in red. It looked absolutely brilliant – a proper haunted house on the hill. 

As we were leaving we could see people setting off for the 15+ version. Even from the exit, we could see the scare factor was well and truly ramped up with horror-style lights and sounds, the professional scare actors moving along the paths and not staying behind the barriers as with the PG version, and the darkness meaning you have no idea what lays ahead. My children are looking forward to being old enough to try that one. Me? I’m not so sure…. 

Fright Nights, Margam Country Park, Port Talbot SA13 2TJ, from 18 October to 3 November.

Spooky Family Fun takes place from 4.30pm-7pm, with a PG rating and age guidance of 5+.

Spine Chilling Extreme Horror runs from 7pm to 11pm, with a strict 15+ entry.

Tickets are available to book now. Sunday-Friday adults £20, children £12.50, family £52.50. Saturday adults £25, children £15, family £65

Book online here 

This experience was part of a weekend of adventures in the Dramatic Heart of Wales, the tourist board for Neath Port Talbot. More content coming soon…