Autumn colour at its best at Harlow Carr

If you’ve been waiting for the leaves to turn, this is the weekend to head to RHS Garden Harlow Carr in Harrogate. Its Autumn Weekend runs from Friday to Sunday, with activities covering horticulture, homegrown produce and fungi.

The garden is looking its seasonal best, with crimson and scarlet Japanese acers, golden woodland canopies and copper-coloured conifers. The Sandstone Rock Garden and the area around the Lily Pond are particularly worth a wander.

Keen growers can see more than 60 classes of produce in the RHS Late Fruit and Vegetable Competition, while the Northern Fruit Group Apple Display gives visitors the chance to have their homegrown fruit identified by experts, so bring along any mystery apples from your garden.

For something a little different, the Mid Yorkshire Fungus Group will lead guided fungus forays daily at 11.30am and 1.30pm, costing £3 per person, and Jenny Sergeant will give talks on fungi on Friday and Saturday at 11am.

All Autumn Weekend events are included with standard garden admission and are free for RHS members.

October 16 to 18, RHS Garden Harlow Carr, Crag Lane, Beckwithshaw, Harrogate, HG3 1QB. 

A ghostly night out in Knaresborough

If you like your weekends with a few chills, Knaresborough Players are staging 2:22 A Ghost Story at the Frazer Theatre.

The hit supernatural thriller follows a couple convinced something is going bump in the night in their new home, and it’s the perfect warm-up for Halloween.

The Frazer Theatre sits just off the High Street, behind Zolsha and Tesco, and is owned by the Knaresborough Players, an amateur dramatics society formed in 1962. 

£10, 2pm and 7.30pm, until October 17, The Frazer Theatre, Park Crest, Knaresborough, HG5 0EQ

Blues classics come to Ripley

Ripley Live brings a night of classic blues-rock to Ripley Town Hall this Saturday with Man of the World.

The show celebrates the life and music of Peter Green, founder of the original Fleetwood Mac, with guitarist Remi Harris joined by a full band. Expect favourites including Black Magic Woman, Need Your Love So Bad and Albatross.

From £18.89, doors open 7pm for a 8pm start, October 17, Ripley Town Hall

Pumpkins after dark at Stockeld Park

This one is a little further afield - but worth the effort. Stockeld Park, near Spofforth, is trying something new this Halloween with its first Pumpkin Nights.

There’ll be food, live music, roaming entertainment and games at the patch. Stockeld grows its own pumpkins on the estate, so you’ll be picking in a real working field with a tractor ride to get there, and the park advises wellies as it gets muddy.

There's also a Woodland Witches trail, a Mummy Maze and six different playgrounds all included in your ticket.

Prefer daytime? Pumpkin picking is open 9.30am to 5.30pm on both Saturday and Sunday. 

£15 (half price with a daytime ticket for the same day), 5.30pm to 9pm, October 17, Stockeld Park, Wetherby, LS22 4AN.

Get a story written just for you

The Raworths Harrogate Literature Festival is in full swing, and this weekend it’s taking stories out onto the streets of Harrogate.

Street typist Adam E Holdon will set up his clacking typewriter in spots around town. Give him three words and a name, and he’ll write you a personalised story there and then. It’s a quirky, memorable way to dip into the festival, whether you’re a big reader or not.

The festival runs until October 25 at the Crown Hotel and Cedar Court Hotel, with Julian Clary talking about his new murder mystery on Friday, October 23 among next week’s highlights.

Free, October 17 and 18, various locations around Harrogate; see the Harrogate International Festivals website for details.