Attractions across the Peak District & Derbyshire enjoyed a spine-tinglingly successful late-season boost thanks to the new autumn half-term family festival, Spookyshire.

Visitors flocked to the area between Saturday October 24 and Sunday November 1 to enjoy more than 50 Hallowe'en and firework themed activities during the festival, co-ordinated by Visit Peak District & Derbyshire - the area's official tourist board.

"Spookyshire has been a tremendous success," said Alan Walker, manager of Poole's Cavern in Buxton. "We have had an incredible half-term - more like a summer bank holiday - and our Terror Tours have gone down very well, too."

Gulliver's Kingdom in Matlock Bath described its Hallowe'en Spooktacular on Saturday October 31 as a 'record evening'. "We also had a really good response from visitors throughout the half-term break, with attendance figures 15 per cent up on last year," said General Manager Dean Kimberley.

Bolsover Castle also reported bumper results thanks to events such as Hallowe'en Fun on the 'creepy castle trail'. "We had a phenomenally busy week at Bolsover Castle, and estimate that our visitor figures were around 50 per cent up on last year," said John Coulson, Visitor Operations Manager, East Midlands, English Heritage.

Special Hallowe'en events at National Trust properties such as Hardwick Hall near Chesterfield, Calke Abbey in the National Forest and Sudbury Hall and Museum of Childhood were very well supported.

"Promoting our Ghost Walks as part of Spookyshire proved very successful - they all sold out in advance and we didn't have to do any extra marketing to fill spare places," said Laura Shaw, Communications and Marketing Manager for the National Trust in the East Midlands.

Simon Seligman, Head of Communications at Chatsworth, was equally positive: "We are delighted that visitors have responded so well to our Hallowe'en events and activities and equally pleased to see Visit Peak District & Derbyshire beginning the process of giving the area an identity at this important time of year.  

"We will continue to grow our Hallowe'en offer every year and will support the Spookyshire campaign wherever possible."

In Chesterfield, visitors to the spectacular Garden of Light in the town's showpiece Queen's Park were up by 65 per cent on the previous year. 

"It was a great success," said Bernadette Wainwright, Tourism and Town Centre Promotions Manager, Chesterfield Borough Council. "We've had some very positive comments about the event - such as 'Queen's Park was magical', 'The willow sculptures are brilliant' and 'The best fireworks we've ever seen'. And the feedback we have received so far suggests that we have had more regional visitors than in the past."

Laura Greaves, Business Development Manager at Crich Tramway Village, described the attraction's Spookyshire weekend, featuring Starlight Hallowe'en, as 'very successful', while Rebecca Clay, Learning Officer (Marketing and Communications) at Creswell Crags said half-term had been 'very good', crowning a 'massively successful' season.

Paul Ball, owner of Staffordshire Moorlands-based Peak Pursuits, said the company's Spooky Walk at Tittesworth Water - featuring characters dressed in costume and a canoe trip across the lake - had been an excellent draw, with 50 people, aged from just two years old upwards, joining in the fun.

In Derby, more than 80 customers celebrated Hallowe'en with the all-night event, 'Dead and Breakfast', featuring six-and-a-half hours of horror films, followed by bacon and vegetarian butties, at QUAD, the city's new centre for art and film.

"All the initial signs are that Spookyshire has been very well supported, and has played a key role in bringing in more visitors and more money to the local economy during the autumn half-term break," said David Thornton, Head of Marketing and Deputy Chief Executive, Visit Peak District & Derbyshire.

"Now we're looking forward to planning next year's festival - which we hope will be even bigger and better, embracing even more attractions and events - as part of our on-going quest to remind tourists that we're an all year round destination. 

"We intend to build on the success of Spookyshire by introducing other specially-themed events at times of the year that tend not to be so busy - and will be announcing our planned programme for 2010 at our Annual Conference in just two weeks' time."