GlasGLOW turns Glasgow Botanic Gardens into a Zombie Zoo for Halloween

Halloween has taken over the West End once again. GlasGLOW, the illuminated after-dark trail created and produced by itison, has returned to Glasgow Botanic Gardens, and this year the gardens have become a Zombie Zoo.

The idea is wonderfully daft. Visitors enter what organisers call the world's first state-of-the-art zombie containment and conservation facility, where they can meet its rare and misunderstood residents from a safe distance. The 60-minute outdoor route uses large-scale lighting, sound, sets and special effects to transform the gardens after dark.

The adventure begins at the flaming gates of Zombie Zoo, where fictional zookeeper Brian Bones explains how to survive the journey. Along the way there is a Human Authentication Checkpoint, interactive challenges that reveal what kind of zombie you might become, specially created enclosures, live feeding demonstrations and a laboratory exploring the fictional science behind the creatures. A decontamination station waits at the exit.

The biggest addition this year stands on the main lawn: an eight-metre-tall zombie, Zombie 01, at the centre of a new show. Fans of the event will be pleased to find the much-loved Pumpkin Patch back too, with hundreds of pumpkins carved with designs inspired by famous zombie films.

GlasGLOW has been one of Glasgow's biggest Halloween events since it launched in 2018, and it is designed for families as well as older Halloween fans. New Twilight sessions let younger children start the trail in daylight and watch the gardens change as darkness falls, and relaxed sessions have been offered for visitors with additional sensory needs.

Away from the trail, Marshmallowland returns, with fire pits for toasting marshmallows beneath illuminated trees. The street food village features traders including Loop & Scoop, Dirty Bird, Mangiamo and Hector & Harriet, along with the event's first Zombie Bar.

It all makes for a cheerful, slightly spooky night out in one of the city's best loved green spaces, and a reminder of how well the Botanic Gardens suit a bit of theatre once the sun goes down.

GlasGLOW runs at Glasgow Botanic Gardens until Sunday 1 November, with entry slots from 4.30pm. Twilight sessions run each day from Sunday 25 October to the final night, and tickets are booked through the GlasGLOW website, so there is still time to catch it, Halloween night included.