Stunning meteor shower set to be among highlights of North York Moors' Dark Skies Festival

There’s a great chance of seeing shooting stars as the start of this year’s Dark Skies Fringe Festival which coincides with the peak of the Orionids meteor shower on 21 October.

Festival-goers can enjoy a star safari in the company of astronomy experts like Astro Dog at Dalby Forest; the Whitby & District Astronomical Society at the Fox and Hounds in Ainthorpe; or Large Outdoors at Danby to increase their chances of watching this night-time wonder.

At the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, visitors can hop on-board a steam train adorned with thousands of lights for a music-filled trip between Pickering and Levisham, while Whitby will have a distinctly Hallowe’en theme with the Abbey ruins dramatically illuminated and Dracula’s 125-year history brought to life.

Enjoy fearsome thrills along the spooky trail at Dalby Forest, while rangers at Cropton Forest show nature lovers why dark skies are so important to the likes of hedgehogs, bats and deer.

There’s also the opportunity to have close-up encounters with owls as well as learning how to photograph them at the National Centre for Birds of Prey in Helmsley.

Even those who can’t travel to the National Park can still be involved with the festival – run in conjunction with the Yorkshire Dales National Park, from October 21 to 31 – as there will be a number of online events including Richard Darn holding a Beginner’s Guide to the Night Sky; a telescope workshop run by Go Stargazing, and live space-themed experiments and craft activities run by The Space Detectives.

This will be the third year that the Dark Skies Festival has been a biannual event, reflecting the continued popularity among visitors.

Despite some adverse wintry conditions during this February’s main Festival, more than 5,000 people still attended the 100-plus events, many of which were sold out. The National Parks estimated that the Festival had generated more than £200,000 of income to the businesses and organisations involved.

Visit https://www.darkskiesnationalparks.org.uk/ for more information.