Tag Archives: Exeter

Go Ape Haldon Forest Devon – Review

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Go Ape is known across the country for it’s Tree Top adventures among other activities such as Forest Segway and last week Haldon Forest in Devon opened up it’s brand new Tree Top Junior adventure – perfect for children over 1m tall and is available to both children and adults alike.  I knew my two would be delighted to try it out so as we were passing Haldon Hill for our holidays, we popped in to check it out.

The children had no idea we were stopping as we heading Exeter bound on the A38 so when we stopped off at Haldon Forest and they spotted the Go Ape signs their eyes lit up with excitement in anticpation of what lie ahead!

There is a large car park at Haldon Forest for all your foresting adventures and once parked up we followed the directions that lead us to the Go Ape reception.  The staff were very welcoming and asked us to read the safety guidelines and sign in, and then we were directed over to the Tree Top Junior starting area.  Again here we found the staff incredibly friendly, happy to help and encouraging as they gave the children their harnesses and showed them how to proceed along the structures between the trees.

Needless to say both children were incredibly excited and fearless as they made their way around the Go Ape Tree Top Junior courses and loved waving to me from up high.  Every section of crossing is different with the wood structure that you step on laid out differently from straight planks to crosses, zig zags to netting walk throughs.

At the end of each round you get to zipwire down to the ground and it’s a great size with a fantastic landing pad at the end.  The children were thrilled with the height it came down from and certainly helped end each round on an ultimate thrill.  There are loops to follow through the trees and if you are fast paced you can repeat some again until your hour time limit is up.  The hour around the course costs £18 per person and for what it entails it is good value and certainly left my children feeling overjoyed and incredibily upbeat at the end.  The staff as I’ve mentioned beforehand are incredibly friendly and help the children at various points along with double checking their harnesses are tight.  A nice finishing touch is a sticker and certificate to certify that they have completed the Tree Top Junior course and left them feeling delighted at their experience at Go Ape Haldon Forest!

Would we attend again?  Most definitely yes as according to my kids the experience is “amazing, phenomenal and can we come again?”.

I think I can safely say if my kids behave we’ll be back for treat days out at Go Ape Haldon Forest – just 40 minutes up the road from home it’s a great place to visit to explore the outdoors with adventures at Go Ape along with walking trails, bike trails and much more!

All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions and we received the product in order to write an honest review.

A family day out to Escot

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Last week we decided to have a family day out at Escot, somewhere I’d come across on the internet before the summer when researching places to visit for days out during the summer holidays.  The thing that attracted me to visit was the Amazing Maze built using over 4000 Beech plants.  Alongside is a woodland full of of exciting things to find and do.

escot 14When we arrived we headed straight for the maze, and the children were full of excitement as they ran around the hedge lined paths, twisting and turning while mummy and daddy chased after them.  After about half an hour they slowed down and let us take the lead as we attempted to logically think about which way to go, it felt like we were going around in circles but after about 50 minutes of wandering, we finally made it to the centre where we could admire the view and then take a bridge back outside of the maze.

escot 13Around the corner from the maze we found a pond full of busy little otters eagerly awaiting feeding time. They were dipping in and out of the water faster than you could take a picture but I managed to catch a couple of them.  We also saw some chickens including some rather cute little fluffy ones!

escot 16We then decided to follow the path through the woodland and the first thing we came across was a huge fallen tree, Miss M immediately took lead and began to climb up!

escot 10Across from the fallen tree was a huge picture frame, perfect for striking a pose!

escot 11There were also various obstacle courses and climbing frames littered among the woodland that the children were delighted to find and enjoyed the challenge of climbing, balancing and sliding on.  We did find a huge enclosed drop slide at the back of the woods that Miss M bravely ventured down and loved, although she was coming down at such speed I couldn’t get a decent photo of her in motion!

escot 12Mister B enjoyed the various animals we came across, such as a Wild Boar enclosure where we saw the cutest litter of baby boars trundling around after their mummy!  There were also lots of birds of prey and we sat and watched a display where they came swooping down brushing across the tops of our heads!

escot 7The red squirrel cage kept us amused for a while as they darted up and down and across tunnels then stopping momentarily while their beady eyes checked us out.

With trains to climb aboard, tunnels to crawl through, this was certainly a woodland walk with a difference.  Which ever way you turned, hiding behind the next set of trees was something to do.

escot 6I loved this hand built cannon that Mister B found, he pushed it around pretending to fire and made all the right noises to go with it!

escot 5Miss M and Mister had so much fun running in and out of things, hiding behind things and exploring, this is definitely a must for children who love the outdoors, with so much to do, little ones certainly won’t be bored!

escot 9My favourite picture has to be off them in the stocks!! lol

escot 3We had a light shower of rain, but were not deterred as there was a big soft play barn next to the maze for lots of indoor fun, I managed to catch my two rolling about in the ball pool.

escot 8One thing that they both loved, yet was so simple was this huge hanging rope swing from a large tree.  As they swung around they had an amazing view over the fields beyond, I almost wished I’d been younger and could of had a go myself!

escot 17On our way out we found this huge trampoline and the children flew across to have a bounce.  They long for one at home but we don’t have a suitable size garden so they certainly made up for it on this not wanting to come off!

escot 2Miss M went on the trampoline with one very wobbly top tooth and came off with it hanging by a thread and lots of blood, so I told her she’d need to pull it to get it out.  With one little tug it came loose, her first top row tooth to come out.  Although she was a little alarmed by the experience, she was very excited about the visit she’d get from the tooth fairy that night.

escot 4We had a really lovely family day out at Escot, somewhere I’d thoroughly recommend visiting and that we’ll definitely go to again.

Hope you’ve all had some great day’s out this summer and with the warm weather looking to continue over the next few weeks, hopefully we can squeeze in a few more fun days out at the weekends.