The Forbidden Corner

More exciting family time. We have had a busy week full of baking, sewing, singing, dancing - I still cant do 'the floss' .. slides, swings and even managed a round of crazy golf. On Thursday we had a girls trip out to ' the forbidden corner' at Tupgill Estate near Middleham.

If you've not been, do put it on your to do list, its a great family day out and I think appeals to all ages or rather those above 2 years 10 months. The small member of our brave girls club really didn't feel very brave... right from the beginning as we entered the park though the giant burping mouth.. which really really startled her.. you have to go to experience this it defies further description... and that combined with the bubbling blue Caliban and an extremely fierce water spitting crow sent poor baby into trembling hide under mummy mode.

Big girls screams of mixed horror and delight did rather up the ante and we had to find a quiet corner to calm down, eat cheese and try and start again...

I.ve not really sold the place but once you get the idea the 'scary' bits start to be great fun especially for an energetic 8 year old and there is plenty of exploring to do. Our little one calmed down and while she never really liked the set up as long as she was welded to mummy she was reasonably ok.. there were moments when Iwondered if we were potentially scarring her for life but shes resilient.

The plan evolved that mum and small being wandered quietly - amongst hoards of screaming delightedly kids and Nana and brave girl did all the exploring. Its very cleverly laid out and I imagine to an younger person feels enormous but really its quite compact and each little scenario leads into the next bit with a clever balance of surprise and humour. There are lots of water features ie opportunities to get wet, giant rats, roman soldiers, skeletons, mouse traps, interesting statues, secret stairways, creepy corridors, even the odd astronaut thrown in. Bits of it make you jump out of your skin and some of its is just plain amusing. (there was a bit that was really quite scary and we had to leave very quickly even the big brave girl blanched a little) Its well though out and defo worth a trip

Some of it is a bit of a tight squeeze and there were moments I felt at risk of getting squashed. I was very glad we had early doors tickets as it was getting getting very very busy and quite raucous as we left. We ran about for three hours stopping only for a brief picnic with the ducks and it was an EXHAUSTING day but fab fun!!!

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