Halloween's coming and it's one of our favourite times of year. Tulleys Farm Shocktober Fest has been on my radar for a while after seeing many Facebook photos of friends who'd visited last year - we decided to see what all the fuss was about.
Tulleys also host the fabulous, world-famous Shocktober Fest Scream Park. It's classed as the UK's No.1 Halloween attraction. I've been told this evening event is super scary and rated a 12A - children 15 years and under MUST be accompanied by an adult at all times! This sells out fast every year so book quickly.
We visited the Pumpkin and Spook Fest - this is aimed at children aged 6-13 years and I must say, it was absolutely brilliant.
Tulleys Farm is in Turners Hill, Crawley, West Sussex - just a short trip from home. The farm is all decked out for a spooky day of interactive fun. There are actors everywhere in fantastic costumes and amazing props all over the place.
When you enter you'll get an adults passport and a kids map and score chart. The passport will get ticked off after you enter each Haunt.
The Twisted Funhouse
This was like the crazy scene on Willy Wonka - when they go through that tunnel on the boat, meets Alice in Wonderland on acid. Really fun if not slightly surreal. You'll be given 3D glasses when you enter as you make your way through a maze of psychedelic, ultra violet passage ways that feel like they're moving, shrinking and all sorts. Slightly freaky - but fun. Although our 5 year old was a little scared in there the girls loved it.
After a walk through the Ghost Town and Main Street where all the food stalls were the kids headed to the trampolines and bouncy castle - (which was a giant pumpkin shaped one). These two vegan vampires were just fabulous.
The Spooky Trail and Spook Hunt
This took place in Tulleys famous Maize Maze. The kids had to find characters hidden in the maze and check them off on their score chart. Once they'd found all 30 they could collect a prize. Look at this shot - Children of the Corn or what?
Pumpkin Paintball, Corn cannons & Pumpkin Chuckin'
This was an extra expense - we decided to have a go at Pumpkin Chuckin' it was £1 for 3 small pumpkins and you got to catapult them into a field. The paintball would have cost £3.50.
Witch in the woods
This is open between 12-4pm - a bit of a queue was forming as they let family groups through in intervals a few minutes apart. We didn't know what to expect as we walked through a dark tunnel and were met by a witch at Miss Skeleton's School for Spells. This was great fun as you entered each area you met a different character. The actresses here are brilliant and so are all of the props.
Horrid Hayride
This is one I'd heard a lot of good things about. This attraction is open between 12-4pm we queued for around 15 minutes but there were three tractors with trailers ferrying the humans into the spooky world of weird and wonderful characters. You'll ride in a trailer around an amazing set with live actors jumping on board. I don't want to spoil it too much but I think this was my favourite haunt - watch out for the pyrotechnics.
We stopped for some food, there is a lot on offer from the usual burgers, fish 'n chips and pizza to hog roasts and chocolate kebabs. Expect to pay £3 upwards and take cash as it seemed most of the stalls were cash only. There were plenty of picnic benches to stop and eat at and there were characters wandering about keeping everybody entertained.
Creepy Cottage
Again, this was fab. It's open from 12-4pm and you are let through in groups. It's very dark and creepy and the live actors do a great job - I may have jumped a couple of times. I think my 5 year old found this a bit too scary as he was dragging me through very quickly but the rest of us loved it.
In this area you could also buy pumpkins and there were some circus skills going on. The Halloween shop is one of the best I've ever been to. So many cool things to buy.
Other attractions include a 3D cinema, Scary-oke, theatre and puppet shows, ghost stories and Patch's Pumpkin Show. This is all included in the entrance price.
Attractions which cost extra are a Haunted Mine Simulator - which cost £3.50 and two rides one was huge and called the X-Hell-R8 and the other was called the Joker - the girls really wanted to go on this one. It cost £3 each but it rounded off their day nicely.
So, would we recommend Tulleys? Absolutely.
It's open daily from October 21 to October 29 (2017) - 10am-4.30pm for the Pumpkin and Spook Fest - perfect for a fun day out during the October half term.
It will set you back £48 for a family of 4 but in our opinion it is worth it.
The question is are we brave enough to dare the Shocktober Fest Scream Park? Maybe next year? Mwah ha ha ha.....