The girls all love climbing so we were really excited to be invited to the Challenge Academy at Baggeridge Park to try out the new Nets Adventure. My eldest loves heights and really enjoys challenging herself, but her little sister is a bit nervous about heights. This seemed the perfect opportunity to climb in a safe environment and build up her confidence.
The Adventure Centre is set in the beautiful Baggerdige Country Park. This is a lovely place to visit so you can make a day of it and go for a walk while you are there. Just park in the Country Park car park next to the cafe and the Adventure Centre is right next to it. The car park is pay and display.
Nets Adventure
You don’t need to wear a harness to go on the Nets Adventure course. It is the perfect first experience to get used to climbing. The Nets Challenge is still high up, they are 12ft above the ground, so it still feels like a real challenge, but as there are nets below you it is totally safe. You can just walk across the nets if you want to.
There are ten different challenges on the Nets Adventure course. There are hanging vines, broken bridges, floating islands and rope bridges to cross. You can choose your own route around the course. It is brilliant for building your confidence up. Charlotte sped around this course and loved every minute, even though she is scared of heights. It would be a good idea to try this first before going on the other adventure courses. The Nets Adventure is great for all ages from four upwards. It costs just £10 for an hour, which is excellent value for money.
The Ropes Adventure
For the more adventurous, you can book a great series of activities for just £17.50. For this price you can choose three activities such as, Climbing Wall, 3m Aerial Traverse, 9m Aerial Traverse, Powerfan Descender, Totem Pole. You can also book the zip wire for an extra £5.
The climbing wall is great exercise and there are lots of different routes to try for the beginner to the most experienced.
Low Ropes
The 3m Aerial Traverse is great for people who want to go on the obstacles but don’t want to go too high. The instructors are brilliant at supporting you and are really encouraging if you are worried.
I’m not the best with heights but I didn’t want to let the children have all the fun. I found the course great fun. The first section, in particular, is difficult because you have to set out across one rope.
Molly enjoyed the course so much the second time she tried it she did it blindfolded! I didn’t think this was possible but she said it was easier in some ways as you didn’t have to worry about how high up you were.
High Ropes
The high ropes course is a similar course 9m above the ground. You are strapped in by your harness and simply pull the rope along so if you fell you would hang. The ropes can take the weight of a car so you are totally safe. There are similar obstacles at the top, it is just much higher. Molly assures me the view from the top is spectacular if you are brave enough to look.
From the top, you can get down by the PowerFan which is a 9m free-fall descent. This looked great fun, although it’s very hard to land on your feet. As well as public packages you can also book parties, school trips and corporate sessions, which would be a lot of fun and something a bit different.
We had a brilliant time at the Challenge Academy. We all definitely felt challenged and I felt girls all made huge amounts of progress. This was definitely down to the brilliant instructors who treated them with warmth and humour and at each step pushed us to achieve just a little bit more. I loved how if you were finding the course easy they would set you a mini-challenge, like going backwards or wearing a blindfold. We all felt we achieved things we never thought we’d be able to do. We’ll be visitng again and next next I’m going on the high ropes. Maybe.
Disclaimer: We were given the sessions for the purposes of this review.