A couple of weeks ago we were invited to a day out at Go Ape in Cannock Chase with Days Out. Molly was thrilled as she loves climbing and had wanted to try Go Ape for ages. I was interested in hearing more about Days Out too as I am always looking for ways to save money and have fun in the holidays.
Cannock Chase is really beautiful and definitely somewhere I will be visiting again. We played giant Jenga and enjoyed a brunch while we learnt all the safety rules for going on the trail at Go Ape.
We tried out the Tree Top Junior Adventure which is suitable for children aged 6 and over. I have to say it was much higher than I was expecting. It was high enough for adults going round to feel like they have had a challenge too. The staff at Go Ape are really excellent and really made you feel confident and secure before going on. They were so calm and managed to get even the most reluctant climber around the course with gentle persuasion. I was so impressed!
Molly was raring to go on the journey there but I was a bit worried about how she would cope when she saw how high it was. Luckily I needn’t have worried. She loved it after going round the first part of the course slowly was soon running around ahead of me.
The course has three different routes and you can do them all in your time slot. They get progressively harder.
One of the hardest parts was where the bridge is split into different sections so you have to jump across from on log to the next while they are moving.
The most nerve wracking part was towards the end where there were separate logs made into a x shapes. It was quite tricky getting your arms and legs into the right position. You can see from the photo how high up we were. The good thing was that you don’t have to do this circuit – you can stick to the first circuit and just do that one. It is great as you can go at your own pace.
Molly had no worries on this one and was across it in no time!
The view from the treetops is really lovely. If you aren’t too busy looking at your feet of course.
Once you have gone round the circuit you go down the zip wire. This was the bit Molly was looking forward to most although you do land in a pile of wood chips – which isn’t the most dignified way to end the course.
At the end we were given badges and certificates and it really feels like you have achieved something, especially if you are nervous of heights. You get a good amount of time on the adventure but even so Molly wanted to go again. It is definitely something I would do in the future. She can’t wait to go on the adult course when she’s over 10.
After our adventure we were given a delicious BBQ lunch and the prettiest goody bags I’ve ever seen.
We explored Cannock Chase for an hour. It was a lovely walk through the woods. I am definitely planning on taking our bikes next time.
Molly loved the Sofia DVD which was in the goody bags and I was really impressed with my subscription to Days Out.
Days Out is an online attraction retailer which offers great discounts to thousands of places around the UK. There are over 8000 attractions on the site and vouchers available for most of them to offer cheaper entry. It is a really good website to use if you are travelling to a new area and want to research what to do. The site is really easy to navigate and you can also sign up for emails with details of the best deals. I think I’m going to get a lot of use out of it over the next year.
Disclaimer: We were given the day out and a subscription to Days Out for the purposes of this review.
