Best 'Go Apes' for kids in South East England

Is there anywhere nicer to be on a blazing hot day than beneath the trees? This very hot Sunday we headed to Go Ape at Tilgate Park for a woody tree top adventure! The kids have been looking forward to this for the longest time!

We’ve been to Tilgate Park many times before as I grew up very near it and it’s a great farm and park for kids but we’ve never tried Go Ape. It’s something that Elodie, in particular, was so excited to try! Our very own woodland, climbing experience.

And it really was an incredible adventure- the course is under a lovely leafy canopy and in the soft dappled sunlight, it looked beautiful.

Our kids are 4, 7 and 9 – so the Treetop junior adventure was the perfect fit (the treetop adventure is suitable for kids aged 10+ who are also 1.4m tall- Elodie was tall enough but not yet 10.) But the treetop junior has enough ‘thrill’ for adults and older kids alike! It’s suitable for anyone over 1 metre. Our lovely Auntie Hannah kindly looked after Archie for us as, even though he’s a cheeky little climber – even he had to admit, he’s way too young for this!

There are 2 levels of course to the Treetop Junior and you get an hour on the course but can go round the course as many times as you like – Orla and I stuck to the level 1 course and managed to do it around 5 times! A top tip would be to go when it’s not that busy so you get plenty of times to go around the course as you’re not waiting for others to finish the station ahead of you . The course has a good balance of bravery and security- it’s high enough to feel quite scary once you’re up there, but the first course go on is less shaky and you have a safety green wire to hold on for most of the stations. The next level course is a little more bouncy and has some scarier parts where you don’t have a guide rope to hold onto. My 7 and 9 year old didn’t mind at all though- and loved the daring element! Whichever course you follow- it ends with a magnificent zip wire – even I had butterflies in my tummy when it came to me launching myself off the platform onto the zip wire! Goodness knows how Orla felt! But there were such lovely instructors at Go Ape- one of them had a genius idea and told Orla (aged 4) and told her that he’d slow the zip wire down for her by pressing ‘a magic button’ on the tree- it worked a treat and she flew down the zip wire- and asked to do it again and again! There were many other examples of Go Ape’s caring staff that I saw- I watched an instructor whizz up the course to rescue a girl who was stuck on a station and the instructors who did our demonstration went out of their way to give us the instructions needed but in a humorous way that didn’t intimidate.

I was so proud of all them tackling the course – Go Ape is a brilliant confidence booster for kids but particularly for Orla who is only 4. It was very sweet that half way round the course Orla said to me ‘I’m saying in my head on all the scary bits – I will not fall, I will not fall!!!……’ but she was so proud of herself afterwards.