Tree top Adventure!

it was my gorgeous nephew’s 13th birthday last week and my chap and I were invited to join the family in going on a tree top adventure.

The venue was in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire at Beechenhurst Lodge, one of the Britain’s oldest woodlands .

one of the venues at the lodge is Go Ape, who have these outdoor adventure parks.

I’m pretty much always up for trying stuff at least once (unless it looks really dangerous) and its always nice to do stuff with the family.

Whilst I’m not a huge fan of heights, I did a zip wire over a quarry for my birthday a few years back, so i knew i would be ok up high.

When you arrive they go through instructions , strap you up on safety harness and you have to do a mini version that’s just off the ground.

ready to go! and he’s taller than me!

Then you’re ready to go up!

There are 4 routes you can do with each one increasing in difficulty. Basically you traverse between trees on crossings that can be anything from wooden slats, to climbing through nets or swinging obstacles.

The first was was quite hard work despite being the simplest, because you’re dealing with being up high and stepping between the trees over various obstacles! Then when you’ve finished you get to do the zip wire!

Muddy end to the zip wire!

then onto round two which was a little more difficult to traverse, but easier because you’ve got used to it.

there was a surprisingly small number of adults up in the tree which i found amusing!

I admit i quit after 2 routes because the next 2 looked too scary as the crossings consisted of more swinging obstacles. My nephew however traversed the whole thing twice but my 9 Yr old niece had to go back after being unable to compete the swinging obstacle ( i don’t blame her!)

yikes!

then we went to Coleford, just 2.5 miles down the road, for some lunch in a new bistro that for over 100 years previously had been a barber/tobacconist/sweet shop. The new owners have given the place a slightly steampunk style and have large photos up of the old shop as it was aswell as displays of contents of the old shop. I chatted to an old fellow outside the bistro as we perused the menu in the window and he explained how he used to have his hair cut there as a kid!

We then finished the day by going to the family’s Airbnb in Monmouth for present opening and cake!

Couple extra items, I received a lovely parcel this week from Michele with a beautiful Totoro felted ornament by Aninomori as well as some lovely Moomin inspired items, cat treats and tasty snacks. Thanks Michele for being so thoughtful!

also a thank you to Squirrel for the lovely belated bday pressie a couple weeks back xx

Have a great weekend x