Potion Hunt: a family Halloween at Go Ape Moors Valley

If you are sorting out the October half term and want something that leans more towards adventure than scares, Go Ape Moors Valley has a new seasonal add-on worth knowing about. Potion Hunt is their themed Halloween event, and it runs from 24 October to 1 November, so it sits right in the middle of the school holidays.

The first thing to understand is that Potion Hunt is not a standalone event. It is an optional add-on to the courses already running at the park: Treetop Adventure, Treetop Adventure Plus and Nets Adventure. It costs £5 per person on top of the course price, and you book it mid-course rather than as a separate ticket. The premise is simple enough for younger children to get behind: the Woodland Wizard has dropped his cauldron, and the potion ingredients are hidden up in the tree branches. To find them, you climb, scale, balance and zip-line your way around, and once you have gathered the ingredients, there is a secret recipe puzzle to solve. Complete it, and you walk away with a medal and some sweets.

Because it is an add-on, the age and height rules of the main courses still apply. Treetop Adventure is for ages 4 to 10, from £20.95, with a minimum height of 1 metre and a maximum weight of 130kg, and you get up to two hours for the full experience. Treetop Adventure Plus is for ages 6 and up, from £25.95, with a minimum height of 1.2 metres. Nets Adventure is the youngest option, aimed at ages 3 to 11 from £22.95, where you get two hours on giant bouncy nets suspended 30 feet up. If you have older children or want something more challenging, Treetop Challenge is for ages 10 and over from £36.95, with a minimum height of 1.4 metres. There is also Forest Segway from £38.95 for ages 10 and up, and Sundown Adventures, an after-dark course with glowing lights, running from 16 October to 8 November from £31.95 for ages 6 and over.

A bit of context on the place helps if you have never been. Go Ape Moors Valley sits inside Moors Valley Country Park, an award-winning Forestry England site of over 800 acres, with a 166-metre zip wire and one legendary Tarzan Swing. The park is on the Hampshire and Dorset border, just above Bournemouth, between the New Forest and the Jurassic Coast, and easy to reach off the A31. There are cafés, kiosks, ice cream and a gift shop on site, plus accessible toilets and baby changing. A word of warning on access: some paths are accessible, but many are woodchip and tough for wheelchairs or prams, so the park runs a Countryside Mobility Scheme and hires mobility scooters. Dogs are welcome on site and in the café if they are well-behaved and on a lead, but they cannot go on the course, so you will need a spectator to look after them. The safety system is Continuous Belay, pregnant women are advised not to participate, and you are asked to empty your pockets, as bumbags and backpacks are not allowed. Adults aged 18 and over can supervise children either on the course or from the ground, depending on the activity and age group. It is open from 8am to 6pm on weekdays and 9am to 5pm at weekends.