Reader’s Review: Family at the Treetop

I’m not sure who I’m more anxious about as we venture onto the first of the obstacles at Treetop Trek Heaton Park (www.treetoptrek.co.uk/manchester). Is it me, and my lifelong fear of heights, or five year old Ella who is smiling but in that nervous way she does when she’s unsure of something?

It’s definitely me, I realise as Ella makes her way reasonably confidently through a simple net that leads to the first tree and the first serious obstacle.

Seven year old Harrison and his mum are well ahead of us, walking across a horizontal wooden pole that leads toward the trunk of a second tree, while our instructor Anna has helpfully hung around at the rear of our group in case Ella (or me) find the experience too overwhelming.

I hear a few whimpers from Ella as Anna leads her across the first few steps on the pole, but these turn into nervous laughter and finally a cheer of celebration as she reaches the other side. And then it’s time for me to cross…

It’s not actually that high at this point, I’d estimate three meters or so, but my legs wobble every step of the way across; and it’s not just because the walkway moves underfoot either. Still, I make it to the other end without freezing in panic and Ella high fives me at the other side.

The next few obstacles feel progressively less daunting, even though we appear to be gaining altitude. I guess it’s our confidence growing, thanks to the professional support of Anna who coaxes Ella (and me) every step of the way across the obstacles. The whimpers have been replaced with squeals of delight and cheers of triumph every time she reaches the other side. It’s a remarkable transition and some of it even rubs off onto me. Before long I’ve almost forgotten about my vertigo and I’m able to stay in the moment enjoying the sight of Ella and Harrison darting from tree to tree.

And then it’s time for the first zipline. Harrison and Mummy are across without any issues at all and are yelling from the tree opposite us for Ella to zip across to them. To our right I notice a ladder is propped against the platform. Ella starts to cry. Oh dear, and she’d been doing so well.
“That’s okay Ella,” I tell her. “We can get off if you want.”
“I want to go across,” she sobs. “But I want you to come with me.”
“Is that okay?” I ask Anna.
It isn’t, but she is allowed to go across with Anna and the tears immediately stop. And then she’s squealing in delight again as Anna zips across with her.

Across the way I hear the cheers and shouts of triumph. I’m so happy for Ella that I even manage to supress my own anxieties while I zip across myself, eager to high five her at the other side.

And then with that psychological barrier out of the way her confidence grows with each obstacle. The skateboard provides her a brief moment of panic, and there’s one obstacle that requires you to move your body onto the outside of an A frame several times in a row, but she “smashes” these (to use Anna’s phraseology) and before we know it we’re at the series of ziplines at the end of the course. Ella takes the first of these on Anna’s knee but after that she’s zipping across all by herself all the way to the end of the course.

“Again, again,” she cheers when we’ve all reached the end. “Please Daddy, I want to go round again!”

We don’t go round again, since our session is over but once we’re on the Treetop Nets the Trek is long forgotten and Harrison and Ella bounce around in delight, as mummy and daddy rekindle the lost children within themselves. The nets are actually quite high and the ground is clearly visible below, but after the Treetop Trek this doesn’t even seem to cross Ella’s mind. I’m surprised about this as we visited a similar rival attraction a year or so ago and she only lasted five minutes before getting off. But it seems the confidence she’s just gained from the Trek has extinguished any of these fears. And to be fair the nets are so much fun that it’s hard to worry about anything. The kids run around the nets reasonably gracefully while Alena and I follow them in an ungainly manner that looks something from the Monty Python sketch about the Ministry for Funny Walks.
 

The slides are Harrison’s highlight and he spends the best part of an hour climbing and sliding, climbing and sliding. Ella seems to enjoy the ball rooms the best, but is also happy on the smaller slide.

The kids would happily spend all day on the nets but we started our Trek session at 11:15 and went straight on the nets afterwards. So if there was one thing I would change about our visit it would be to have taken the staff’s advice and had lunch between the Trek and the nets; that way we could have stayed longer.

One added bonus of the visit was that our wristbands gave us 20% off in the café, where all the family agreed that the food was delicious. But then we had worked up a ferocious appetite climbing, ziplining and bouncing around for the best part of two hours.