​Ok so it's been a while since I last blogged due to the pandemic bringing everything to a standstill... But I'm back now and oh boy do I have a fun one to share with you all!

The main entrance was surprisingly discreet, just a sign next to a door on the street, but once we got to the internal door of the attraction it was clear that the theming was going to be good because it just screamed classic horror. We then descended a dark and spooky staircase into the lobby area where each of their different escape rooms had a separate themed area. Even the loos had fantastic spooky decoration and entirely black toilets (I don't know why but I was really rather excited about that haha).

The puzzles were great too, with a varying range of difficulties and different types of puzzle. We definitely had to work as a team and use all of our individual strengths in order to solve them and move on. It was scary too and I was constantly on edge about what was going to happen or make me jump out of my skin! But I actually loved it and the whole thing was very immersive, I had no idea how much time had passed or if we were close to getting out, which added to the fun underlying panic as we scrambled to find clues, items and answers.

But we escaped!!! Hurrah!! And we actually got out in only 40 minutes, with 20 minutes left on the clock, becoming the new room record holders for fastest escape! (We were all very chuffed about this.) That being said, the room and whole experience was absolutely brilliant and although we got out quickly it didn't feel like we had gone through everything too fast. It was fulfilling and is definitely value for money in my opinion. There were only 4 of us in our group and I do feel like the Cabin Fever room may feel a little cramped at it's maximum capacity of 6 people, however this could just add a claustrophobic feel to the already uneasy atmosphere and therefore add to the overall horror experience, so I wouldn't worry about that too much.

Overall I absolutely loved it and would definitely recommend it to any horror fans, or general escape room fans out there. It's not terrifying, but it is scary, I think they've got the balance just right. I fully intend to go back and visit their other Wonderland experience, and also eagerly anticipate their new room which is currently under construction. It was a fab creepy adventure.

Not so long ago my family decided that we would prefer to share experiences, or to give gifts of experiences to each other instead of just buying more "stuff" (unless of course we knew it was something that the person wanted, needed or they would absolutely love).

At Christmas we were given a trip to an escape room (which of course instantly made me both happy and excited because I absolutely love them) and this time it was to visit Escape London in Shepherd's Bush to try to crack The Da Vinci Room. This is one of the few escape rooms around where you can actually fit 7 people into the room to play together. That being said, I wouldn't recommend any more people than that because not only would it feel really cramped, but not everyone would get the chance to work on a puzzle and feel included.

"Our Da Vinci Room will see you take on the role of thief, but for the greater good. Dr John Albright has studied the workings of Da Vinci in great detail. He has amassed a considerable collection over the years, including what many believe to be the Holy Grail.
​Having gained his trust by helping him "acquire" items over the years, you have access to areas of his home and knowledge of his security that no-one else does.  You've been paid well for your services over the years, but you've always felt that an item of the importance of the Holy Grail should be on display for everyone.
The professor is away and now is your chance. Get in the room, grab the grail and get out. It should be easy!"

This room was really good, there were a great range of puzzles to complete and they had varying degrees of difficulty. The room itself has a difficulty rating of 5 stars (their most challenging rating) and only a 43% success rate of escaping. We had an hour to complete the room and managed to do it in 45 minutes and 30 seconds, so it was a challenge for us! We really had to use our brains on this one and sometimes think outside of the box. Plus we were lucky that the people in our team all have different strengths because there's no way any of use would have been able to do the whole room on our own!

This venue was great because the staff were really friendly, the only slight negative was the temperature because it was SO warm in the waiting room (though thankfully it wasn't as hot in our puzzle room and I had layers on so could remove some). They provide you with free lockers to store your things which was definitely appreciated to store all of our winter coats. I would love to go back to this venue again to play their other rooms, plus hopefully I'll get the chance to visit their other venue in Shadwell too!.

Hello everyone and welcome to my first ever blog post!
I wanted to start off with a really fun one and thought what could be better than sharing one of my recent adventures with you all.

Last week I FINALLY took a couple of days out of my crazy busy actors life schedule to actually have a little mini-break holiday and do something fun for myself! (I'm not very good at treating myself as I'm very goal driven so can be a bit of a workaholic sometimes...)

We had a couple of vouchers from last Christmas that needed to be used and they were for a night's stay in a hotel and an experience. Seeing as how I like adventure and being active, it was decided that we'd go to Snowdonia in Wales and check out Bounce Below (which I've thought looked cool ever since I first heard of it). Bounce Below is one of the attractions at Zip World near Blaenau Ffestiniog in a massive underground slate cavern, and is essentially four floors of bouncy nets that are strung across the cavern with slides and net tunnels too.
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To say that Bounce Below was good fun would be the understatement of the year. I had an absolute blast!!! When you book you get given an hour to enjoy the experience and while that may not sound like long, let me tell you that after forty minutes of jumping around like a loon, sliding, and laughing my head off I was absolutely knackered!

One hour is definitely long enough and it's more than worth the money. I highly recommend the experience to anyone except those who don't like heights. You can see through the nets to the levels and people below you, and the cavern floor below that, plus as it is bouncy the floor is anything but stable. But yes, as long as you're ok with heights then you will love it.

To add to the atmosphere the staff play music (I won't forget bouncing along to Guns N' Roses Sweet Child O' Mine) and the whole cavern is lit with colourful lights. The experience is child friendly and they provide mats to help you get down the slides too.

While Zip World itself doesn't have a cafe, there is one on site and they have good and reasonably priced food. They even had jacket potatoes to keep my wheat intolerant tummy happy. There is also a gift shop and a couple of other experiences with the company who own the old quarry, though we definitely did not have time to do it all in one day.

In the afternoon we decided to do the Zip World Caverns experience as well because quite frankly it looked amazing. And it was! ​

Oh my gosh, where do I start with this one... It's a three hour zip lining and climbing experience through the caverns next to Bounce Below. I was excited about it from when we booked it, I got more excited when I could see other people doing part of the course during our time on Bounce Below, and it honestly lived up to every expectation. I absolutely LOVED it and can say that it is probably my favourite climbing/zip lining experience so far.

Like Bounce Below, the caverns are lit with bright colours and the location is just beautiful. You have to start off by going through training to make sure that everyone knows how to use the equipment properly and safely, and the equipment itself is extremely clever. With some of it designed by a local man, you are attached to the safety line at all times and it is not possible to take yourself off of it, there are clever lock style gates that help you move from section to section. I felt very safe doing the course because of this, which was great because once you set off it is not with your instructor so you can go at your own pace, there's even a way for you to overtake each other if you're faster or slower than the others around you. Don't worry though because the instructors are on hand watching you on cameras so they can come to assist you if you need help.

During the experience we completed eleven zip lines, scaled the walls of the cavern, scrambled a little on the slate and up nets, crossed rope bridges, and even got to choose between the challenge of monkey bars or a tightrope at the end. I chose the tightrope because I just don't have that much upper body strength (no seriously I tried them in my local park and only managed two bars before failing hilariously), and I didn't fancy just ending up dangling above a cavern!

I had the time of my life doing the Caverns experience and it was certainly the highlight of the trip. I've love to go back to Zip World again at some point to try out their other experiences, especially as they also have two more sites, so hopefully that will be possible...

If you want to see more from my experiences there then you're in luck as I will also be posting a vlog from the trip so do keep an eye out for that on #TheReelRoad playlist on YouTube!