HALLOWEEN Fun at A-maze-ing Tulleys. (Tulleys Farm (West Sussex))

Member Name: wendybull

Product:	Tulleys Farm (West Sussex)
Date:	09/10/06 (4591 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great for kids and adults all year round

Disadvantages: Can be very scary at Halloween, espeically in the dark.

Tulleys Farm is a really great place in West Sussex that caters for every season exceptionally well. It’s such a great day out for kids and adults alike that we have been back a few times now at different times of the year to experience the different set ups they do.

Tulleys Farm is basically a huge area that farms crops such as strawberries and other berry fruits and also squash, pumpkin and sunflowers at specific times of the year all of which you pick yourself. There is also a farm shop, which sells produce and tearooms to relax and rest after your PYO experience. Two minutes drive up the road brings you to their second area, which is the fun part and is where we usually spend most of our days. Entering the place from the road you are greeted with a massive parking area, easily enough for 300 cars with more space whenever needed simply by un-tying some roped off areas. The parking area is merely an old field with dirt tracks and long grassed areas where you leave the car. For this reason, coupled with the amount of walking you will be doing, I would recommend trainers or boots, but certainly no heels!

Once you have paid and you enter the farm itself, you are met with an array of over sized garden games, like Connect 4 and Jenga. There is also a small maze for the little kids, made from dug out trenches, not too deep, for the little ones to play in. Picnic tables adorn the open spaces and a stall selling hot tea and coffee, cold drinks and ice creams is just to one side. As with all places of this nature you enter and pay through the gift shop, which isn’t too bad on the way in as you can promise the kids souvenirs on the way out, but your purse may suffer at home time as there is no other exit from the farm, than through the gift shop.

--The Maze--

The main attraction on Tulleys Farm though is the maze. It is made of Maize and funnily enough is called a “Maize Maze”. Since 1998 the maze has been grown to a different design each year, featuring Dragons and Wild West themes, through to Aztec and the current Pirate themed maze. It really is spectacularly done and from a birds eye view the maze is a very intricate design. The pirate one for instance is a pirates face and a parrot sitting on his shoulder. Obviously you cannot decipher this from the ground but we brought postcards from the gift shop on the way in (only to help us navigate the maze) and it really is spectacular. The maize is grown to around 7 feet tall so unless you are super tall, you will not be able to see over the walls into the next section. When you enter you are given a tall stick with a pirate flag on the top. If you get lost or panic you just need to hold it high and wave it a lot. One of the staff will come and rescue you and help you out. This is especially good for the kids, as they do tend to get excited and race ahead leaving the adults behind.

Last time we went it took us 2 hours to get round the maze and out to the other side. There is a small tuck shop style café in the centre with tables to rest and study the map, although this didn’t really do us much good. Around the maze are massive bridges which when climbed mean you can view the whole maze. This is still difficult to navigate from though, as the minute you climb back down you lose orientation and are back to square one. There are colour-coded tapes running along all the paths though which correspond to coloured areas on the map so you are given a little help with these. At least you know which section you are in!

We went during the day on our last visit, which was difficult enough, but they also offer a torch light route through the maze at night. My friend did this a couple of weekends ago and found it to be great fun. It is better with adults only though as the kids could so easily get lost! Hmm = maybe I should take them! (only kidding).

--Special Seasons—

I will concentrate on Halloween in this section for obvious reasons but they do special presentations and decorate the whole site for lots of reasons, Easter and Christmas included.

At Halloween however it really does change it’s appearance completely and everything is decorated in spider webs, pumpkins and everything you could possibly associate with Halloween. They really do go all out to make sure every area is completely transformed, even the row of porta-loos they have outside the maze exit.

They call the whole experience the “Spooktacular Festival” and it really is quite that. The maze is altered to become a huge expanse of scary delights and the creepy corn reminds me even more of “Jeepers Creepers” where you expect to see nasty scarecrows take flight and pluck you from the tall plants. Tulley’s do however deposit quite a few nasty surprises for you as you go round the maze. There are mannequins dressed as ghosts and ghouls or monsters and vampires, whom you pass with regularity on your way round, however the surprise comes when occasionally they wake up and grab at you as you go past. Yep, they have planted real people in the maze who are excellent at keeping still, making you think they are dummy’s until you venture past and find out with heart stopping consequences that they are not.

The same can be said for the tractor ride. This operates all year round but at Halloween it loads up and trundles off round the site. It is actually a fairly long ride, taking on average about 7 minutes to get all the way round. It doesn’t sound too long but when you are on a bumpy trailer going through the woods, 7 minutes is plenty long enough. At Halloween though they drive a little closer to the wooded area and it’s up to you how closely you look into the woods. How much courage do you have because what you see may well scare the beejeebers out of you. There are men planted in there again, extremely well dressed for the occasion, and other scary theme based things to set your pulse racing. At one point there is a car parked and as you round a bend it’s head lights spring on and the engine starts revving, suddenly it races towards you, obviously narrowly missing the back of the trailer but very scary if you are not excepting it. (Sort of reminded me of Christine.)

Obviously all these attractions are going to be more scary if done in the dark and the farm is open until late, covering all levels of bravery as the attractions get scarier the later it is. Even so for very young children it can still be particularly scary so be prepared for some tears and paranoia if you decide to attempt it.

There are plenty of other attractions and side shows as well to keep you occupied, like the Haunted House with spongy floors and moving walls, scary people who wake up after a certain hour and lots of other Halloween related things to see. A lot of the side shows are charged extra, like Pumpkin Pitch (a coconut shy with pumpkins) and Corn Canons and at £1 a go with a couple of kids in tow it can add up to be quite pricey, especially after paying in the region of a tenner each to get in to begin with. However as with all these places it is up to you how much extras you let the children do and if you are firm you will still have plenty to do that is incorporated on the entry price.

Even if your kids don’t want to be scared out of their wits they can still come in full horror fancy dress and there is a competition for the best in certain age groups, accompanied by a face painting stand your little ones can end up looking quite Halloweeny!

--Overall—

On the whole this really is a great day (or night) out and you can bring a packed lunch to keep costs down, although there are hot-dogs and burgers on sale here. You can also hire the place for parties, although it would not be exclusive to your party unless you had hundreds going. I am going to go there at Christmas this year to visit Santa and experience the joys of a converted Tulleys into Lapland and go on The Elf Hunt as well as feeding the reindeer and going on the Santa Sleigh ride. Ooh, I can’t wait.

Finally they do sell some great shopping treats. At Christmas for instance they do meat hampers and other farm produce for the season in question. Along with Christmas trees at that time of year. I can see some exclusive and unique ideas coming this year!

I would recommend you give this place a visit if you are in the area but I would also suggest you have a quick look at the website (www.tulleysfarm.com) as it will list all entry prices and opening times, along with special features for the time of year you are going. Another good idea is the spook meter, which they have listed next to each attraction on the Halloween feature. It will give you an idea before you go of how much you think your kids can handle without having nightmares!

Happy Halloween!

Summary: RECOMMENDED