***Please note my review is of a specific attraction "The Forbidden Corner" in North Yorkshire and not a review on Yorkshire as a whole. I have posted the review here for now as there seems to be a hitch with the product listing***

I was first made aware of The Forbidden Corner after my brother and his girlfriend returned following a visit one day this summer. They seemed incredibly mesmerised by the place, however, upon probing them for a detailed explanation of exactly what The Forbidden Corner was I was delivered only excited remarks about clues & riddles, secret passages and sleeping giants. The word enchanting was overused to an unnatural extent in their accounts, and after both failing miserably to provide me with a concrete answer they just suggested it was probably best if I visit the place for myself.

Immediately, the enigma and wonder surrounding this secret place began making me rather excited. Its rubbish when you start growing up and cease to believe in magic, but after being told about The Forbidden Corner I had a small glimmer of hope that magic could possibly still exist. I remember watching films in wonder as a child; Alice in Wonderland, Labrynth (with David Bowie), The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe each sparking the excitement and possibilities of secret worlds to stumble upon. In my back garden as a youngster my brother and I carried this theme on; creating secret passages through fences, under bushes, basically anywhere we could squeeze our bodies through with the idea they were a portal into another world. (In reality the secret world was often the neighbours compost heap.)

About The Forbidden Corner

History

The history behind the Forbidden Corner is that it was originally built as a private garden for the owner’s grandchildren in the 1980’s. It was built in the grounds of Tupgill Park Estate over four acres of land and was not initially intended to be a public attraction, however, upon expansion it later opened the grounds to the public. It has recently been voted the best childrens attraction by Little Chef beating popular and well known favourites such as Alton Towers.

What exactly is it?

The marketing slogan for the park is “possibly the strangest place in the world” which is pretty apt. The Forbidden Corner is made up of underground tunnels, statues, deadends, secret doors, woodland, mazes and magical “disneyland-like” architecture. Upon arrival you are given no map, just a leaflet with riddles and a list of things to find which by marking them off as you find them gives you an idea of how much of the garden you have seen. The difficult part is trying to find an exit!

Location

The Forbidden Corner
Tupgill Park Estate
Coverham
Middleham
Leyburn
North Yorkshire
DL8 4TJ

The Forbidden Corner sits in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, in the grounds of Tupgill Park Estate, North Yorkshire. Tickets must be reserved in advance and you are allotted an arrival time to keep the stream of traffic minimal and to also avoid overcrowding.

Booking

Tickets must be reserved in advance and can be purchased online www.theforbiddencorner.co.uk or by telephone 01969 640638 (check website for available dates)
Prices - Adults: £9.00, Senior Citizens: £8.00, Children aged 4 to 15: £7.00 (Children under 4 enter for free), Family (2 adults + 2 children): £30.00
Facilities

At the entrance to the park there is a car park, café, souveneir shop, toilets and general chill out area.

My Visit

It’s difficult NOT to take a scenic route if you’re driving to The Forbidden Corner, we travelled north for 90 minutes through country roads which was a bit of an adventure in itself. We visited on an October morning and I kept myself occupied on the drive by counting roadkill (an alarming 22 in total).

We had booked tickets online in advance and had been given an arrival time of 11.00am. Upon arrival at the park I regressed about 20 years and started collecting conkers from the entrance grounds to take home to play with (this is not technically stealing). After parking we took our confirmation to the reception desk and we were given tickets and a leaflet each, we were told we could enter the park when we liked and wished good luck by the staff. I was a little paranoid as it seemed as all the staff working there were in on some massive secret that we knew nothing about, hmm.

We decided to visit the café first and devise a plan of action; surprisingly my boyfriend and I were taking the whole thing quite seriously whilst my boyfriends daughter seemed slightly bemused by our plotting and was more keen to just get on with it. After coffee and kitkats (a little overpriced) we decided to go for broke and head in. I have to admit rather embarrassingly that I was a little bit scared;-I

Upon entering the park the excitement started, some bizarre age swapping took place as my boyfriend and I suddenly turned into 11 year olds whereas my boyfriends 9 year old suddenly became a 40 year old carrying a balloon. After walking through the entrance we were shockingly burped out of a giant mouth into the garden and then presented with a number of optional routes to take.

I really don’t want to reveal too much about the surprises that park has to offer as it may spoil it for anybody else wanting to visit, however, I soon came to expect the unexpected. There are several booby traps, shocks and tricks once you’re in the park and you should expect to be squirted by water upon at least one occasion. At one point my boyfriend began adopting what seemed like strange Tai Chai movements, however, I soon cottoned on to what he was doing; trying to find the sensors for the water squirters so he could get me wet at every possible opportunity!

We came to several frustrating dead ends before we got properly underway and started marking off some of the clues on the leaflet. We went underground, overground, (wombling free), got spooked, shocked and squirted, walked through a waterfall, made people jump after clambering out of an underground secret tunnel, went up into a castle, walked past a deer park, hobbled over stepping stones into a palace and crept through the legs of a giant…...all in a days work.

I can honestly say it was one of the most excitable experiences I’ve had as an adult and it almost came quite close to my childhood dream of appearing on The Crystal Maze. After we had been in the garden for just over 2 hours, we realised we had seen everything and began going around in circles trying to find a way out…..eventually we found the exit, and have talked about the place for days after.

Recommended?

The Forbidden Corner is remarkably clever in how it has been created and feels very much like a part of Disneyland, it’s fantastic for adults and children alike. Smaller children may find some of it quite scary as we were made jump on numerous occasions and there were several dark tunnels. I would highly recommend a visit here and I can only sum up the whole experience as extremely enchanting and a lot of fun.

Drawbacks?

Because of the mazes and tunnels it’s not entirely accessible for wheelchairs, although parts of the park can still be visited. If you need to use the toilet it can also be a bit tricky to find them when you are stuck in the middle of a maze. As long as you empty your bladder before hand and expect to be in the park for approx 2 hours you can still be free to have a lot of fun.

You have my permission to do the forbidden thing!

www.theforbiddencorner.co.uk

01969 640638