Hello once again my friends and today I am talking about a place I touched on a few months back, but never went into detail about and that is the awesome, Landmark Forrest Activity Park. This is located in Carrbridge and is quite close to our, Hillview Cottage. Anyway the reason I am talking about this place today is last year when we went here it was when they had their epic, Halloween Spookfest which ran pretty much for the whole of October and they had all kinds of spooky goings on that my kids just loved and as a horror movie buff so did I. Now when I say horror movie buff I do not mean they had people dressed up as Freddy and Jason running around, this was strictly for kids, but adults will love it too.
Well this year they are having another October of spookiness with their Spookfest. Not a lot of info is out there about what this is going to be, but if it is anything like it was last year. I am sure there will be all kinds of scary things and fancy dress for you to get into. Now let me say this is not the biggest “theme park” in the world, but there is just such a charm here that I think going here and seeing their Halloween shenanigans is going to be something my family does every October. Well there is more than just the spooky goings on here and to get you guys pumped up for this year’s Spookfest I am listing the best things you can do here.
The Runaway Timber Train
“Can we go on it again dad???????” was what my son asked me. Which I am sure you are thinking sounds cute, but after about the ninth time I was starting to get a wee bit woozy. This is a really cool roller coaster that is not full of loops and things like that, but it is still a lot of fun. Each car allows four people in it so its great for families. It does go pretty fast and has a lot of twists and turns, but I would say this would make for a great first roller coaster for a kid. My other half hates rides, she is still mentally scarred after going on The Bullet many years ago at Flamingo Land, but even she will o on the Runaway Timber Train. Just be warned this may not be a crazy roller coaster, but after a few times on it, you will start to regret that hot dog you had for lunch!
The Tarzan Trail
If The Runaway Timber Train was my kids favourite thing here then a very close second would be, The Tarzan Trail. I would say this is the best high ropes course to check out if you have kids as this is not about pushing yourself to the limit. It is all about having a good time and the obstacles here for the most part are not too tough. There are things like tyres to get past, creaky wooden bridges and some ropes to deal with as well. In all it is just about having a good time and the kids are kept safe via a pulley system. This is awesome as if they get stuck at a part, rather than throwing a strop and saying they are not moving. They can lift their feet up and you can pull them to the next part of the course.
The Fire Tower
Now this was really cool! The Fire Tower is not really a ride it is more of an experience than anything else. This is located right in the heart of the forest and once you climb up the over 100 steps you are greeted with one of the most epic views you will ever see. There is just green everywhere and you can even see the glorious Cairngorm Mountains. Apparently you can even see the Cairngorm Mountain Railway carriages, but we were not lucky enough to be there when these were running. There is a free telescope that you can use, just be sure to give it a wipe before you use it as the last thing you want is a family wide case of pink eye! The climb up here is a bit of a trek, but the view and the 100 photos you will no doubt take are well worth it. My oldest son made the good point that if you wanted to get abducted by aliens, standing up here would be a good place……… so there is always that.
Wonder Wood
Ok I will admit that I had no clue what to expect here, but this was one of the most fun, interesting and pretty crazy things on offer here. The Wonder Wood is one of the newer attractions to the park and it really did impress the heck out of me. This is as close as you are ever going to get, chasing a rabbit falling down a hole and then ending up in Wonder Land. Wonder Wood is home to three weird and wonderful cabins where each one has its own weird and wonderful style. One makes you feel like you have fallen into some vortex out of the Twilight Zone (the good TV series not the god awful movies) One is all topsy turvy and will really mess with your mind and having you grabbing onto a family member, wall or a random stranger to stop yourself falling over and the last one is just like Alice In Wonderland where things are shrunken and others are huge. In all this is an awesome addition to the park and I really cannot wait to see how they expand on this.
Wild Water Coaster
Now last time we were here, someone I will not say who, but it was not me or the kids. Said no to going on this as no one had a change of clothes with them! But this year, you better believe we are all going to go on the, Wild Water Coaster this thing looks awesome and is three different water coasters that see you sitting in a wee boat, raft or whatever you want to call it as you go hauling down the water. Each coaster has its own thing with The Falcon being one that starts of all nice and then plunges you down a 50 feet, lighting fast strip of water! The Wildcat is what they say is their fastest slide, so I would think this is the one you are going to get well and truly soaked. The one though I am really excited to go on is The Otter which has a dark tunnel so it is bound to be a wee bit spooky as well. We did not manage to go on this last time, but the people we saw who did looked like they had an amazing time…….. and many of them were very wet! This does not run From November to March so keep that in mind.
Ant City
The Last part of the park (and there is way more than just what I have mentioned here by the way!) I want to suggest and tell you about is, Ant City. Ant City is an outdoor kids play park that has things for them to climb, swing and if yours are anything like our, fall off as well. They had a great time running around like crazy people here and so did us adults…. No we did not join them in running around and climbing, but we did really enjoy being able to sit down, have a cup of tea and just relax for a minute. Well I say relax, as this is a kids play park of course the noise level here is just insane! What was amusing about this place was, clearly the majority of parents brought their kids to Ant City so they could have a little break as when I looked around there was just knackered parents all over the place! Just before we left we told the kids we had time to do one more thing and this was what they chose to do.
Places To Eat
There are two main places to eat here at Landmarks if you do not bring food with you. The more fancy of the two is the Foresters Restaurant which has all kinds of more healthy and more up market types of food. Honestly it did sound lovely in here, but we did not eat here. The other place was where we ate and that is, The Pinewood Grill. This is more your fast food type of place serving up things like burgers and these amazing jumbo American hotdogs which I had two of and then nearly saw again after my what must have been 100th turn on The Runaway Timber Train. Between the two places there is more than enough options for you. While the food is great I would still recommend bringing a few snacks in a bag so you can eat in between activities.
