First birthday for South West’s first junior ropes course
The team at Tree Surfers at the Tamar Trails Centre near Gulworthy in Devon were recently given a little help in celebrating the first anniversary of the junior high ropes course, the first of its kind in the South West.
A group of local school children were only too happy to ‘swing in’ and mark the occasion, which coincided with birthday celebrations for six-year-old Emily Jones from Plymouth.
Launched in July 2015, the junior course is aimed at the under 12s but captures the same spirit of challenge and adventure that inspired the original Tree Surfers course, also at the Tamar Trails, a tree canopy playground aimed at teens and adults.
“The Junior High Ropes is still high up in the trees, just smaller scale to suit smaller scale people,” explains Director Kate Blake. “A big part of the Tamar Trails ethos is encouraging people from all walks of life to get out and enjoy the AONB. We’ve had nearly 3,000 youngsters have a go at the junior ropes in the first year.
“Birthday parties have proved really popular, so we created a special birthday party package. We’ve probably hosted over a hundred now. We’re the only place in the South West offering a high ropes course for young adventurers and we find families come from across Devon and Cornwall.”
Kate and partner Paul Turner designed and hand-built the course, with funding provided by the peer to business lending platform, Rebuilding Society. The course, which consists of rope bridges, zip lines and walkways, is suitable for children four years (or 1m tall) and upwards. Children under six must be joined by an adult on the course but those seven and over can face the challenge alone.
Tree Surfers was launched in 2009. The Tamar Trails Centre was officially opened on 28 March 2013, marking the final phase of a ten year long £7million partnership project championed by the Tamar Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (TVAONB).