Location: The Botanical Scare Gardens, Birmingham Botanical Gardens, Westbourne Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 3TR
Opening Times/Dates: Friday 26th October – 4th November 2018. 5pm – 7pm Family Friendly Slots. 7pm onwards recommended for ages 14+
Tickets: Book online, tickets are £12 for adults £10 for ages 5-16, under 5s are FREE. Family ticket is £40. Prices are more when paying on the gate.
Last night me, Mr Trips and the girls headed over to the first time slot of Dr Nerium’s Garden of Ghouls. We were excited and looking forward to a night of scares. We had chosen the 5pm slot to ensure it wasn’t too dark and scary for the little ones.
We lined up at 4:50 and awaited our chance to head through the gated entrance.
Whilst waiting, there was a haunted jester entertaining us in the queue, the girls enjoyed his act so much that when it was our turn to go into Dr Nerium’s Garden (5:05pm), we had to talk them into leaving the jester.
We then headed into the Gardens with approximately five other families. Ready to start our journey.
Inside, the live actors tell the story of Dr Nerium, a grief stricken scientist who in 1842 began experimenting with life forms to try and bring back his wife and child. His experiments led to the creation of some very interesting and unique creatures, filling the garden, of ghouls. Be prepared to come face to face with many of them.
As I mentioned, we started with five families, and we actually ended with two families. As children slowly but surely decided that they didn’t want to see what was around the corner any more.
Ours, although initially scared, soon relaxed after being told nobody would be able to hurt them if holding onto us and were soon happy with the live actors and laughing at them.
I have read reviews this morning saying the event wasn’t scary. We thought it was and the families who left before the end obviously did too, so I’m guessing after our first session with the public they toned it down a bit after seeing the reaction of the children? So if you want a very scary walk, I recommend the 18+ time slots after 8pm.
When the event finished, we followed the path round to where the street food, stalls, entertainment and rides were.
The girls excitedly chose a bag of sweets (£1 each), decided they didn’t want their faces painted but did want to play on the rides (bungee ropes £4 and bouncy cars £3).
The bouncy cars are amazing and made the girls and us laugh so much. Adults and kids can play on these.
The street food was varied. Matilda and Jemima had a cheeseburger (£5.50) and I had a Cadburys chocolate muffin (£2.80). There were hot drinks, cold drinks, meat options and veggie options. These are open until 10:30pm.
Parking is available next door at the school for free, on the sides of the roads and if you have a disabled parking badge you can park on the Botanical Gardens car park. If there’s still no spaces, you can park on The Physicians car park which is a pay and display and has a ten minute walk. We parked on the schools car park and there were plenty of spaces when we arrived and still a few spaces when we left about 7pm.
Overall we had a fantastic time and recommend it for families and also for adults. It’s only on for the half term week, so make sure you get tickets and don’t miss out.
Disclaimer: We were invited along in return for an honest review. We enjoyed it and want to return minus children to one of the scarier evening sessions.