Slightmare at Overfarm Market

Overfarm Market in Gloucestershire is well known for its scary Halloween Attraction Frightmare – which happens after dark and is aimed at adults. But did you also know that there is a one-off toned down version called Slightmare. This is so that younger children who feel too old for the Spookyard (or adults who are too scared to do Frightmare) can enjoy a less-frightening. This is achieved with less actors and alterations to make it less scary to bridge this gap. Three of the five attractions run (Séance: House of Demons and Offering are not suitable due to their nature) and under 15s must be accompanied by a full-paying adult. Entrance tickets cost £11 per person which includes admittance to each of the 3 attractions, as well as watching the entertainment.

Caged

If there were a rating then I would say that Caged is probably the tamest of the 3 Slightmare attractions – mainly as it was just a walk through maze with actors and effects. It is a slightly scarier version of the daytime event for Spookyard. The fear mainly comes from the thought of the humans turning into the animals that they are portraying. My children just had fun trying to work out which animals the actors were!

Haunted Hayride: Corn of the Dead

This was by far my husband’s favourite of the three attractions with a good mix of tractor ride, story, interaction, maze and outdoor walk. It was great that a bit of comedy was thrown in with the scares too.

This would be my second scariest of the three as there were some dark sections but the “monsters” were very good at guiding (and had lights to do so). This was also the attraction that our eight year old was most scared on (although it could also be because it was the first one we went to) – and even I jumped in places! However, we do feel that the chainsaw at the end may have been a bit much for children. There was a bit of an initial wait to get going as we had to wait for the tractor – but once it arrived there was plenty of room and we were not made to squash up. The actors were good at knowing how close they could get/turn up the spook factor (there is also a no touching rule, which reassured our teen).

Wonderland

Wonderland was by far my favourite and probably on par with the Haunted Hayride for scare but for different reasons. Personally for me I had dark enclosed spaces and this one just felt a little more suffocating (but this was for a very short and manageable time and wasn’t nearly so bad the second time!). The set is fantastic and worth a visit alone – especially if you are an Alice in Wonderland fan! The costumes were equally good – including a wonderful UV section. How you experienced it depended on the group you were in. My own problem was the sound which clashed with the main stage so parts were not heard very well.

As well as the three attractions there were live acts on stage, photo opportunities and things for sale (food, drink and memorabilia). All in all a really good night, which the children especially enjoyed. There wasn’t really any queues at all and we had completed all three attractions within the hour. This also meant that the boys were home to go to bed for a decent time.

I was given tickets for free entry for purpose of review. All opinions are honest and my own.