Zip World Manchester's Treetop Trek: A great family day out

If you were to ask me a week ago: "How do you feel about hooking yourself onto a metal wire and dangling nearly 20 metres in the air from the trees at Heaton Park?" I'd have probably just laughed you out of the room. 

But, when I was offered the chance, for some insane reason I said yes. 

However, that's not to say there wasn't plenty of adrenaline- and plenty of me squealing in fear and/or excitement as I flew over the trees. 

Me, as I fly through the trees on one of the longest zip lines on the course (Image: Newsquest)

I completed the Full Trek activity at the site and first had to tackle the Mini Trek which while lower down in the trees, I wouldn't say it was any less tricky to tackle the obstacles.

Both parts of the course contain various obstacles, the toughest of which I actually thought was on the Mini Trek. 

This particular feature sees visitors balance on long, vertical logs and with the centre of gravity being disproportioned by the length of the wooden poles, it's rather wobbly and ultimately amounted to me getting ungracefully tangled in the ropes attached and having to battle my way out. What I thought was the toughest obstacle on the course (Image: Zip World)

It's safe to say this gained plenty of laughs from my boyfriend, who was accompanying me on the adventure.

Another difficult component in the trails includes a normal looking rope bridge, which is hard enough in itself, but then the hidden slack in the rope means you have to keep extra balance to climb up the slope of the course. 

Along both courses, there are zip lines of various length, height and speed- with one being 18 metres above the ground and speedily approaching the ground at the end of the course. 

On this line, you're instructed to run up a mound at the bottom to land correctly, but if you happen to be unlucky like me, you might start spinning, mid-air, and collide directly into the dirt- winning a dirty t-shirt and pants.

One of the obstacles on the Mini Trek (Image: Zip World)

Fret not though, nothing on the course is unsafe and I am by no means athletic, so if I didn't manage to injure myself, I doubt many will.

My favourite part of the trails were definitely the zip lines though, even if I might not have sounded like I enjoyed them as I half screamed my way across. 

In our group, there were two children, aged around seven and nine perhaps, and I originally thought they wouldn't have managed to reach a lot of the course's obstacles, but they did manage with the help of adults and the instructor.

Also, while every child will be different, they didn’t seem any more scared than the rest of us with the height of the trails.

The location of the centre is great, right next to the car park which faces the play area and around a five-minute walk from Heaton Park’s stables café for those wanting a bite to eat.

We used the café before starting our adventure after arriving a little too early, and while it is on the expensive side, it serves a wide range of hot and cold food, drinks cakes and snacks.

It’s important to note though that the café is entirely separate from the Zip World site and is ran by Heaton Park.

The Full Trek includes a higher up trail with tougher obstacles (Image: Newsquest)

Also at the site, for those smaller adventurers, is a Treetop Net activity, with a trampoline course fixed up in the trees with slide shoots and obstacles throughout.

What I would say sets Zip World’s activities apart, having also completed activities at the Penrhyn Quarry and Llechwed sites, is that visitors aren’t required to hook off the wires at any point to pass attachments, like at a lot of similar activities ran by other companies.

For me, as someone of a nervous nature, this made me feel a lot safer and stopped me panicking like I did once as a young teen at a similar activity at Knowsley Safari Park.

Overall the day was really fun, and everyone in our group seemed to enjoy themselves also.

The full trek activity starts at £34 per person, but prices do rise somewhat during the summer holidays, so it’s not necessarily something to do every week.

It’s also worth including that we went on a rainy day, and the tree cover meant we didn’t really get wet much, so it’s still something you can do on typical English weather days.

The minimum age for the full trek is seven and a maximum weight of 120kg is in place.

They also recommend no jewellery be worn, and to have flat shoes, gloves and zip up pockets to hold valuables.

I personally wouldn’t suggest wrapping up, as while it might feel nippy at first, you’ll soon warm up with the activity (weather dependent of course).