Travel test

WHAT: Alton Towers Scarefest, the Hallowe’en celebration which adds terrifying live action mazes to the more conventional frights and thrills of the theme park.

Theme park entry and a threemaze combination starts at £60 for adult mazes, but there are also two for children 10 and over, and the hauntingly beautiful ‘Whispering Souls’ lights walk after dark. altontowers.com WHERE: Two of the scare mazes – The Attic and Altonville Mine Tours – are within the spooky old stately home, while clown feast Freak Show: Toxic Junkyard is an outdoor maze best at night.

The Staffordshire park is between the M6 and M1, while the three nearest train stations are Stoke-on-Trent, Uttoxeter and Derby, with bus connections. EXPERIENCE: The adult scare mazes offer three different experiences – it all depends on what scares you to your soul. The

Attic is a tootle through the dark, winding corridors of the old Alton Towers mansion, haunted by a mad governess and her child victims – an intense assault on the senses.

Altonville Mine Tours uses the darkness of the passages under the hall to recreate an old Wild West mine, plagued by zombies and littered with mangled corpses.

For kids 10 and over, Darkest Depths is a ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ style walk-through, while the Alton Towers Dungeon gives a peek into the gory and ghoul-filled history of Alton.

The gardens are transformed at night into the ‘Whispering Souls’ lights show, more hauntingly beautiful than scary. QUIBBLES: With the monorail shut due to Covid, getting around is quite a hike. And you can expect an hour’s wait to get into the park’s restaurant at weekends. Food and drink is expensive. The open-air Toxic Junkyard completely loses its fear factor during the day.

VERDICT: In fearful times, some good old-fashioned horror serves as a welcome relief – the scare mazes are great fun, especially with a spouse who scares easily! 8/10