Alton Towers

 May 2018

May was a fun month as it was Ben's birthday! It was also the birthday month of Darryl, Jenessa's husband. They were both part of our awesome little group in Sheffield, and Ben and Darryl got on super well, making our group hang-outs extra fun. Here is a photo of the stupidly rich chocolate cake we made for his birthday!

For Ben's birthday, he was set on going to a theme park, as New Zealand only has Rainbow's End, which is tiny in comparison to anywhere else. He picked Alton Towers, which is so huge we decided to do it over two days, and stay overnight in the park hotel. The positive of this was getting in early before the crowds!

Having only been to Rainbow's End myself, I was feeling rather nervous of the enormous rides. But Alton Towers was actually incredible! Firstly, unlike most theme parks you might think of, this one had history. I was hooked already. 

Alton Towers was once a private estate belonging to the Earls of Shrewsbury (who sound like they belong in posh children's story about mice, but sadly aren't!) Alton castle was built in the 11th century, on top of an earlier Saxon fortress. 

It was the fifteenth earl that began work extending the estate and gardens, turning them into the beautiful grounds you can wander today. In the 1800s, however, the owners were becoming destitute, so opened the gardens to the public for extra revenue. 

Despite this, the estate was eventually sold in 1924. You wouldn't imagine it now, but the buildings were stripped of anything of value in the 1950s, and whatever was left was piled in the east end of the house and set alight, leaving an empty and partially burned out shell of the former luxurious estate. 

It seemed a sad end to the story, but luckily, in the 1970s, a millionaire property developer married into the family of stakeholders, and began redeveloping it into a theme park, adding rides and opening up the grounds. Parts of it have been beautifully restored, and the expansive gardens are immaculate and wonderful to wander. 

Being a bit of a scaredy-cat when it comes to large rides, my favourite experiences included the aquarium (a welcome bit of chilling after all the adrenaline)  

The congo river rapids, and some of the less terrifying rollercoasters. Look, it's us!

Aside from a slightly hairy moment where one of the rides stopped for about 15 minutes and we were quite stuck (but hey we got free fast track passes through the lines due to it!) We had an amazing time, especially on my favourite ride of all, the Wickerman! Coolest ride ever.