Video: National Trust zip wire thrills (From Basingstoke Gazette)
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Fun in the trees at The Vyne, Sherborne St John
11:50am Thursday 16th August 2012 in Local
Youngsters prepare to whizz down the wire
YOUNG and not so young thrill-seekers climbed 40ft up a tree before launching themselves from a branch along a zip-wire.
Hundreds of children and adults took part in The Vyne’s three-day tree climbing event, run by The Great Big Tree Climbing Company.
The National Trust property, in Sherborne St John, offered a variety of adventurous activities throughout the event.
Participants could haul themselves up a tree using ropes and a harness, whizz down a zip wire from the top of the tree or swing in a rope swing, nicknamed the ‘Giant Leap of Faith.’ The National Trust has published a list of 50 activities children should do before they turn 11-and-three-quarters, one of which is climbing a tree.
Adam Elkins, from The Great Big Tree Climbing Company, said: “We cater for any age – as young as two-and-a-half. It’s a challenge that you can’t get anywhere else.
“We have had a three-year-old go on the zip wire and a lady in her 60s or 70s climbing the tree. Climbing a tree is up there as something everyone should do.”
Fraser Reynolds, six, from Kempshott, Basingstoke, managed to climb the tree and come back down on the zip wire.
He said: “The climb was good but hard when I got near the top, but coming down was fun.”
He was also looking forward to having a go at the rope swing, in which participants climb a ladder leaning against the branch of a tree, before jumping off and swinging in the air.
