It has been quite some time since we last visited Rockreef in Bournemouth and Isaac has been nagging us to go back, so when a half price offer for Bournemouth residents popped up, I knew we had to take advantage of it.
Rockreef is situated on Bournemouth Pier and offers Clip ‘n’ Climb, Caving, Highline and the Pier Zip. Sadly Isaac and Eliza are not 1.3m which ruled them out of the Highline but they still got to enjoy the Clip ‘n’ Climb and the Pier Caves.
You start the day getting kitted up in safety gear and a short training session before starting the 90 minutes of climbing fun. Isaac is a whizz at Climbing walls and was straight up to the top of the training wall in no time.

It was only the second time Eliza had ever attempted a climbing wall but she was off like a shot too, only she was nervous of getting back down and insisted that Daddy, or the Instructor, caught her.

There are 28 separate climbing walls with challenges on each to suit every age and ability from 4yrs +, so it won’t be long until Sebby gets to join in too.

We started off on the shorter, easier climbing walls first with this lights one being one of their favourites. It took Eliza five attempts to get right to the top but she was determined she would get there and was so proud of herself when she did.

With her confidence found Eliza was soon off and trying as many of the walls as possible.

The different climbing walls vary in difficulty and once you have practiced, they offer seperate challenges to make it harder, like only using the blue holds, or climb up in a certain direction.

Isaac raced Daddy up the speed wall, but Daddy had the unfair advantage of height and beat Isaac each time.

I did assume that Eliza would stick to the shorter walls during our session, however, she was soon tackling the larger ones with Isaac and Daddy with the encouragement and assistance from the instructors who were on hand throughout the day.

I think Isaac attempted every single one of the 28 climbing walls that day, and only two beat him – the Jungle Vine and Spaghetti Junction which are the two hardest ones in the centre.

Also included in the Clip ‘n’ Climb pass is the Stairway to Heaven.

The Stairway to Heaven is a series of tubes that are positioned in a circle at different heights, that you have to climb.

There is nothing to hold on to apart from the harness and it is a real challenge. The kids loved it – Isaac got to the top several times and Eliza got more than half way round after a few attempts, before she jumped down to the safety of Daddy’s arms.

I have to say they are braver than me as there is no way I would get up there!

After the climbing session was up, we had a hot chocolate and snack break in the cafe before our Caving session started.

The Caving experience is best for children as it contains twists and turns, grottos and ball pits. Eliza did insist that Daddy went through the first time as she was nervous but he did found it a struggle. Thankfully she was confident to go through herself after that.

I can highly recommend a visit to Rockreef, the kids had an absolute ball and I am seriously considering signing them both up for the Rockstars course which will help develop their climbing skills. We are also frequent flyers on the pierzip and I cannot wait until Isaac is tall enough so we can take him down too.

Tickets for Rockreef cost from £10 per person off-peak for Clip n Climb but see website for more details. More offers can be found on their facebook page.

• bournemouth
• climbing walls
• days out with kids
• Dorset
• indoor climbing
• pier
• rockreef