I love those voucher sites, groupon, living social, wocher etc, don’t you? I have found some cracking deals on them and have been able to try new things for a fraction of the price or found out about places that I didn’t know existed. Over summer we have used a couple of these vouchers and on Tuesday we used one at Be Boulder in Widnes, if you are thinking of going here are my views.
When I first saw the voucher for Be Boulder I thought it sounded great for my two monkeys who love to climb, so I bought it without giving it much thought. After buying it (silly way to do things) I went over to the website which was pretty useless and not very informative so I gave them a ring and spoke to what sounded like a very young half asleep lad who told me that the usual staff were away and he didn’t know the answers to any of my questions apart from the fact that I didn’t need to book, the children would not be in harnesses and “he thinks” the 4 year old should be okay. As you can imagine I wasn’t filled with excitement and put the idea of going to one side. Then on Tuesday this week I remembered about the voucher, checked the date and realised it only had one more day on it, so it was now or never. I packed the kids in the car and headed over, half filled with dread that the tiddler would be too young to join in and would subsequently kick off and the other half that the oldest would climb 100 feet and drop to his death, but hey I had a voucher to use!
When we arrived my fears were still ongoing, Be Boulder is in a warehouse type building, is pretty small and very, very dusty and I was starting to wonder what on earth I was doing. We were greeted by a member of staff, called Claire who immediately started talking to both boys about the place. Her excitement and love for climbing instantly got them excited too. She had no concerns about the tiddler joining in and went through all the safety drill information in a way the kids understood, instantly putting some of my fears to bed.
Once ready to climb we realised it’s a very relaxed environment, you climb where and when you want and just have fun. This worked well for my boys who were here, there, and everywhere trying out different routes and setting themselves challenges. I was still a little nervous watching them free climb higher than I could reach to help them but they were having fun so I tried to relax.
The tiddler was desperately trying to climb on top of the boulder with his brother but was just a tad to short so Claire came over and climbed with him, helping him up and then again off the boulder. This little act of kindness made his day as he was able to join in with the big kids. Later Claire saw the big’un trying to climb some tough section that went up and over his head and once again was there by his side full of encouragement and advice, high 5’s and cheers. Far more involvement than you would ever expect from a staff member and so refreshing to see her want to see the kids learn and push themselves, definitely not just interested in the money.
Despite my initial concerns both boys had the best time and were totally exhausted by the time we had finished two hours later. There was no time limit and I’m sure they both would have loved to have stayed longer if we could have and next time we will.
I’m not sure if Claire is the owner or an employee but she is a credit to the business and is probably the main reason why both my boys progressed so much in such a short time and are already asking when they can go back.
If you are thinking of trying out Be Boulder I would recommend that you give yourself a few hours there as it is small and I can imagine it gets busy quickly so you may have to wait for some of the walls but if time is no limit and (you don’t mind a bit of dust) the get yourselves over there for a climb.
But before you do I recommend checking out the voucher sites to see if any are still available.
If you are looking for places to climb near Liverpool then check out The Climbing Hangar.