Dark Harvest at Sunnyfields Review
Whilst we were very kindly gifted tickets we retain editorial control of what the review says.
OUR SLASHER REVIEW
Dark Harvest is a new Halloween event at Sunnyfields Farm near Southampton, featuring three scare mazes, family-friendly walk-throughs, a pumpkin festival, food and drink stalls, photo opportunities, and a record-breaking pumpkin display of Sir David Attenborough. The event gets off to a great start with an impressive pumpkin field and beautifully designed family attractions. However, the three scare mazes deliver mixed results. Circursed offers excellent theming, disorientating fog, and energetic actors, although it lacks a strong finale and suffers from inconsistent performances between runs. Iron Haze Yard delivers an atmospheric, aggressive experience with effective use of fog, but its finale needs more intensity and its second run lacks the energy of the first. The Cult Reaping is the weakest attraction, with a confusing storyline, very few scares, and a short duration, although its final actor stands out.
Batching also needs improvement, with groups of ten entering without sufficient gaps, causing encounters with other groups and potentially disrupting the actors' performances.
Overall, Dark Harvest offers a fun night out with plenty of potential, but inconsistent scare experiences, and potential batching issues hold it back. As this was the event's first night, these problems may improve with adjustments and experience. With some fine-tuning, Dark Harvest could become a standout Halloween attraction.
Top Tips- Get there early and enjoy the pumpkin fields
Things that bite- The bad batching wasn't great and the second runs we had weren't as good as the first
Value for Money- In terms of scares, not really, but as a whole event with the Pumpkin Time than yes, just
Scare Rating- 3/5
Do We Recommend- Yes and no. With any events first year, there will always be a few issues. If the event fixes this than yes.
OUR STALKER REVIEW
Dark harvest is a new event near Southampton at Sunnyfields Farm. The event has 3 scare attractions on offer as well as a whole pumpkin festival, 3 very family friendly walkthrough attractions and a hub area selling food and drink. There is also lots of photo opportunities as well as the chance to see the record breaking pumpkin display that this year is of Sir David Attenborough.
Getting into the event is quick and simple and you are greeted by the biggest pumpkin field I’ve ever seen. It’s a beautiful sight to behold. We spent a good 30 minutes wandering through the pumpkins, soaking in the spooky vibes. There are 3 family walkthrough attractions, no actors, just sights. The little ones will LOVE them. The UV lights make the art work come to life, with stunning set pieces and playful antics. The artwork styling leaves you nostalgic for old episodes of scooby doo! Don't speed through these; take of your time and enjoy them! Bega Design Co did a fantastic job with these.
We headed up toward the mazes. We did two runs in each maze. We did our first and then did the second ones about 45 minutes to an hour after our first. We went on the first day they had ever done this so we expected some teething issues. It's nowhere near as aesthetically pleasing from the outside, at least compared to the rest of the event, but who really cares, as long as you get a fright once you're inside? That being said, some roaming characters would bring the area to life.
We started with Circursed, the circus themed maze. Our first run was brilliant. It was disorientating because of the fog inside and the actors really worked their spaces well. They got in your face and delivered a variety of scares. The sets are well painted by Bega Desings Co a gain so they looked stunning and the set pieces all work throughout the maze as there are real carnival pieces throughout. The sound track really adds to the experience too. The maze does lack a finale and I won’t lie I was slightly disappointed by this as they could easily do a chase scene or just something in there but the actor working this space was brilliant and worked the area really well on both runs but It was just lacking that last big scare. Our second run was the complete opposite of our first. There was no fog so no disorientation, the actors were no where near as in your face or as high energy as we got previously. Everything that worked well and made the maze scary was missing, which was a shame.
Next was Iron Haze Yard. A toxic chemical cloud has turned scrapyard workers feral and our first run definitely delivered that. The toxic cloud was heavily present throughout the maze which caused a lot of disorientation. We got a bit lost at times, unsure which way to go, which added to the tense atmosphere. The scares came out of the fog and were quite aggressive in tone which is what you’d expect from the maze. The actors were feral and worked the spaces well. It’s not as heavily themed as Circursed but the theming they had was apt and on point for the maze so none of it felt out of place. The finale didn’t quite match the same tone as the rest of the maze and felt less chaotic and less aggressive than the rest of the maze. It definitely needs to explode the chaos in this bit, but what it did have worked well. Our second run again was the complete opposite. The toxic cloud was still there but it wasn’t as thick as previous. The actors all seemed to be out of position and then couldn’t get back into character so many just stood there staring at you instead of moving. It seemed to have lost its aggression and atmosphere.
Last up was The Cult Reaping themed around a moonlit harvest ritual. I didn’t quite get that. To be honest, this maze lacked any real coherent story and felt like it was a miss match of identities. One minute you’re meeting a scarecrow, next a bus driver who was telling you not to go on, then someone being burnt at the stake, a family who seemed more homeless than cult and then a butcher. It’s a bit weird and very confusing, but maybe that’s the point. This maze didn’t have any scares for me personally. The positive things I can say about this maze is that walking through the shrubbery was nice and the big intimidating actor at the end was definitely the highlight. Just his presence was enough to make you feel uncomfortable. Both runs were like this. It also felt like quite a short maze. The others we felt like we were in for a little while but this one only felt like minutes.
It was a very mixed night for the event. The batching didn’t help. They were doing groups of 10, which I feel is quite a high number to go through them. The batching is also not timed so as soon as they say their briefing your heading in so we did meet other groups almost instantly. There needs to be a small delay between groups to give the actors a chance to reset. I do want to add that it was its first ever night and it could have just been first nights jitters that affected it and that the things we’ve brought up in this could have been spotted and been sorted. There is only so much preparation you can do without the public as they always act differently to how you expect.
Despite the things mentioned above, we did have a really fun night and the really good runs we had were really good. It just needs some tweaking to make this a real stand out Halloween event and I’m sure they have noticed and taken action after their first night.
If you want to experience Dark Harvest or even just to explore the pumpkin patch, tickets are available at Sunnyfields
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