Before we get into this review I would just like to say that we were invited to play for free any of the rooms at Tulleys Escape but our review will still be our honest thoughts on the room
As mentioned above, we were kindly invited by Ed Hopkins PR to experience one of the five rooms at Tulleys Escape. We could choose any room and we decided to experience their hardest and darker themed room Nethercott Manor. We arrived quite early and had a nose about as from the car park you can se quite a bit of Tulleys Shocktoberfest and it made my little spooky heart happy.
Once all five of the players had arrived we entered and were greet by Tyler who welcomed us in and gave us a drink and told us to get comfortable and our host would be along soon. We had a chat and relaxed in the reception area. The reception area is very open and can get quite busy if there are other rooms also about to start.
We chilled for about 5 minutes and our lovely host Mi arrived. She introduced herself and asked us if we had played any escape rooms before, which we had, so she placed the locks on the table and didn’t explain them to us but you would usually get explained the different types of locks you would encounter in the room. She then asked us if we were ready and we were so she led us into the darkness that is Nethercott Manor!
We gathered in the small garden area and Mi started to explain the story of the room.
“The old manor house is entwined with local legend, the living don’t remember the Nethercott’s, the family’s hay day was long ago. Local folk talked, whispers were heard, rumours began, lights were seen within.
The Nethercott’s are long gone but something remains, an essence, a smell, a feeling, it’s in the fabric, in the walls, under the floor boards … it ticks, it creeks … take a trip into the past, uncover the family’s many secrets and glimpse their fleeting souls?”
As she told the story she tried to encourage our group to get really involved and kept oooooing and waving her arms like a ghost and encouraged us to do it. It was almost like the perfect ice breaker before the game begun. She then left and we watched the screen for further general escape room instructions and our game then begun!
Warning: Potential spoilers ahead!
We started in the garden. It’s not a very big room but it does contain a few puzzles. We solved these quite quickly and gained access to the manor. We were greeted by a highly themed living area. There was a lot to take in when you first enter. There’s a table with initials on it, loads of furniture, a portrait wall and, weirdly, a marble run. We split up and started to attack the puzzles. Puzzle after puzzle got solved and we soon opened up the next part of the manor, the basement. The basement is a medium size room and it exudes Frankenstein liar. It’s has the look of a science lab yet weirdly still has a creepy factor too it. The aim in the room was turn the switches on and we certainly managed to do that. This then opened up the last two rooms, the kitchen and the attic. The whole Manor just has a creepy yet charming vibe to it, like Phantom Manor at Disneyland Paris and when you add in the family aspect it really gives Addams Family vibes and I love that.
Before going into the escape room I had heard rumblings that the Tulleys games were chock full of puzzles and they weren’t lying. There is a lot of puzzles throughout this entire game and your team really needs to be on top form to stand a chance of getting through them. The only thing with having so many puzzles is that chances are you are going to miss seeing a few puzzles and this was the case on our game. Whilst three of us were in the kitchen solving a couple of trickier puzzles, the other two were in the attic solving puzzles and so we kind of missed each other’s puzzles. Whilst it didn’t ruin the game in the slightest it would have just been great to be able to see them all.
One thing that Tulleys have always been able to do at Shocktoberfest is create some spectacular themed sets and this is also on show in Nethercott Manor (and their other rooms so I’m told) as the sets throughout the room are incredibly beautiful and you do feel quite immersed. Another thing I absolutely loved was the way hints and clues are given. The games master had the ability to talk to just one room so those in the other rooms won’t get confused by the hints. Mi gave us a couple of hints and clues perfectly. She gave them in a soft, ghost like way but she gave them at the right time. They never felt too early or too late.
The big question is did we escape? Of course we did. We escape in 50 minutes and 3 seconds which im extremely proud about especially given the reputation Tulleys Escapes has within the escape room enthusiast community as being so full of puzzles that it sometimes feels a bit too much. I really enjoyed Nethercott Manor. The theming was on point, the puzzles were a lot of fun and I even got a couple of simple yet well timed jump scares from some kitchen equipment. I am really quite excited about returning to do the other rooms in the future.
I want to say a huge thank you to Mi and Tyler and of course to Tulleys Escape and Ed Hopkins for inviting us down to play.