Cornish Maze Slip and Slide

A water slide carved into a hillside near Callington sounds brilliant on paper - slippery fun, quick thrills, summer days well spent. The reality is a bit more mixed.

You get a proper slide down a maze-like route, hence the name, with water channels that look fun from above but move at their own pace. Kids absolutely lose it for the first few goes. The novelty lasts about forty minutes, maybe an hour if you count waiting between runs and drying off. There's a certain charm to the low-tech approach - it's not some corporate water park with seventeen queues and a queue itself just to buy a drink.

The real draw? It's free, which is why families heading to Sunnyside Eco Glamping a few miles down the road often pop by on a hot afternoon. If you're camping nearby and the weather's decent, it's worth the detour. Don't expect to base your whole holiday around it though. The views from the top aren't what they're cracked up to be, and once everyone's had a few goes, there's not much to do.

Best visited on a warm day without too many people about - early afternoon in term time, or first thing on a summer morning. Bring a towel, wear shoes you don't mind getting wet, and manage expectations. It's a fun half-hour sideline to a proper Cornish break, not the main event.