An award-winning scare maze certainly lived up to my expectations when I braved Fort Amherst’s Halloween attraction.

I’ve always fancied the idea of a scare maze. I love horror movies, although when I really think about it I’ve not actually seen that many, and I’ve never got around to doing a scare maze either.

So when I was offered the chance to review Fort Amherst’s Halloween Horrors attraction in Dock Road, Chatham, I jumped at the chance. Jump being the operative word, it turned out.

Having been running for 40 years, it seemed the ideal place to go for my first taste of an interactive Halloween experience.

However, after my initial excitement at the opportunity, as the days got closer I started to have second thoughts.

Reading up on the “award-winning scare attraction”, it warned about claustrophobia and said the actors are allowed to touch you. Hating confined spaces and not being a touchy-feely type of person, I started to fear I may had made a big mistake.

My 13-year-old daughter was desperate to try the experience so I booked us on to the teenager tour for 13 to 17-year-olds, secretly quite glad I had an excuse not to go for the full-on adult experience, although I’m not entirely sure how much worse it could be from what I went through.

But at the last minute, my daughter was summoned to a cheerleading training session and I started to get the horrible feeling I could well be going alone. I frankly couldn’t imagine anything worse so I broached the subject with my 17-year-old son, who is not one for being scared.

Thankfully he agreed and, with safety in numbers, we headed off for our evening adventure.

They advised you to dress for the cold, as some of the attraction is outside, and suggested sturdy footwear as some of the surfaces were uneven.

I must warn at this point that there is no parking on site which meant a frantic walk back from the Pentagon Shopping Centre car park to get there on time.

First stop is a security check, which is very swift, and then the experience starts as actors in full-on gory blood-soaked clothes lead you through to the first room – a dark cave where a tattoed man warns you of the dos and don’ts during your visit.

The lecture, as he sits at his desk covered in Halloween-related paraphernalia, led me to think the tour was going to be similar to one I had done at London Dungeons, where actors talk to you, call on volunteers and the whole tour is a bit of a story.

But there are only a few sections where the actors actually talk to you.

In the daytime, this tour would offer amazing views of the tunnels in the historic fort and would make for an interesting experience in itself, but it’s Halloween and it’s a scare maze so a lot of the tour is in pitch darkness, while the rest sees visitors engulfed in thick smelly smoke or blinded with strobe lighting.

Every sense is catered for as each room has its own unique stench of damp, body odour and death. There are constant bangs and screams, and that’s just from the actors, chainsaw noises and growls as you make your way through the assortment of rooms.

We definitely didn’t need our coats as we climbed staircases, manoeuvered through tiny tunnels and rushed to keep up with the group.

Our group was made up of around 20 mainly teenagers who, for the most part, found the whole experience hilarious.

However, the crowd of girls in front did lose two of their party at different points – one exited right at the very beginning, choosing not to even enter the very first shed, and another chickened out of the second very dark tunnel.

Suffering from a bit of claustrophobia myself, the tunnels were definitely the worst part for me. They were very long, very narrow and very windy and I did consider turning back at one point – although I figured it would take as long to go back as it would to go forward. I made sure I stayed glued to the girl in front as it was impossible to even see your hand in front of your face.

It said the actors could touch you and boy, did they. There was plenty of head-grabbing and a tiny bit of hair-pulling, and they loved stealing my son’s baseball cap.

I found myself huddling close to the other people in a desperate bid to hide from the actors.

For the most part, there was a great deal of lack of personal space as the characters, covered in blood and wearing those freaky contact lenses, went right up into our faces and just stared. It was very disconcerting.

The rooms, of which there were literally dozens, were all themed and each one was filled with actors. Every nightmarish fear was catered for from dolls and clowns to weird-looking scarecrows and chainsaws.

Without giving too much away, the scariest bit was definitely the first area as at that point we didn’t know what to expect. Once we were over the shock of the full-on initial experience the jump scare theme pretty much continued throughout the entire 50 minutes.

The make-up was amazing, they had definitely invested in a bucket load of fake blood, and the costumes were immense.

Once you were finally free of the terror you were treated to a lovely view of Medway from the top of the fort before heading to the quiet refreshment area where you could enjoy Halloween-themed sweets and cakes and try your hand at axe throwing.

Tickets are £30 and the event runs until October 29. The children’s maze is £20, which includes one child and two adults. Click the link here to book tickets.

In summary, while I’m glad I have finally tried a scare maze I am not entirely sure I would go back again. But for those who are braver than me, I would thoroughly recommend it as a unique Halloween adventure.