'Halloween is here' I thought upon walking through the doors of Ruff 'N' Tumble at Aycliffe this afternoon. The place was festooned with spider webs, witches, skeletons and Frankensteins. The gruesome spectacle of ghouls hanging by their necks from the ceiling with their tongues hanging out contrasted nicely with the merriment of children playing and birthday parties I thought.

We certainly had a slightly nightmarish time upon leaving, when the car wouldn’t start. Nobody keeps jump leads in their cars anymore, and I felt rather foolish when my step dad pointed out on the phone that it had probably just run out of petrol. I was very indignant because I only just yesterday put £20 in the thing and have only been up to Newcastle and back. Does anybody else suspect that those pumps actually contain a mixture of weak Ribena with a splash of Tabasco sauce thrown into the mix?

We sat in the car while waiting to be rescued. While we were inside I’d picked up a flyer about Ruff 'N' Tumble’s Halloween bash, so we had a look at that. There are two times: Saturday evening 6pm-8.30pm and Sunday 5.30-8pm.

Going by their current decorations, it will be a cheap and cheerful (make that terrifying) bash of a party, with a LOT of noise. Ruff n Tumble is NOT the place to visit with a hangover- something about the size or acoustics mean it has to be the loudest play centre in or around Darlington.

Then we started to play ‘I Spy’.

“I spy a house” said Charlie. I tried to explain the rudiments of the game; it didn’t work.

“I spy the soft play” said the boy. We got out the chilly car and went back in past the grinning skeletons for a cup of tea and some cheering cake.

Other soft play centres holding Halloween parties are Under the Sea at the Dolphin Centre, and Adventure Point at Morton Park. I like Adventure Point but like most people I find the pricing pretty steep. If you’ve chosen to have coffees and eat there with a couple of kids, you can come out feeling like you’ve just spun an unlucky hand at the local casino. Halloween party tickets cost £7 per adult and £2 per child.

One Halloween ‘do Charlie and I went to last year was held at the Darlington Head of Steam Railway Museum: the Little Horrors Halloween Fun Day. Held this year on Sunday 31st October, adults £4.95 and under fives go free. They also have a Fright Night event on Friday from 4pm-7pm. It's kind of a spooky place anyway I find, with its tales of past hauntings. Go and find the trapdoor if you're ever there, read the plaque above it and feel the shivers run up your spine!

Our lift arrived. We finished the last crumbs of cake. “Fill your car up next time” cackled a green witch on the way out.