With Halloween just around the corner, Frightmare is back at Over Farm Market in Gloucester, ready to scare you into the spirit of the season.

There are five immersive experiences on offer this year, each one filled with actors who play their roles to perfection, as well as routines from contortionists and a fire wielding performer.

There’s also the return of the very creepy clown, who may get up close and personal, and whose tricks include precariously walking along a row of wine bottles and balancing a pickaxe on his chin.

Organiser Matt Keene has been holding the event since 2002 and explains that the attractions all appeal to different people in different ways.

“If someone is stood staring at you from the end of a dark corridor, one person may find it creepy, and another person might just laugh. But then that person could be scared when someone jumps out at them!”

“It really takes a certain type of person to go against their natural instinct and be scared, but it’s the fear factor that brings people here.”

Each experience is unique in its own creepy way. They are all laid out similarly, in that you begin with a short video which sets the scene for the encounter, whether it’s falling through the looking glass into “Wonderland: Oblivion”, or ghost hunting in a haunted mansion in “Séance: The Gate”.

You are then either led through the rooms or left to fend for yourselves, with characters from genetically engineered super soldiers in “Caged: The Compound”, to cannibalistic tribes in “The Offering: Buried”, jumping out at you at every turn.

When pushed for a favourite attraction, Matt just can’t choose. He said: “I really like Wonderland this year because of the 3D element but I wouldn’t say it’s the scariest. The Hayride is always popular because you get to go out on the trailer behind the tractor.”

“I think what’s good this year is that all of our attractions are very different.”

The Haunted Hayride takes you out of the relative comfort zone of the marquee, through the cornfields to a witchcraft museum. From here, you have to make your own way back to the tent, and hope nothing is lurking in the shadows.

There’s a great selection of food and drink in the reception area of the marquee, with Fat Toni’s Pizza, The Over Farm Barbeque, Castaway Kitchen and Passion 4 Juice all having stalls. There’s also a bar, if you need a drink afterwards to calm your nerves!

It’s a great way to spend the evening and really get you in the mood for Halloween. Any frights you have are more often than not followed by laughter, and the experiences really get your blood pumping and the adrenaline flowing.