After picking up a national award for scariest Halloween attraction, the second season of Freak Week has a lot to live up to. It will not disappoint, as Chris Price found out during a terrifying sneak peak.

”Everyone goes in one by one and you are the ninth tonight,” announced Freak Week head honcho Tom Lobbett with a demonic smile. “They love the ninth. It is a special number for them. Enjoy.”

As Tom held the door to the final room of the evening, all we could hear were muffled screams and bangs seeping out from inside.

We had come a long way since the night began in the Hoppers Bell, where guests were met by Timothy Retz, a representative from Payne & Sons Auctions, who are ‘selling’ off fictitious properties. The nervous laughter began as auctioneer Timothy, played by Kent panto regular Ant Payne, made his audience feel as awkward as possible, with David Brent-style quips and ticks which progressively worsened as the evening went on.

For the first lot, he led the group to a secret underground station, Lily Hoo, which had been discovered in the last year. The guests – or ‘potential buyers’ – were told they could go in two by two to take a look around the property.

It was pitch black and within moments of walking in, no one could see further than an inch in front of their face. Gripping a rope to lead the way through the insanity, only the screams of the victims provided any sense of direction.

As bright lights flashed, the scenes were graphic and my fears made all the worse by the long, silent pauses and darkness.

“I’m actually wetting myself here,” one man joked, only for a gimpmask-wearing fiend to leap out growling “you’re wetting yourself now!”

After the gruesome underground zone, some relief came, of a form, from the Funhouse. Everyone was given 3-D goggles to wear around this ultraviolet maze, littered with creepy clowns itching to pop out of every nook and cranny to give a spook.

Every jump was followed by a laugh from every nervous punter and the actors seemed to be enjoying themselves too, poking their heads out of windows, only to scare you again as they popped out of a secret hatch in the floor.

Then came the big one, the Slaughterhouse. As Tom opened the door, a blood-spattered sign pointed the way to go. Only the directions contradict themselves and quickly you find yourself lost in a maze of closed in walls, pushing against them to see if you have reached a door or another dead end.

Behind them lurk all kinds of horrific figures, whose aim it is to send you back the way you came. From hatches in the walls, disfigured faces call out at you and behind the walls are the voices of those crying out for help.

The only way out, it transpires, is positively terrifying.

Just to say that many of the evening’s guests are seen sprinting out the exit, much to the amusement of those who have already made it out.

Aimed primarily at 18 to 30s, this is not a night for the faint hearted. That said, one of the biggest cheers of the evening came when one of the most senior guests, finally made it out of the Slaughterhouse after being lost inside for about 20 minutes.

He had a smile from ear to ear, even if he was holding his head in his hands.

Realisation of a dream

With new zones and a circus added this year, Freak Week Festival is the fruition of a dream for the Hop Farm’s entertainment manager Tom Swift.

Having worked at the London Dungeon when he was 18, Tom is realising his scary ambitions in the second full year of Freak Week, which began as a small tester event in 2010. It won Best Halloween Scare Attraction at the Screamie Awards last year and Tom is hoping for another gong this time out.

He said: “You don’t have to be into horror movies or that kind of thing. It is all theatrical. The experience feels like you are walking into a film.

“Freak Week is expanding nicely to become a festival really, with a central street lined with buskers and jugglers. The atmosphere will be great.”

This year the attraction has added the Funhouse zone and the Hatch, set to become the UK’s only crawling-only maze. The event will also have a Freak Show, with contortionists, sword swallowers and a dwarf who can breathe fire.

‘It sounded and smelled real’

Andrew Chipperfield, 23, of Singlewell Road, Gravesend, said: “I have never done anything like that before. I never thought it would appeal to me but it changed my mind. It was just a taster but it looks really exciting. The Funhouse was just brilliant. It had a good balance between being scary and entertaining.

“I knew it wasn’t real but it was still really scary because it sounded real and it smelled real. I would love to go back to do the Hatch, where you have to crawl around.”

Freak Week runs at the Hop Farm Village, near Paddock Wood, from Thursday, October 25, to Wednesday, October 31. Gates from 6pm. No under-11s. Under-16s must be accompanied by an adult. Tickets £25, in advance £19.50. Call 01622 872068. Visit www.hopfarmfreakweek.co.uk