Yorkshire family attraction Treetop Nets replaces chocolate eggs with seeds for Easter trails

Treetop Nets have taken the decision to no longer hand out chocolates at its Lightwater Valley site near Ripon to encourage children to think about the environment instead.

The prizes for the aerial egg hunt competition will now be Treebombs - plastic eggs with seeds inside that children can then plant.

After finding a series of hidden letters and solving puzzles above the woodland floor, children will be able to take home their seed and plant an alder tree in their own gardens.

Treetop Nets also has sites in the Lake District and Manchester. Managing director Mike Turner said: “While everyone loves chocolate, we thought this would be a great opportunity to have fun while helping the environment at the same time. We hope that by spending time up in the trees, our visitors will develop a deeper appreciation for them and want to play their part in creating more woodland for future generations to enjoy.

“We’ll have Treebombs up for grabs for everyone who has a go at our Easter challenge. It is estimated that it takes over 101 trees per person to offset your carbon output. Planting trees is an essential part of fighting climate change and we want to do our bit. Treebombs make it even easier because each one contains hundreds of native alder tree seeds and are designed to germinate quickly.”

The Treebombs challenge launches on March 27 for children aged three and over, and runs until Easter Monday.

Treetop Nets opened in 2016 close to the Lightwater Valley theme park. It has giant trampolines, walkways and slides suspended between trees up to 50ft from the ground. There is a ball pool, tree house and crow's nest, all protected by rope nets for safety.

The National Trust have also announced that they are no longer handing out chocolate eggs at Easter events at their attractions across the UK after ending their commercial partnership with Cadbury. The decision was taken to move the focus of the egg hunts away from sugary treats.