THE first test for anyone visiting York’s newest attraction is how to find it.

GR8escape York is billed as the city’s first “live escape room”, presenting punters with a series of codes, puzzles and challenges in order to break out.

So it’s highly fitting that the first task is to find the place. A black door near the foot of Colliergate - opposite Barnitts - will lead you to a set of stairs and the start of your 60-minute cryptic challenge.

There is a choice of two “rooms” from which to escape; the first is the “spy school” where you need to unlock the safe to a diploma in order to “graduate” and get out. The second is set in a “New York apartment” where you have to locate a stolen diamond with help from the NYPD. A third room is being planned for later this summer, and promises to be “out of this world” - so, yes, it will be on a space theme. None of the rooms are dark or scary.

The venture is the brainchild of York couple Gerri and Kevin Trower and their friends Andrew and Amanda Smith. They first discovered the idea while visiting Eastern Europe, where these “escape rooms” are very popular.

“It was a brilliant idea and we had never done anything like it before,” said Gerri.

On returning to Britain, they discovered there was a similar venture in London. The friends decided to take the plunge and open up in York.

It’s obviously a trend that is taking off. When they launched last October, there were 15 in the UK. Now there are 54. But just one in York.

I decided to check out the appeal for myself by turning up with my crack team of codebreakers - my 13-year-old daughter Eva and four of her friends, Megan, Lucy, Erin and Madeleine.

Gerri ushered us into the “spy school” room and gave us some advice. “You will have to work fast and you will have to work quick. There is a lot to do.”

York Press:

The entrance to York's GR8escape on Colliergate

A flat screen on the wall began the countdown. Feeling the pressure, we all began dashing around, up-ending boxes, leafing through books, opening cupboards, rifling through clothes on a hat stand - looking for anything that might give us a lead.

Gerri had warned us to be thorough and methodical. Every few minutes, a prompt would flash up on the screen, giving us a cryptic clue or helpfully reminding us to take a step back if we were heading off in the wrong direction.

As the hour drew closer there was a loud beeping countdown sound, reminding us that we were running out of time. When the 60 minutes ticked over, Gerri entered the room bringing commiserations and telling us we’d done really well and had got really close to opening the safe.

The room looked like it had been turned over by a burglar - such was the frantic nature of our treasure hunt.

Back downstairs, Gerri handed us a board that read: “We’ll make it out next time!” and reminded us that we had done well: only one in three teams actually “escape” from the cryptic rooms.

To finish, Gerri handed us some marker pens and invited us to graffiti the walls, with one proviso: not to give anything away for future would-be escapologists.

Our message was simple: “We’ll be back”.

• GR8escape York, 4a Colliergate, York. To book, telephone: 07897 122 834 or online at gr8escapeyork.co.uk Recommended for children aged over ten, and under 16s must be with an adult. Teams can be made up from a minimum of two people and a maximum of six with prices from £48 to £68 per team.