A COUPLE who became hooked on the new craze for real life escape rooms hope they have found the key to business success by setting up their own mystery environment in Bromham.

Civilian police worker Lizzie Brinkworth and her partner actor Tim Henley from Quemerford, near Calne, have already received positive feedback from gamers who have taken on their escape room.

The couple have combined their love of music with the enjoyment of solving puzzles to create 11th Hour Escape Rooms above the Audi sales room in the village near Devizes and hope it will attract hen and stag dos that want a chance to pit their wits before they hit the pubs or clubs.

Ms Brinkworth, 32, said: "We think it will be a big hit for those sort of groups who are looking for something fun and a bit different. We both got hooked on escape rooms ourselves and realised that the only one in Wiltshire was in Salisbury.

"It seemed like a great opportunity to start a business that might eventually lead to being a full-time job for Tim to do when he is not acting."

She said the real life room was a chance for people to get away from computer games and have proper interaction. The idea is that a team made up of two to six players get locked in the room and to escape they have to solve a series of puzzles and riddles to solve clues that lead along a path to find the key.

She said: "It brings out great team playing and team building traits in people, and they are such good fun too.

"Our room has a music based theme, but you don't need any prior knowledge as everything you need to solve the clues is in the room with you. It's just a theme to give the game more gravitas, and we have a back story of the mystery of the disappearance of a band called Exit Visa and the players are super-fans trying to solve the mystery of what's happened to the band, and where the only copy of the bands latest album Crisis is."

Games last an hour and the door is unlocked at the end of 60 minutes if the team has failed to get out.

Ms Brinkworth, who is a former Sheldon School pupil who grew up in Yatton Keynell, said: "We monitor the teams from the control room with CCTV, and we help when necessary with helpful hints via an in-room countdown clock on a PC monitor screen.

"Once the team come out, we do a quick debrief and take a team photo, and they trot off, very happy and satisfied, buzzing from playing a real life game rather than being cooped up at home playing on smartphones, Ipads and PC's."

The room will be changed every few months.

To find out more go to www.11thhourescaperooms.co.uk