I’M not easily scared, but if I was given the option of swimming with a great white shark or letting a tarantula crawl across my body, I would happily risk my life with Jaws every time.

So when I was offered the chance to be cured of my fear of spiders at Tropical Wings in South Woodham Ferrers, I decided it was about time I manned up.

The centre, in Wickford Road, recently received some new creepy crawlies, including stick insects and millipedes, to go alongside its other insects and animals.

The newcomers include two tarantulas – the Mexican Red Knee and Chilean Rose.

I cannot even look at a picture of a spider let alone see one in real life, so I kept asking myself why I am doing this?

At Tropical Wings, I met 29-year-old zookeeper Katie Bean, an entomologist, who looks after the spiders. She’s positive she can help me overcome my arachnophobia.

I have suffered from this phobia since the age of ten after seeing the film Arachnophobia, starring John Goodman and Jeff Daniels, on TV.

Katie is the polar opposite to me and has kept pet tarantulas and insects for more than 16 years. Her father owns a Goliath tarantula, which is actually unsafe for people to hold.

She says: “I like them because they are a bit different and I think they are a lot nicer and prettier than most people give them credit for.

“I have never been bitten by a tarantula unlike the amount of times I have been hurt by a rabbit or gerbil biting me.”

We go into the room where all the creepy crawlies live and I am struck by the sheer heat and humidity.

“Obviously these creatures come from tropical climates so we have to keep them warm through radiators and heat mats,” Katie explains.

I look around the enclosure and suddenly notice there is a large cobweb in one corner, prompting alarm bells to ring in my head.

“Please tell me that is from a non-threatening spider rather than one of the tarantulas?” I ask.

I am told the web is not from the tarantulas because they cannot spin webs.

My heartbeat starts to raise as soon as I see the tarantulas, but to help calm me down, Katie pulls out some other insects, showing off a Hissing cockroach and a millipede.

During the recent half-term, the keepers at Tropical Wings showed off the insects and spiders to young visitors. Katie said the overall reaction was good.

She said: “At first a lot of the kids were quite scared, but once they saw us playing with them and then saw some of the other children handling them they started to realise they are not that bad.

“I think overcoming a fear is best done by building confidence in someone with that particular fear and actually demonstrating yourself that everything will be OK by playing with it.”

After a few minutes of talking about spiders, it is time for me to face my fear.

Katie takes the Chilean Rose tarantula, called Poppy, and allows it to walk on her hand.

A few pictures are taken of me looking scared, though not much acting was required on my part, before Katie finally turns to me.

After pacing around and drowning in nerves, Katie tells me to stay calm and the best way for me to get started is to stick my finger on her arm as Poppy wanders across, allowing one of its legs to touch me. I am still a bag of nerves.

But, much to my surprise, as the leg does touch down, I can barely feel a thing, only something similar to the end of a felt tip pen touching my hand.

After this sensation, I then pluck up the courage to let the spider crawl on my hand and as this happens, I feel all my fears slipping away.

Touching Poppy and another tarantula, who has not yet been given a name, I realised I had been cured of my fears.

I can safely say now I would be able not just to look at a picture of one, but also straight into the eyes of a tarantula – all eight of them!

l For more details about Tropical Wings Zoo or to find out about meeting the spiders, visit tropical wings.co.uk