Residential activities

Bowles has a huge range of activities for all ages and types of course. We work with schools to design an activity programme that really meets your needs. You can either help design your own activity program or you can pick your outcomes and we will design you a program that will best fit your needs.

Each of our activities can be adapted by our experienced instructors to achieve different learning outcomes depending on the needs of the group and the aims of the course.

The links below give some more details of the activities and learning outcomes available at Bowles.

Back to Residential courses

Skiing

Skiing is a great activity for all ages, all times of the day and all times of year. It is extremely active, fun and huge amount of progression can seen from start to finish.

Watersports day

A watersports day gives the groups a chance to take part in kayaking, open canoeing and raft building all in one action-packed day. This day has a huge amount of activity time due to the fact all the activities are done at the same very local venue.

Rock climbing

Bowles is unique in having its own natural rock face onsite with hundreds of routes and climbs. Whether you have done rock climbing before at an indoor wall or this is your first time, Bowles rocks will be able to provide you with experience to last a lifetime.

Raft building

The students will be given a selection of equipment and then be set a challenge of building and paddling an improvised raft.

Outdoor raft building is limited to select times of the year but the indoor session can be run all year round.

Leap of faith

The Leap of Faith is an activity where students will really push themselves and conquer challenges that they never thought possible.

Each person will get the opportunity to climb as

Kayaking

Bowles has its own indoor heated swimming pool and access to local rivers and lakes. The pool is a perfect venue for colder months or a great introduction to kayaking before heading out for a full day on the river.

Low ropes course for residents

The Low Ropes course is an assault course which, despite its name, does have a couple of higher elements. The height of the Low Ropes is the perfect height to provide a good level of excitement

Zip wire

There is a huge amount of exhilaration and excitement in this activity as well as elements of teamwork, trust and support.

The zip wire is often combined with our low ropes course. Students will belay each

Team building

The provision that Bowles has for team building has to be some of the best in the country. We have various team building areas across the site including our own woodlands that are covered in permanent high quality team building activities.

Harrisons scrambling

Scrambling is high energy, exciting, active and challenging. The groups will take a short drive to Harrisons Rocks where they will climb under boulders, through tunnels, inside trees and up cliffs.

Archery

Archery is fundamentally different from many off the traditional outdoor activities. We often find that people who have found other activities challenging often excel at archery.

Archery requires skills such as

Orienteering

Orienteering is a classic outdoor activity that promotes skills much as map reading, using scales, measuring distance and reading a key in fun and exciting way.

We have three options for this activity

Mountain biking

Mountain biking is a wonderful half-day activity at the offsite venue Bedgebury Park. Our instructors will lead groups around an off-road bike course giving tips and challenges along the way.

Night walks & earth walks

These sessions allow the young people to experience the natural world from a different perspective. Both these sessions are based around a local walk but instead of just walking

Read More “Night walks & earth walks”

High Ropes Course

This is an aerial assault course that is both high and tough. People will head round the course using ‘cowstails’ and carabiners to clip themselves in to overhead wires.

The learning outcomes are

Team challenge

An action-packed half day of problem solving and teamwork challenge.

There are 11 team-building challenges set within our woods. Groups will be given maps to navigate to different

Bouldering

Although our climbing sessions start with a small amount of bouldering, this is limited to around 30 minutes. If you would like a longer amount of time practicing climbing skills and building confidence a bouldering session would be a good choice.

Canoeing

Open canoeing is similar to kayaking but as we use two person boats, there is a large degree of teamwork and co-operation needed. The Bowles instructors will play games, teach skills and develop confidence within the group.

Bushcraft

Bushcraft is an excellent session where students will learn about fire-lighting and building their own fires. Depending on the length of the activity we may also cover water filtration
methods too.

Relaxed evening sessions

Treasure Hunt, DVD, talent show, journal time, campfires

Our residential trips are action packed and the young people get very little time to stop and relax.

Read More “Relaxed evening sessions”