Exmoor Activity Centre with Darren & Isobel

 Exmoor Activity Centre 

It was such a glorious, sunny day as we made our way down to  the lake for some canoeing. We put on our life jackets and after a little instruction we were out on the water. We practised manoeuvring backwards and turning before playing some fun team games! 

Giving Robin Hood a run for his money, we hit the Archery hut where after some instruction we were soon managing to hit the bullseye. 

More team building fun was had down in the woodlands where we had to give clear and simple instructions to one another as to how to pass through the wire wall.  

We also showed great team work helping each other walk along the wobbling path. 

What goes up, must come down! We headed to the abseiling wall, put on our harnesses and helmets and one by one made our decent. It seemed a long way down but with all the group encouraging each other we all made it to the bottom and felt very proud of our efforts. 

An afternoon was spent in Barnstable for some ten pin bowling action! We are all very competitive, so we didn't waste any time getting started! We were all impressed with each other’s performance, there were plenty of high scores and some fantastic strikes! Everyone played brilliantly and were such fantastic sports. 

One of our favourite activities to do here is explore the scenery on the bikes. After picking our preferred mode of transport we cycled around the beautiful lake, along some more challenging pathways and down some steep hills (which were great fun).

We were so lucky to be able to make use of all the amazing facilities here. The group played water polo and got a variety of toys to play games with seeing who could pick them up from the bottom of the pool, as well as practising our swimming. 

Over in the hall we were set the challenge of crate stacking. Once again this activity involved great teamwork and communication skills. Ian and Luke managed to get an impressive 11 crates, Cameron managed a fabulous 9 on his own, Stephen, Isobel and Jane managed a respectable 5 and Mikey achieved a great score of 4 crates.

We spent the evenings relaxing in the lounge playing dominos, pool and table football.  

An excited group were introduced to the beautiful horses in their stables. After putting our safety hats on we jumped straight on and  learnt how to use the reins and to give commands as we walked around the indoor school. We then progressed into a trot, which we all mastered successfully! 

Some of us then took a ride in the horse and carriage around the grounds of Calvert Trust and had huge smiles on their faces. We then all took turns with helping to groom the horses which we all thoroughly enjoyed, and we think the horses did, too! 

Some night's we put on the disco hits and we turned the music up! There were some classic party songs  played and it wasn’t long before we were up dancing to the Macarena, YMCA, Conga and of course Oops Upside Your Head to name just a few!

We flew through the air as we whizzed down the zip wire at top speed. The views were brilliant! 

Down in the forest we had an amazing day learning about bushcraft. We were challenged with building our own shelter and our instructor told us it had to be made so daylight couldn't be seen through it. We used large branches to start and Luke and Ian got straight to work building the frame. The rest of the group collected as many branches as possible and they were then placed from the bottom upwards. We then weaved smaller branches between before a thick layer of leaves were piled on top. It was great to see everyone working so hard and well as a team to make the perfect shelter.

Then it was time to learn how to light a small fire. We used small pieces of cotton wool in the bottom of the fire pit and layers of tiny, thin sticks working our way up to thicker ones before Ian attempted to light it with flint and steel. Wow, great skills by Ian who managed to light it almost immediately. After a short time Alex got some popcorn and cooked it over the fire and as a treat for such a great shelter, fabulous hard work and effort. 

The climbing wall was a hit with us all. We didn't hesitate to get started and everyone managed the first wall with ease. The second wall was much more challenging but that didn't put us off and with sheer determination every single one of us managed to reach the top and ring the bell!