What People Say
What people say about our residential camps
Thank you so much for the lovely photos – brilliant to see how many activities were enjoyed by all (and congratulations on your personal best of exhausting an entire minibus of kids by lunchtime! BRAVO!)
My daughter has been talking NON STOP about the camp. Please DO keep us in mind for any future camps, I am so grateful my daughter had this amazing experience with you and the kiddos – she said it was the best thing ever.
Mrs I Khi
My son still talks about the summer camp! I can see he has become more active/positive in outdoor activities and earned confidence in walking and cycling. He is transformed into a walkholic. Last weekend, we had a three-hour walk in central London, and he seems not to be tired but rather enjoyed it. He also bragged that he walked well in a more challenging course at the camp. The other day, he even asked me to go for a walk for the first time. The summer camp was a precious experience for him. I truly appreciate it.
Mrs S Kim
I spoke to my daughter today, and she said her highlight of the summer was your camp, even though we had a great summer touring round the UK! I spoke to my friend about it, and it is her daughter’s highlight as well.
So thank you so much for having them and giving the kids such a brilliant time. The idea of a rainy residential camp is hell on earth for me, so it is incredible that somebody like you can inspire children to be so in touch with nature come rain or shine.
Mrs S Hidaka
My 12yo daughter has just returned from a week at your camp, full of stories and excitement, and desperate to go again. She was full of praise for the kindness of Kiki and fun of Freya, as well as all the other counsellors, and was particularly grateful for the ground rules around respect you set at the very beginning. She had such fun playing volleyball, rounders and especially all the kayaking, canoeing and swimming you did in the hot weather, but also really loved the bat walk. She also had very high praise for the food! Thank you for taking such good care of them all!
Siobhan Turner
As your children have probably told you we had a fantastic time with Ben and his team at the Surrey Hills and Rivers camp. They offered an incredibly varied program (from a simple treasure hunt to competitive games; from canoeing on the Basingstoke Canal to learning about muesli making at Imbhams Farm; from an after-dark-walk to see bats and listen to barn owls to a lesson on the wool and horns of the resident Jacob sheep) with sufficient down time for the children to just ‘hang around’ and do what they like. Mealtimes were always a highlight with healthy, vegetarian-only food crowned by hot chocolate and barbecued marshmallows at the campfire on Saturday night.
I did not have the best night sleep (not because of the children, they actually went to bed at 11pm and slept until 7am, but because the birds started singing at 4am), however I truly enjoyed spending time with the class. In particular the boys can create an incredible amount of noise and are not always great at listening, but they are all very nice children, and it was very delightful to see how they are getting on so well and are looking after each other. Despite the long periods of home schooling the class has grown together incredibly well. I’m sure Marco, our accompanying father, thought the same. It is a shame to see so many of you leave.
Mrs S Johnson
With your update and what my son told me on Thursday, I could have a clearer picture of what he is doing at camp. I always wanted to provide him with such activities, and I am happy to hear that he is finally experiencing life in nature a bit. Thank you for the wonderful programme!
Mrs S Kim
How awesome – the kids are so lucky to have you organising all these wonderful activities. After the ‘year of blur’ they’ve had. This is just what they need.
Mrs L Bear
I want to say a massive THANK YOU to you and everyone involved for looking after Harry these last few days and for giving him such a GREAT time! He thoroughly loved it and the smile on his face in that photo with all the kids sitting around the fire says it all.
Once again, thank you SO MUCH for everything you have done. We would definitely be up for coming next year!
Mr B Rogerson
Thank you so much for such a rich, detailed update. My husband and I are most grateful to you for the update, as well as for having our son at your camp. We are so happy he is having this incredible adventure.
Mrs C Guntrip
Thank you so much for that lovely update, it is so nice to know what they get up to on camp. And it seems they are and have had an amazing time under your care and watchful eye.
I’m so pleased for you that the group was so well behaved, it must have made everything so much easier for you.
Sophie told me all about the activities which she really enjoyed. She was pleased to be back home, but she was conflicted as well. She felt in a way that she had let her friends down by going home.
Mrs H Jorgensen
Thanks again for looking after Anna so well over the past couple of weeks. She’s home and clean now and full of wonderful stories.
She told me how much fun she had and as she will be 14 next year, and too old to be a camper, if you are looking to run the camp again she’d love to come back to help the camp leaders.
Ms R Turner
Thank you again for giving the girls such a wonderful and confidence-building experience.
Mrs L Bear
My daughter had such an amazing time on the camp, saying it was the highlight of her summer, in particular kayaking and canoeing on the canal. I am so thankful to Ben for allaying my fears about sending my child away for a week for the first time, especially as she suffers from anxiety. She was able to get settled in almost immediately and has insisted she returns for longer next summer and bringing her little brother in tow!
Mrs M Clark
What people say about our paddlesport camps
Phoebe had the most fabulous week with you on the course and has completely fallen in love with kayaking/canoeing!
I think she’s going to be a holiday visitor for courses if that’s ok, so please do keep sending us courses/dates etc so that we can sign her up to more in the near future.
Many thanks to you and the team for giving her such a fantastic week.
Mrs V Melville
He loved the kayaking and we will be back soon.
Thank you for this wonderful opportunity.
Ms Payal Choudhary
My kids absolutely loved the course. The team of coaches were enthusiastic and knowledgeable and ensured the children had loads of fun.
Perhaps too much fun – my son seemed to relish ‘falling in’ several times each session!
I definitely plan to send them again next summer.
Mrs I Othman
My daughter Agnes really enjoyed the ‘intro to kayaking’ week-long camp. She came back relaxed and confident in herself. The coaches were really encouraging, as she can be a bit shy to start off. I was really pleased at the mix of girls and boys on the camp and the mix of male and female coaches.
My daughter went in the afternoon, which worked well with traffic as we come from Ashtead.
She has now joined the Wey Club and has been weekly to their junior sessions.
Mrs L Grant
Can I congratulate you on a really wonderful camp. Christian really enjoyed himself with his 3 mates on the river. It really worked so well for us.
We shared the driving between parents making it work well from Farnham.
Half days are good for the kids as they can do their own thing for part of the day and get up late (teens growing).
I would definitely do this again and thinking we will look to get more involved.
Anyway, I wish you all the very best with your enterprise. We are still talking about it. We ate at Wagamamas yesterday and Christian told us how he had fallen in nearby and had to catch everyone up !!
Sonia Percival
My Ben really enjoyed his week: he enjoyed trying out the different types of kayaks and canoes and that he made (some) progress in the racing kayaks over the course of the week. It was also good that there were other kids about his age in the group, it wasn’t just younger kids.
Ms K Kiff
Paddlesports camp with Surrey Hills and Rivers is excellent! Really well put-together – professional and fun. The kids got to try out various kayaks and canoes and learnt a lot in a friendly and safe atmosphere. Also they got to meet a Tokyo medallist (Liam Heath) which was an extra bonus. Strongly recommend!
Mr M Shepherd
Our son thoroughly enjoyed it! It was just the right length and your whole team seemed absolutely lovely – friendly, fun, engaging, experienced. You never know when you book a summer activity camp if the kids are going to come home on the first day and say they didn’t like it and don’t want to go back! This was absolutely not the case for your kayaking camp.
We would have loved for our son to join the club but he’s already a bit over committed with footy, rugby, swimming etc. If you run more half day holiday camps he would love to join so please do keep my email address on your mailing list!
Mrs A Parker
My kids Alex and Emma really enjoyed it. Def something they would be keen to do in the future. Not sure we could add to the schedule as such during term time. Would love to be kept in the loop for future events.
Mrs E Rogers
Jack loved his first class today – thank you very much for making him feel welcome and engaging him so much. He could not stop telling me about all the adventures!
Please do sign me up to the mailing list so that I can keep an eye out for holiday club or more regular sessions – Jack would love to do more during term time but I am not yet sure we can make this work with his weekend sports yet.
Mrs L D Bonaventura