Secret agent spy skills day for 10-16 year olds in Milton Keynes. ...

First Class cream tea train departures on Staffordshire's much-loved heritage railway. ...

Learn creative stained glass art in Bristol on a one-day course ...

Enjoy a maximum of three hours of paddle boarding in Scotland! These half day sessions aimed at beginners will take you from a wobbly land lubber to a smooth-paddling SUPer in a matter of hours. & all this takes place in the stunning Scottish setting of the River Tay near Aberfeldy. Get set for great scenery & the chance to learn a new sport. Stand up paddleboarding is the perfect sport for Scotland as it can be done on oceans lochs & rivers. It's a sort of combination of canoeing & surfing. Standing on a long flat board is just like surfing but then you propel yourself by paddling which is clearly more like canoeing. Despite this slight identity crisis SUP is getting really popular
- so much so that it's being considered for inclusion in the Olympics. For first-time SUPers in Scotland the River Tay is nice & gentle. Calmer waters combined with a large floaty board makes for a more stable start to your Scottish SUPing adventures. Indeed the right equipment is key to getting the hang of paddle boarding. The team at this adventure centre in Scotland will pick a board to suit your size (too small & it'll be unstable) & a paddle too. You might think that you need to be strong to SUP. It's actually more about technique. Having said that the instructors in Scotland will tell you paddle boarding is an all over body workout especially core strength. As you take to the Tay for the first time on your board with paddle in hand the trickiest part is getting up. You'll start by kneeling & then progress to standing. As we said SUP is all about technique so think slightly bent legs & gazing out to the horizon. The number one rule is to not look down at your feet
- it's sure to unsteady you! These & other golden nuggets of information will be shared with you by the coaches. Before you know it you'll be up on your feet on the board looking around at the beautiful Scottish scenery as your paddle smoothly around. Of course learning to paddle board in Scotland you might take a couple of early falls but keep the faith get yourself back up on the board & dip that paddle back in that River Tay water. Good tuition good quality equipment in a very lovely setting
- what more could you as a newbie SUPer ask for?


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Learn paddle boarding on the River Avon at Keynsham with all the gear & excellent training included. ...

Take to your paddleboard in Sussex & enjoy the best of both worlds with coastal & river paddleboarding available from the one

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Welcome to Stanlake Park Wine Estate tasting tours where the wine will be flowing! This picturesque wine estate in Berkshire is a lovely place to visit. We are offering vouchers for two people to be part of a group tasting & tour at Stanlake. This really is a local wine producer at its finest. The estate is just stunning & so pretty with wisteria hanging over the walls gorgeous red-brick barns & lovely lawns perfect for lounging with a glass in your hand! You'll both be tasting six Stanlake Estate wines. Subject to availability that will include two sparkling a rosé a red & a couple of whites. You'll either taste them as you go along on your tour or at the end of your visit in the Cellar Shop or out in that lovely walled garden when weather permits. & indeed the walled garden is where you might well get to see some of the original vines that were planted on the Stanlake Estate in 1979. After 40 years of wine making Stanlake Park is one of the oldest wineries in Englan... ...

Be the ' Star in the car' & race against the clock around this special sprint track near Birmingham to see if you can top that leaderboard. Taking a reasonably-priced car & kitting it out with full race-spec safety gear means you can drive a normal family saloon to within an inch of its motoring life as you hurtle around the track & power up the straights in top gear. You climb in to the car kitted out in your race suit & helmet clunk the door shut click the seatbelt pop your favourite driving tunes CD into the car stereo adjust the mirrors turn the key listen to the err...'roar' of the engine & away you go. A screech of tyres maybe a little bit of tyre tread smoke & you're off. After several practice laps you're ready for the 'hot lap' which in a Stig style is against the clock & timed to the very last one hundredth of a second. As you zoom down the straights get the car leaning into those corners & rattle through the chicanes onboard cameras will capture... ...

Ride upfront on a footplate experience in Staffordshire & see what the track looks like from the working end of the train! This fabulous package gives you the chance to climb up onto a fully-restored steam-powered locomotive & ride on the footplate with the driver. Observe just what it involves to get a historic steam train all stoked up on the move & trundling along the Staffordshire track with the plumes of steam swirling around you. You really are quite literally in the hot seat on these experiences as you stand on the footplate & watch the overall-clad train crew shovelling coal into the furnace expertly working the levers & opening valves to power up & move these wonderfully solid machines. Expect heat noise & lots of steam too as the loco chugs into life & heads off on its journey along this superb rural heritage train line. The Churnet Valley line gives you 22 miles of valley views as you rumble through the likes of Consall station which is right next to the canal & the river. Then there's Froghall stop with its delightful tearooms on the platform. And you will be amazed at just how different everything looks from the very front of the train as you look out from your very privileged spot on the footplate
- quite an exhilarating experience! As you won't actually be taking the controls on this footplate experience you'll have more time to enjoy the viewpoint of the open locomotive & you'll be able to watch observe & understand what all the jobs involve. The crew is sure to explain how everything works & show you how it's done
- without you having to get your hands dirty! Don't forget to being your camera along to capture the moment you had the chance to stand on the footplate of a steam train on the Churnet Valley Railway!

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Immerse yourself in a wonderful world full of locomotives & rolling stock from a bygone age when you book your ticket to ride on our steam railway experience! The East Somerset Railway is a small & friendly steam railway centre just a few miles outside Shepton Mallet & this experience means that you can travel freely all day long so you can really make the most of your day out. This steam train line originally ran from Witham to Wells but the route experienced the harsh reality of the Beeching cuts & the passenger route was shut in 1963. Freight trains did continue with bitumen trains using parts of the line right up until 1985 & stone trains going as far as Merehead Quarry. As it happens steam fan David Shepherd was looking for a railway to runs his locos. Despite his lack of experience at the height of the cuts David had simply as he says " Picked up the 'phone to British Rail & bought two locomotives". For the princely sum of £5000 he had two well-maintained trains one... ...