Hampshire Outdoor Centres
Our centres provide outdoor education, adventure activities, field studies and environmental education, with residential and day provision available in support of the curriculum across all the Key Stages.
Fundamentally, our activities are educational in nature, from beginners through to high level instructor training. Our staff work with teachers and group leaders to bring experiential outdoor learning to the curriculum.
Service features
We operate and provide access to the following outdoor centres:
Calshot Activities Centre
This warm and comfortable 180 bed, fully catered accommodation, is situated right beside the sea on the Solent shore. We offer a wide range of exciting water and land-based activities, for all Key Stages.
Our historic hangars accommodate a state of the art climbing complex, the only indoor velodrome in Southern England and a dry ski slope. In addition to our adventurous activities, we also provide field studies using the beach and coast on our doorstep, and the rivers, woods and heathland of the nearby New Forest. Programmes are individually tailored to suit your particular educational aims, length of stay and Key Stage.
The Hampshire Mountain Centre
Located in the heart of the stunning Brecon Beacons, our Mountain Centre provides a home from home for groups of up to 46 in a beautiful converted farmhouse. Programmes are fully staffed by our team of professionals, and introduce young people to wilderness adventures on rivers, up mountains and inside caves! A fabulous resource room provides the facilities to underpin the outdoor learning resulting from exploration of the various habitats of the upland environment.
Runway's End Outdoor Centre
Our newest centre, located in North Hampshire, offers many adventurous and team activities on our woodland site and the adjacent canal. We have indoor accommodation for up to 71 in Forge Lodge. Our Camping Pods offer a luxury camping experience for up to 40 people (brand new for 2019!) and the site also has space for up to 150 people to camp using their own tents. This centre is proud to operate jointly between Hampshire County Council, Rushmoor Borough Council, and Blackwater Valley District Scouts.
Tile Barn Outdoor Centre
Based in the heart of the New Forest, our 14-acre site offers a cost-effective option for groups looking to explore the outdoors.
We provide 'education through adventure' which uses problem solving tasks, mountain biking, climbing archery and many more activities as a catalyst for personal development. Groups staying residentially can choose from our 38-bed bunkhouse, our Enda Ryan Poppy Pod village which sleeps up to 80 across 20 pods or for larger groups we can offer camping villages to fit up to 300 at a time!
In addition to the exceptional learning opportunities we provide, our centres are also able to offer National Governing Body Awards in many of the activities the service offers, such as climbing, paddle sports, mountain biking, sailing and many more.
Benefits to schools
- High quality outdoor learning
- Curriculum linked, and inclusive
- Hampshire Outdoor Education Service – no additional County Council authorisation required for schools to access the centres as part of the County Council’s internal risk management systems.
Charging information
Charges are centre specific and are dependent on the type and duration of a course. This may be single or multiple sessions, day-use, or a fully residential week, or part week. Specific requests can be answered directly by the centres’ friendly and knowledgeable bookings staff.
Quality assurance
All our centres hold either the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom Quality Mark or are licensed for Adventurous Activities by the Adventure Activities Licensing Service. With some centres holding both accreditations.
Hampshire Outdoor Centres are inspected both externally by national governing bodies for the sports that they deliver and internally by the Outdoor Education Service.
Contact
Alistair Palmer
Head of Hampshire Outdoor Centres
Customer Engagement Team
[email protected]
02380 884930
