I gave only 3 stars though some aspects would be 5 stars. The room for 2 ( adult and child) were small but adequate. The set of loos & showers close to our room were new, clean and roomy. We did use another one when these were busy and they were not the same standard. The food is always plenty though just personal opinion it is lacking more veg and wholegrains and is rather jam-packed with sugar and carbs. The breakfasts and dinners were fresh and appetizing the items for packed lunch were a bit lacking. The kitchen staff are all helpful and friendly. The orienteering was not as indepth as we were hoping. It would have been good to have used the compass with the map. The activity felt staid and well worn. The activity was competitive which took the edge of the learning with some children name calling and being quite OTT with each other at then end. More could be done to help children on their own, with no other siblings, to integrate more rather pitching against each other.Cooperative games rather than competition would be much more useful when ‘learning’ new skills. For this reason we gave the ‘Team Challenge’ activity a miss! There is the inevitable banging and loud talk at night if you are early to bed.Though it was tolerable. If you want to ‘get away from it all’ then watch out for the TV’s in almost every room. I know I am in the minority regarding the over use of technology, however maybe in the dinning room there could be a restriction…encouraging more people to talk to each other?? We sat alone every meal as everyone chose to sit apart. I got the feeling that to share a table might not be welcomed so I followed suit. A tricky one. There was some misunderstanding about the booking of the Gorge Scramble. It seems it is first come first serve which is a very unfair system. Luckily I had had an email when booking that I would get a place. However, the list was full when we arrived. Eventually the staff managed to get another trained person to enable 2 groups to go. Both groups were full. We were very grateful to the staff for fixing this as it was the reason we chose this centre and this date. The experience was more than expected, fully recommend this activity. And there was cooperation all round.So for some the activities may be new and fun & for others not particularly engaging. My comments are intended to be constructive and helpful to anyone who has not been before. Would we do another Real Family Holiday? …maybe.
