Activities and Facilities at Essex Outdoors Harlow

Abseiling Test your nerve by lowering yourself over the edge and descending one of our exciting abseils, controlling your own descent as you go. Very popular with groups abseiling is often incorporated into other sessions, such as climbing or high ropes as a great way to help improve participant’s confidence as well as offering a …
Continue reading Abseiling

All-terrain boarding A thrilling combination of snowboarding and off-road skateboarding, ATB’s are great for balance and coordination skills. Start off with the basics of posture, balance and steering and how to protect yourself if you fall, and you’ll be zooming down the grassy slopes with style in no time! Clients are kept safe by knee, …
Continue reading All-terrain boarding

Archery Aim for gold on our outdoor and indoor archery ranges. With its unique mix of fun and competition, archery is a popular activity with all ages and abilities, helping to build confidence and improve coordination skills. Sessions are tailored to meet the experience of the group and can offer the opportunity for further progression …
Continue reading Archery

Bouldering If you like keeping fit and problem solving, bouldering is the sport for you. Bouldering is an exhilarating and sociable sport where climbers attempt low-level routes without ropes or harnesses. Instead protection from falls is provided by pads and crash mats. Bouldering "problems" are usually much shorter than rock climbs and often include a …
Continue reading Bouldering

Bumble Our exciting urban version of coasteering. This unique activity is a great way of building confidence in and around water. Participants slide down weirs, play team games in the river or jump in from the banks.  Available during summer months only. Learning Outcomes Click below to find out which learning outcomes this activity promotes. …
Continue reading Bumble

Bushcraft Marshmallows at the ready! Depending on the centre we offer either coastal or woodland-based versions. These exciting and informative sessions are very flexible and can incorporate; fire lighting using fire steels and natural materials shelter building and knot work camp craft including basic knife and axe work. You can also combine a longer session …
Continue reading Bushcraft

Canoeing Test out our fleet of traditional Canadian canoes. Our instructors will guide you through all the basic strokes allowing plenty of time to practice your skills. You'll then be able to explore the local waterways and get up close and personal with some fascinating wildlife! Essex provides the ideal environment to take your first …
Continue reading Canoeing

Climbing Reach new heights on one of our impressive outdoor towers or indoors at our fourteen metre high professional climbing wall – “The Lock”. Our climbing walls provide a huge variety of routes to challenge novices and advanced climbers alike. During our instructed sessions, you’ll learn to use climbing equipment safely, belay your team mates …
Continue reading Climbing

First aid Our highly interactive introductory First aid lessons for young people are based on British Heart Foundation guidelines. Sessions include plenty to keep the mind and body active and the group will learn everything they need to know to be confident in a basic first aid situation. Areas covered include incident management how to …
Continue reading First aid

High ropes Each of our centres’ high ropes courses offer a variety of challenging and exciting elements designed to push your comfort zone to see what you can really achieve. Walk the catwalk, take on the Leap of Faith or work alongside your friends to get to the top of the Jacobs Ladder or All …
Continue reading High ropes

Kayaking Test out our fleet of sit-on-top and traditional kayaks . Our instructors will guide you through all the basic strokes allowing plenty of time to practice your skills through fun games and challenges. You’ll then be able to explore the local waterways and get up close and personal with some fascinating wildlife! Essex provides …
Continue reading Kayaking

Low ropes The floor is lava! Our low ropes courses have a series of low-level challenges with interconnected ropes, planks, wires and tyres. The aim is to support your teammates to move around the platforms of the course without touching the ground Designed to test and hone the group's cooperation and communication skills whilst having …
Continue reading Low ropes

Off road biking Enjoy the ride. Our centres are perfectly situated to cater for all levels of off-road biking. Each site presents plenty of challenges, from obstacle courses to build your skills through to gentle woodland trails and more technical routes. And our proximity to some of the best single-track in the country allows us …
Continue reading Off road biking

Orienteering and map skills This activity teaches the important life skill of map-reading. Our instructors will guide groups through a series of mini-exercises to introduce; points of the compass and orientating a map interpreting symbols features using scale and pacing Participants then head off to complete courses and challenges of increasing difficulty around our beautiful …
Continue reading Orienteering and map skills

Raft building Build your own river going vessel from a selection of tested items such as barrels, ropes wooden planks. You'll learn some useful knot work and traditional techniques to construct your craft. An ideal session for enhancing team building skills, communication, planning and resource management. Available during summer months only. Learning outcomes Click below …
Continue reading Raft building

Scramble net Test your mettle by scrambling over the river with nothing but a cargo net to protect you (and some handily placed safety ropes). A number of different elements from tramlines to tight rope all protected by safety ropes, harnesses and helmets. Great for balance, coordination, agility and confidence. Learning outcomes Click below to …
Continue reading Scramble net

Stand up paddle boarding (SUP) The latest addition to our paddle sports line-up - the exciting sport of stand up paddle boarding - or SUP - is an excellent way to develop water confidence, build core strength and balance. You’ll be on your feet and exploring the beautiful rivers, creeks and sheltered waterways of Essex …
Continue reading Stand up paddle boarding (SUP)

Team challenge and problem solving From mental puzzles through to team challenges, we'll test your ability to work together, communicate and think fast. Spider's web, mazes, blindfold trails and sheep pens are just some of the tools used to test your problem solving skills. The activities not only offer the opportunity for groups to go …
Continue reading Team challenge and problem solving