This is a fantastic place to head if you are a water-sports nut! Everything is catered for here;…read morecanoeing, dinghy sailing, wind-surfing and much more. My wife and I completed our RYA level 1 and 2 sailing here as the instructors are so patient and the surroundings are so much nicer than a lot of the local Brighton destinations. The Ardingly Resovoir is a huge place to start off learning and once you've progressed, they have a program at Chichester Harbour so you can start navigating the open seas!

I am keen to introduce my three young children to outdoor water based activities, so I phoned the…read moreArdingly Activity Centre for advice to work out what was possible given their ages. I had no fixed ideas about when or how, just sooner rather than later was my preference. We have just purchased a camper van so it was about trying out new compatible activities. The centre was not available when I called so I left a message. I eventually received a call back from the owner, who was very cold and blunt, and seemingly annoyed that I was seeking advice rather than using the online booking facility. I was told firmly that they had migrated to an online system as they were sick of having two people man the phones answering queries daily (hopefully those two people are employed elsewhere). I am absolutely fine with things that are not possible but I had to work very hard to try and work out a suitable plan of attack. I asked if anyone was available for private hire and got a stark "no" followed by silence - no follow on to suggest there may in the future or that group lessons may be available etc. In the interests of politeness I let that go and then moved onto talk logistics in the absence of a tutor, given the ages of the children, to try and work out whether my wife and I could hire one kayak or two and how many kids were allowed on board. Again, very negative... started with can't be done with the youngest of the three kids... no problem, so I tried to usher the conversation to what was possible with the older two.. suggesting my wife staying on the side-lines with the baby whilst I rotate with the two older children. The first response was only myself and one child were allowed in a kayak and if I were to swap between the two, it would be a pain to get the children in and out of the life jackets on rotation. I suggested we just put them both in life jackets at the outset (they are different sizes given age gaps anyway). I was rather rudely told that would result in one of my children hogging a life jacket. Eventually the owner recognised his own dismissiveness and conceded that having both the older two children in life jackets from the get go and then rotating could work. Phew. Separately, I also suggested that my wife would be fine on the side-lines with the baby as she has not got any experience and got a very blunt "well, it's not that difficult". That was literally the tone and extent of the response on that. By that point I started laughing out of embarrassment and when he asked why I explained that I had phoned to motivate my children in a new venture and had ended up becoming demotivated myself. I wish I hadn't said anything. The fault was, apparently, my subjective feelings rather than his attitude. In fact the owner had self-justified his approach as legitimate expectation management, and my dislike being linked to being unrealistic on a bank holiday weekend. I tried to explain, politely, I had no expectations of when or how, I was just trying to work out a plan to introduce my kids to this ... instead I was receiving an "its all too difficult", dead-end and unhelpful dialogue. I said a little helpfulness, optimism and realism were not mutually exclusive. Despite this, I was met with non-sequiturs about being "unrealistic" and a defensive "I have done this job for thirty five years" and had lots of happy customers, we should agree to disagree etc. It was my feelings that were at fault and his subjective interpretation meant there was no objective truth in the feedback he had requested. Some owners cannot do enough to engage new custom/enthuse potential recruits - this owner couldn't do any less, isn't interested in feedback he requests, however well put, and will default to self-justificatory non-sequiturs and years served. You would have thought the owner would have developed some degree of self-awareness/desire to pass on skills to the next generation. Unfortunately not if it requires anything non-standard or outside of the online booking system. Hopefully the owner's customers will find the review he requested more useful that he did.

I went sailing here and had a good time. If you're used to sailing in picturesque lakes or on the…read moreopen sea, don't expect too much, but it is lovely to be out in the countryside, and it's surprisingly close to Oxford. You can cycle there in about half an hour or get the bus, which leaves you with a kilometre or so to walk to the reservoir entrance. The buses are quite unreliable though, so make sure you leave enough time to get back! The boats belong to the university, local schools and private members and it was buzzing with life when I went on a weekday afternoon. There are loads of different boats, but the club sheds are quite shabby - basically metal lorry containers. The club house has got changing facilities, a meeting hall which operates as a snack bar, but not when I went, and a couple of vending machines. The reservoir itself is quite big - plenty of room for lots of groups. It's a lot colder and windier on the water than on the land nearby, and, as I found out, it's easy to get sunburnt even when it's windy!

This was such a fun experience! It was challenging & engaging! It'd be a great activity for family…read more& friends

From the owner: With BeatOrbit's immersive, full-body experience everyone can use the power of drums and music to…read moreswitch off and escape from the everyday rush. So, what is BeatOrbit? Some say it's social drumming, some say interactive cinema or drum karaoke. What we know for sure: BeatOrbit is an innovative and unique form of recreation where you can playfully release stress. In other words: you recharge via making music. Not faking music. Making music!