Go Ape
Go Ape is an award-winning [1] outdoor pursuits company which runs seventeen high wire adventure courses in forests in England and Scotland consisting of rope ladders, zip-lines, rope bridges, trapezes and swings. The course in Queen Elizabeth Forest Park, near Aberfoyle in Stirling, has a 426-metre zip line, the longest in Britain.[2]
History
The company was founded in 2001 by Rebecca and Tristram Mayhew, after they were inspired by a tree-top adventure course in France, and has a contract with the Forestry Commission for courses on multiple sites.[2] The first course opened in 2002 in Thetford Forest, on the borders of Norfolk and Suffolk; it was the first self-belay tree top ropes course in Britain. The company's motto is "creating adventures, encouraging others to live life more adventurously."[3] In November 2007, a proposal for a combined mountain biking facility and Go Ape course in Whinlatter Forest Park, near Keswick in the Lake District, was turned down when local people and two parish councils objected over concerns about an increase in traffic. An amended planning application was subsequently approved and a Go Ape course at Whinlatter opened in Spring 2008.[4] Similar concerns have also been raised about a proposed course at Wendover Woods in the Chiltern Hills, but plans were approved after several hundred residents of the borough wrote to planning officers to support the proposal.[5] In 2003, the company won a Best Tourist Attraction award[3] and has also won a number of other awards.[6] In 2007, it was shortlisted for the Best Norfolk Attraction award at the Tourism In Norfolk Awards.[7] In 2008 the company opened 5 new courses in Kent, Cumbria, Devon, Buckinghamshire and Staffordshire.[8].
There is currently a proposal to build a Go Ape course in the award winning Pollok Country Park, in Glasgow. This has proved controversial, and a campaign group has been working to oppose the scheme on a number of grounds. Go Ape's founder, Tristram Mayhew, attended a public meeting in January, 2008 in support of the proposal. Glasgow council subsequently approved the plan, and Scottish Ministers refused to 'call-in' the proposal. It is now the subject of legal challenges.
Go Ape locations
- Thetford Forest, East Anglia
- Grizedale Forest, Cumbria
- Whinlatter, Cumbria
- Swinley Forest, Bracknell
- Moors Valley, Dorset
- Sherwood Pines, Nottinghamshire
- Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire
- Wendover Woods, Buckinghamshire
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- Delamere Forest, Cheshire
- Buxton, Derbyshire
- Aberfoyle, Stirlingshire
- Dalby Forest, North Yorkshire
- Alice Holt, Surrey
- Bedgebury Forest, Kent[1]
- Leeds Castle, Kent[9]
- Haldon Forest Park, Devon
- Birches Valley, Cannock Chase, Staffordshire
References
- ^ a b "Swing Through the Trees and Go Ape!" (Press release). The Forestry Commission. 2007-05-23. Retrieved 2007-11-20.
- ^ a b "Air Activities: Go Ape" (HTML). Scotland Outdoors. BBC. 2007-09-10. Retrieved 2007-11-20.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ a b "Growing Futures: The England Forestry Strategy in Action" (PDF). The Forestry Commission. June 2006. Retrieved 2007-11-20.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Brewster, Ross (2007-11-08). "Plans Refused". News & Star. Cumbrian Newspapers Ltd. Retrieved 2007-11-20.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Sampson, Karen (2007-10-11). "Letters to the Editor: Shocked at plans for Go Ape facility". The Bucks Herald. Johnson Press Digital Publishing. Retrieved 2007-11-20.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ "Awards we've been lucky enough to win" (HTML). Go Ape. Retrieved 2007-11-20.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Neate, Rupert (2007-10-26). "And our tourism finalists are ..." Eastern Daily Press. Archant Regional Limited. Retrieved 2007-11-20.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ "4 New Sites" (HTML). Go Ape. Retrieved 2008-02-20.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ "Leeds Castle gets ready to Go Ape" (HTML). Kent Messenger Group. 15/01/08. Retrieved 2008-04-01.
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