I often get asked if anyone can book The Exmoor Centre; The Charity exists to ‘Provide affordable accommodation for young people to experience the wilds of Exmoor’ so if your group in some way fits that then the answer is yes we’d love to see you!
Most of our visitors nowadays are family groups, often extended family groups of brothers/sisters, their wives/husbands, all the kids and some of their kids friends. Many of these groups are led by ex-Ilfracombe College students who came here themselves as schoolchildren and want to pass that experience onto their own children.
We do still get some school groups at the centre, these are often on Duke of Edinburgh training or Ten Tors training. This works well for the group leaders who usually sleep in the comfort of the bunkhouse with the woodstove whilst the students camp outside.
University Groups are rare now but we have some regulars, some pursuing their academic work studying Exmoors rich Flora, Fauna and Geology but often here to tear around on Mountain Bikes or Hike the remoter areas of Exmoor.
Groups of Children with special needs are groups we have always tried to help. Children with behavioural issues can benefit greatly from a change of environment, time at The Exmoor Centre is often calming for them.
We really enjoy seeing the reaction of inner city kids to the darkness of an overcast Exmoor Sky, often terrifying to them at first having never seen a real dark night.
The last group who come to us are the young at heart, and why not, if Grannie wants to go on a rope swing who are we to argue!