Toby is fascinated with soldiers. He loves weapons. He loves tanks. When an opportunity came up to drive a mini tank, guess who we thought of! It turned out to be a huge amount of fun, and much talked about afterwards!
Leisure Matters are a family-run business that’s led by Tom and Nina Farrell. They have an 80-acre woodland in Eversley, Hampshire, where they offer lots of fun outdoors activities. This includes the very popular laser tag, a mini tank track, archery, axe-throwing, and .22 rifle shooting. We visited on a very busy Saturday afternoon, specifically to experience the mini tanks, but also to learn a bit about the other activities.
Where’s Eversley?
Eversley is half-way between Southampton and home for us – hence a great stop on the way home from picking Huw up from his recent cruise! For everyone else Warren Heath Woods is on the Hampshire/Berkshire border, not a million miles from Sandhurst.
Upon arrival, there’s a car park that will hold up to 20 cars if parked sensibly, and this immediately faces the Leisure Matters woodland HQ.
What Was Happening?
When we arrived a group of 15-20 nine-year-old children were preparing for a laser tag session. They were all kitted up in camo overalls, laser-helmets and realistic guns. Most importantly, they looked super-excited, and we couldn’t blame them! They were split into two teams and had a huge ‘combat zone’ to hide and fight in … complete with tyres, containers, barriers, wooden obstacles. From where we were standing it looked like they were having the time of their lives – and it is really good exercise too!
It is obvious why this is proving to be a really popular birthday party activity. There’s also tarpaulin-covered tables and benches to carry on your party post-session – bring your own food and cake etc. (and take all rubbish away afterwards.)
Toby was keen to take a look at the guns used for the laser tag. Here he is posing with two examples.
We were told that these guns are super-accurate. The military use very similar kit during training. The shooter knows when they’ve hit a target, and when they’ve had a near miss. At the end of the session a print out will tell you who you ‘killed’. With paintball, there’s a lot of pain and bruising when you get ‘shot’ – and it’s messy. Laser Tag is pin-point accurate, painless, and just as much (more) fun.
Mini Tanks
It’s time we talked about the mini tanks, as this is why we visited!
The tanks are awesome ? They really are small tanks – you drive them in the same way you would the real thing. Powered by a Honda 13 bhp GX-390 petrol engine, they have a maximum speed of 6mph … doesn’t sound much, but when negotiating the course, it’s more than enough.
You access your tank after lifting up the bodywork … and you get strapped in.
Your feet need to touch the metal bar in the footwell – your feet play no part in driving your tank. To the left and right of your legs, there are levers. If you push them both forward together, you move forward in a straight line: if you only push the left lever forward, you’ll go in a right-handed circle. Each lever independently controls the tracks on each side. Toby and Millie-Mae were told to imagine they were riding their cycles as the hand movements are similar to using your handlebars.
Toby’s Drive
Toby’s first half lap was quite painful to watch … he kangaroo hopped. Stopped. Turned a bit. Kangaroo hopped some more. Stopped. Turned again … by the end of the first lap, he was a lot more fluid, and starting to build up speed. By the end of his second lap he was absolutely loving it, wanting it know how much one would cost to buy. (I could just imagine him driving one to school each day!)
Millie-Mae’s Drive
Millie was a lot more confident. I was more nervous watching her, as she has a tendency to crash (at speed, straight into tyres – see the Hemsby go-kart experience last summer)! However, she redeemed herself mini tank driving. Not only did she not fell any trees, but she picked up the controls really quickly. She too totally loved it.
For taller drivers there are turrets for the tanks – but neither child were tall enough to see over the top.
We were told that the mini tanks are very popular for corporate team building/days out. As with the laser tag, you get kitted out in camo gear, and might even have to content with some smoke grenades as you negotiate round!
Do We Recommend it?
Heck yes! The kids loved every second – I could see they were desperate to try the other activities, so we said our goodbyes and headed home (couldn’t cope with tears!) What we liked most of all is that it’s all outdoors – not an Xbox in sight. The participants were running around, laughing, having a lot of fun.
If you had more time available, I’m sure you could arrange a package of activities to suit your group – remember all the activities are based in this one 80-acre area.
Interested in booking a session or two? Take a look at Leisure Matters website here.
Leisure Matters now need a second woodland, in the North Herts/Beds border area so we can visit more often!
