As summer finally starts to kick in, Liquid Leisure owner Stuart Marston tells William Gadsby Peet about his watery vision and plan for getting kids outdoors and active
When I was a wee lad, the summer was a time of delirious excitement: a heady whirlwind of bike rides, tree climbs, stinging nettles, dock leaves, forest dens and epic medieval battles fought with branches and dustbin lids.
Nowadays, however, the pace has slackened somewhat. In fact, at the grand old age of 26, I’m beginning to feel like a dinosaur. On the bus to work recently, three children behind me – none of whom could have been older than 10 – strove tirelessly to outdo each other in the art of braggadocio. The casus belli? The number of views that each had accumulated for YouTube clips of their respective ‘kill streaks’ from the video game, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.
No wonder that childhood obesity is at a record high. And it won’t wash simply to blame the parents: try competing with a little black box that can instantly give your child the experience of being a Premiership footballer or a dragon slayer. It takes something special to triumph over the virtual world.
Fortunately for the waistlines of local children, however, Berkshire does indeed have a watery ace up its sleeve. Welcome to Liquid Leisure, the stunning water park and activities centre near Datchet that is one of the largest of its kind in the world.
In glorious early summer sunshine, I went down to the lake at the heart of it all to speak to owner – and 19-time National Water Ski Champion – Stuart Marston. To my relief, he clearly shared my concern for the screen addicted youth of today.
“I’ve got three children, aged 11, 14 and 16. One of them is a bit more grown up, but the younger two are always on computer games,” he admits.
1 of 3
Liquid Leisure in Datchet
2 of 3
Europe's largest aqua park
3 of 3
The beach area at Liquid Leisure
“It’s just too easy to leave kids on an iPad – far less hassle for the parents. Even in restaurants the kids are on their mobiles, and when they’re at home they’re constantly gaming with their friends.
“It’s a real shame because sport and activity are vitally important. They teach kids people skills and are obviously good for their health – two areas in which children in this country are somewhat deficient – and I’m happy that what we do here helps to rectify that. We offer multiple fun ways of keeping fit.”
No kidding. Having opened Liquid Leisure in 2002, Stuart has painstakingly added new features year by year. The result is a varied and hugely impressive array of water sports and activities.
“I found this lake for rent and immediately had a vision for what I wanted to do with it,” he recalls. “I’d worked at loads of places whilst water skiing for Great Britain, and had always wanted to bring my own ideas to a lake close to home. I was born in Ascot and have lived in Windsor all my life, so this was just perfect.
“I’d envisaged having a cable lake for water skiing and wakeboarding, as well as full boat boarding. Now we’re the largest ski and wakeboard park in the world, with more obstacles than anyone else. Plus we have a gym, a restaurant opening next month, a beach and a large decking area.
“Last July we opened the Aqua Park and that’s absolutely taken off. It’s like a trampoline park, but on water – basically just an inflatable world for the kids to charge about on.”
And it doesn’t look as if Stuart will be slowing down any time soon, with further extensive plans for the lake already on the Liquid Leisure horizon.
“We’re going to start zorbing this summer,” he says with barely contained enthusiasm. “That’s walking on the water in these big inflatable balls. We’ve got 10 of them coming over to us here next week, and they should be ready to roll by June.
JON SHRIMPTON
“On top of all that, we have a new business called Aqua Monkeys starting up next year, which will be like Go Ape on water.”
And there is one other thing about Liquid Leisure: despite all the state-of-the-art attractions, it retains a rooted, British feel of which Stuart is especially proud.
“There is a double-decker Routemaster bus parked out front, a big red phone box and a couple of old London black cabs, and to top it all I’ve just bought a London Underground train that’s coming this winter to be restored. There will be a platform alongside, which we’ll set up as a bar area for eating and drinking.”
Taking the tube has never been so much fun.
But if the scale of Liquid Leisure can occasionally seem improbably grand, perhaps that is no surprise. Marston, after all, has spent decades vying with other supreme athletes. Little wonder, therefore, that he attributes a large part of his success to an innately competitive streak.
“I won 19 National Championships and five European Championships. Since losing my eye last year, when some muppet bottled me, I’ve focused all that competitiveness on making this park as busy and as much fun as possible.
“To be honest, I feel like I’ve been riding the wave for 15 years now. There’s always so much going on, but it doesn’t feel like work. I’d genuinely still do this even if I won the lottery tomorrow.”
Looking around at the sparkling, sun-splashed lake, set amid glorious parkland, I can’t honestly say that I blame him.
More great local ideas to get the kids outdoors this summer…
Swinley Bike Hub, Bracknell
ILAL
If the chance to tear around a dirt track on a mountain bike doesn’t get your urchin out of his/her room, nothing will. Swinley Bike Hub features three trails ranging in difficulty from beginner to expert, and has all the equipment you’ll need available for hire.
swinleybikehub.com; 01344 360229
Tally Ho Stables, Windsor
I used to love riding horses as a kid, pretending I was a cowboy whilst an instructor screamed at me to keep my back straight. It’s a great sport to get into, and you couldn’t ask for a better location than Windsor Great Park, with Tally Ho offering guided rides through the historic parkland.
tallyhostables.co.uk; 0800 590 048
New Farm Fisheries, Maidenhead
There’s nothing quite like several hours spent trying to outsmart a fish with rod and tackle for a bit of parent-child bonding. New Farm Fisheries offers two rods for the day at the very reasonable price of £10. It also has a resident fishing teacher, in case you and your offspring are in need of lessons.
newfarmfisheries.co.uk; 07585 955263
Unique Outdoors, Reading
Variety is the name of the game at Unique Outdoors. The centre offers woodland laser tag, zorb racing, bouldering, high wire trapeze, archery, mud buggy racing and even a 50ft, free fall ‘Powerfan’ experience, to name just a few of its delights.
uniqueoutdoors.co.uk; 0118 933 1806
Check out our Kids/Schools Section for more great advice on where to take the kids
You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter for updates on our latest articles
Sign up to our Weekly Newsletter for exclusive competitions, offers and stories
Looking to advertise your business in Surrey or SW London? Check out our 11 different lifestyle magazines with a combined monthly distribution of over 210,000
