Best Summer Camps
Are British kids ready for US-style summer camps? Samantha Laurie looks at the best residential summer kid camps...
A beautiful lakeside setting, teenage romance, s’mores around the bonfire: every child knows a summer camp from films. And yet, unlike everything else American, camp culture has never caught on in the UK.
Unpredictable weather, shorter school holidays and more generous parental leave contribute to the indifference, perhaps augmented by a certain flinty cynicism about outsourcing holiday fun.
Still, as an alternative to kids lolling around on their phones all summer, a week of outdoorsy – or even indoorsy – fun away from home has plenty going for it.
The best camps fill up quickly as the domestic market stirs into action. So, in no particular order, we've compiled a list of some of the best stay-away summer camps in the UK.
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1
Camp Cooper
Ardvreck School, Crieff, Glasgow, PH7 4EX- Best for classic American summer camp experience
- Suitable for: 7-17 years; £945 per week, scholarships available; max 110 per week
Having spent 10 years running a summer camp in Massachusetts, the owners of Camp Cooper have transported all the traditional US elements to Scotland: singing in the dining hall, campfires with songs, lots of dressing up and a big focus on building friendships and life skills.
Camps run for one or two weeks at two Scottish locations – Crieff and Edinburgh – with campers divided into 'cabin groups' of 8-10 who are the same gender, roughly the same age and a mix of nationalities. "Building strong, lasting friendships is at the heart of what we do," says owner Hiran Silva.
Accommodation is in boarding school dorms, and there are heaps of elective activities such as football, mountain biking, tennis, drama, filmmaking, journalism and performing arts.
English language lessons are available too – international students make up 70 per cent of the 110 places in the early weeks of summer, falling to 50 per cent when British schools break up. There's a maximum of 20% per nationality (excluding the UK) to create a good mix of cultures and to ensure that English is the main camp language.
As a small family-run camp – 110 campers to 30 staff – the camp prides itself on getting to know youngsters individually. Its focus on kindness, positivity and friendship building makes it a warm and welcoming place for even the most nervous newbie.
This listing is made in partnership with Camp Cooper.
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2
PGL Surrey
- Best for adventurous activities on land and water
- Suitable for: 7-17 years; £799 for 7 Nights
PGL – or ‘Parents Get Lost’ as it's affectionately known – is the Big Daddy of summer camp providers with 12 centres across the country, including in Marchants Hill in Surrey, and nearly seven decades of experience in delivering non-stop holiday fun.
Its classic seven-day multi-activity camps offer over 40 activities on land and water, including dance, photography, abseiling, quad biking, and canoeing. Each summer there are new attractions, with SUP and Tag Archery new this year.
PGL has three, four, and seven-night camps, including a first-timer week where all the campers will be newbies.
It also offers specialist camps in surfing, horse riding and cooking, as well as high octane activity camps for this with an unquenchable thirst for adrenalin.
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3
The Outward Bound Trust
- Best for: wild discovery
- Suitable for: 10-22 years (varies for each course, the more intense treks are for older years). Ranges from £699 for 7 Nights to £1,900 for 19 Day expeditions.
The beautiful natural landscapes of Scotland, the Lake District and Wales are the setting for these action-packed outdoor holidays.
Camps range from four night stays in a residential basecamp with overnight wild camping expeditions (for 13 years plus) to a mega 19-day rolling trek for 16-17 year olds conquering mountains, paddling through rivers and sleeping under the stars.
Suitable for 10 years plus, campers at basecamp will spend their day trekking, gorge scrambling, rock climbing, cutter sailing and canoeing.
This is a unique adventure like no other, about as far away as you can get from the distractions of comfortable everyday life.
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4
David Long
Fire Tech
- Best for: techies
- Suitable for: 9-17 years, £595 for in-person week-long courses
Tech-loving kids can get 'under the hood' with summer courses in everything from coding to Minecraft engineering and game design to artificial intelligence.
Set up in 2013 by entrepreneur Jill Hodges when she couldn't find any courses to satisfy her two tech-enthused kids, Fire Tech aims to turn "tech-consumers into tech creators".
Tutors from the UK's top universities teach small class sizes (eight students to one tutor) and keep students engaged with problem solving games, critical thinking challenges and creative projects to ensure they're not simply staring at a screen all day.
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5
Camp Wilderness
- Best for: bushcraft
- Suitable for: 8-14 years; from £360 - 396 for five days depending on the course
From lighting fires and sleeping under the stars to following animal tracks and learning water purification techniques, Camp Wilderness promises to re-wild your child with a real back-to-basics outdoor adventure.
Kids stay for three or five nights in safari-style tented camps in beautiful woodlands, learning a range of bushcraft skills taught by outdoor adventure experts The Bushcraft Company. Shelter building, foraging, bushtucker BBQs, wild swimming, scavenger hunts and cricket are all on the menu and for those with more experience of bush skills, the camp has teamed up with explorer and adventurer Ed Stafford to offer a more advanced survival camp.
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6
XUK
- Best for: thrills and exceptional variety
- Multi-activity camp suitable for: 8-17 years, from £790 - £820 per week
From water zorbing to volleyball, tie-dying to songwriting, XUK has one of the widest range of activities on offer at its multi-activity centre at Dauntsey's School in Wiltshire.
A popular option for international students, the camp offers dozens of sports and water sports, bushcraft skills and numerous electives in media, drama, photography, songwriting, and painting.
There are also options for theme park trips, West End shows and an Aqua Park.
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7
Cambridge School for Visual and Performing Arts
- Best for: visual and performing arts
- Suitable for: 14-18 years; from £1,500 (one week)
The Cambridge School for Visual and Performing Arts (CSVPA) offers educational summer courses in everything from art, filmmaking and fashion to drama, directing and music.
As well as drama, there are musical and physical theatre courses, each with 35+ hours of contact time with professional artists and optional evening excursions and activities.
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8
Nicola Elliott Photography
Wellington Riding School
- Best for: horse riding
- Suitable for: 7-16 years, from £1333-1398
Wellington Riding School offers residential and non-residential holiday camps for horse-mad youngsters. Each child is given a horse to care for and ride over the five-day course.
At the end of the week, there is a competition for all the children involved in various areas, including tack & turnout, a musical ride or dressage, show-jumping, cross country (weather dependent) and games.
Riders need to be able to walk off the lead, rein in walk & trot and starting to learn to canter before joining the course.
Activities include trips to the cinema, swimming, karaoke, and board games in the evening.
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9
Centre Stage Summer School
- Best for: drama
- Suitable for: 8-18-year-olds, from £560 - 605
For over 35 years, this Irish drama group has been hosting budding thespians in the stunning surroundings of Slemish College in County Antrim.
The lovely old Kilmore House is the base for a week of musical theatre, choral poetry, mime, filmmaking, improv, singing and dance.
All teachers are showbiz pros, and the camp prides itself on its family-like atmosphere focusing on eating together and good manners. Rehearsals for the final Saturday show often continue until 10.30 pm - just as well since it’s miles from the nearest village with no TV, patchy wifi and mobiles restricted.
The school will collect children from Belfast or Dublin airports, with a chance to tour the Game of Thrones landscape on the way to camp.
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10
Mill on the Brue
- Best for: life skills
- Suitable for: 8-15 years; £695 a week
Since 1982 Mill on the Brue has been running week-long summer adventure camps for children. Many come back year after year. You can understand why, with a zip line, climbing tower and assault course and a river on the doorstep, this outdoor activity centre set in 25 acres of woods and river valley is ideal for the active adventurer.
The family-run camp focuses on team building and problem-solving with children encouraged to work together to make rafts, cross the river and navigate the assault course. With at least six activities every day, campers will never be bored.
Food is home-cooked fare, primarily grown in the kitchen garden, and accommodation is in bunk-bedded rooms in two large blocks, housing up to 72 kids at a time.
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11
Camp Kernow
- Best for: a digital detox
- Suitable for: 7-14 years; £575 per week
It doesn't get more back to nature than this pioneering off-grid UK summer camp in the heart of the Cornish countryside.
Set in over 200 acres of woodland, streams, hedgerows, lakes and organic farmland, camp attendees sleep out in yurts and tipis in a camp powered entirely by sun and wind energy with composting toilets, a solar-powered water pumping and filtration system, and solar thermal heated showers. Mobile phones stay at home and kids are encouraged to get involved in all aspects of camp life, harvesting fruit and veg from the gardens and helping to prepare meals.
There's a six-day programme of activities: kayaking, a wild wood campout, technical tree climbing, archery, wall climbing, wild food foraging, survival skills, falconry, eco-energy workshops, and firefighting & campfire cooking. There's even a chance to try out traditional crafts, forging a marshmallow toasting fork with a local blacksmith.
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12
Wickedly Wonderful
Best for: beach escapades
Suitable for: 6-14, prices from £575 for multi-activity and sailing camps, £675 for pony camps (4 nights, Mon-Fri)
These tent-based beach courses are the stuff of childhood dreams: pony riding, crabbing, boogie boarding, sandcastle building, sailing and more.
All meals are provided outdoors, and – aside from toasted marshmallows and choc-covered bananas around the beach bonfire – sweets are banned, as are gadgets and fizzy drinks.
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13
Learn and Experience
Best for: cultural mix
Suitable for: 8-16-year-olds from £1248 per week
Expect plenty of water fight championships, campfire nights, murder mysteries and theme nights, all with the gorgeous Yorkshire countryside as a backdrop on this two-week Learn and Experience summer camp.
Around two-thirds of students are international, allowing children to engage and create friendships with peers from around the world. British kids are eligible for several generous scholarships (which are not means-tested) - don't forget to ask!
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14
Young Film Academy Residential Filmmaking and Screen Acting Summer Camp
Culford School , Suffolk- Best for: filmmakers
- Suitable for: 12-17-year-olds, price from £1395 per week
For young people who love films, whether it’s creating them or acting in them, YFA’s all-inclusive Residential Filmmaking and Screen Acting Summer Camp is a dream come true: a chance to eat, sleep and breathe filmmaking. The camp is held at Culford School, one of the UK’s leading boarding schools.
Students divide into two crews: filmmakers & actors, with participants developing specialised skills in their own disciplines through practical exercises, workshops and masterclasses with film industry professionals.
Each week of YFA Summer Camp culminates in a premiere screening of all the completed movies for friends and family in the onsite cinema.
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15
Camp Crusoe
- Best for: Old fashioned fun
- Suitable for: 8-15 years, £575 a week
Now in its fifth year, this small family-run camp is a lesson-free, tech-free week of sheer enjoyment. There are high ropes, circus skills, survival experiences, watersports, archery, drama, handicrafts and a drum circle around the campfire, as well as lots of traditional games for the 80 campers.
Founded by ex-army Jeremy Quarrie and based on his experiences working in American summer camps, Camp Crusoe aims to create a warm, relaxed and fun holiday space where kids can try new experiences and forge friendships. “We’re all about fun and adventure – kids need holiday time as much as they need school!”
Set in a lovely 16th century manor house and geography field trip centre between Exmoor and the Quantock Hills, accommodation is dorm-style with campers grouped by age. International students are limited to 20%.
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