Walking holidays English Lake District, Yorkshire Dales, Ireland

Corporate days out

Why?

There are two main reasons for you, as an employer, to offer a day out, away from the stresses of the office:

for employees to spend time together outside the work place - sometimes called "bonding sessions" ; and
to provide a positive experience for employees of companies with whom you do business - a chance to get to know clients and associates better, and to promote links between colleagues from different organisations who may have to work together - usually referred to as "networking."

The important thing with both these is that people have the chance to get to know each other and to interact.

What often happens:

Some companies offer days out at sporting events, meals out and activities such as paint balling and other social events. These are fine, but they do present some disadvantages:

Interaction between people, which is what we are trying to promote, is often hampered by the activity itself - you can't easily talk to someone whilst you are paint balling, for example.
Attendance at a sporting event is liable to be dominated by the event itself, rather than encouraging people to communicate with each other.
And many of these events are simply very expensive.

The Knobbly Stick proposal:

"Thanks very much for organising Friday. I thought the whole day was fantastic, the route, duration, difficulty etc were all perfect. We will definitely make this an annual event." Mr A Outhwaite, Eversheds LLP, Manchester.

We believe that no activity promotes people getting to know each other as much as simply taking a walk in the countryside. The north of England is particularly blessed with places where people can go to "get away from it all" and yet be only a short distance from rail connections or motorway access. If we couple with this the chance for people to have a few drinks together, and enjoy a good meal, we believe that a lot can be achieved in terms of colleagues and associates enjoying themselves, feeling good about themselves and returning to work in a positive frame of mind.

What our events consist of:

We offer 3 main formulas:

Arrive in the morning, spend the day with us exploring the countryside and hills of either the Lake District or the Yorkshire Dales, have a drink (non-drivers only!) and leave for home.
Arrive late afternoon/ early evening, have a drink, and have dinner together. (If you would like a "pub quiz" or similar activity after dinner, we can do that if you wish.) The next day, we meet you for a day out. Party returns home early evening.
As above, but the party has 2 hotel nights and 2 evening meals and breakfasts and leaves early morning the day after the walking day.

We can, of course, offer longer events by arrangement, and we can combine within the event a day in a conference room for any seminar or professional development that you may wish to undertake.

Our walks:

Of course, not everyone is keen to do a long walk, but most people are happy to get some fresh air. Therefore, we won't insist that everyone does the same route - we'll have an easy and a more demanding option. We'll have plenty of stops along the way for photos, drinks etc, or simply to admire the view. The idea is to let people de-stress and enjoy themselves, not to challenge them - unless you tell us that that's what you want!

We believe that this kind of activity is unrivalled in allowing people to get to know each other and to mix in a relaxed and yet fairly structured environment.

You will all have your own requirements, so give us a call (01539 737576,) tell us what you want and we'll arrange it. Alternatively, contact us by email.