King’s Mill Reservoir’s new outdoor adventure centre opens on Saturday

Old and young people standing in front of a ceremonial ribbon in front of an elevated play areaNottinghamshire County Council chairman, Cllr Richard Butler, prepares to cut the ribbon to officially open Adventures at King’s Mill Reservoir in Sutton-in-Ashfield, watched on by council leader Cllr Ben Bradley MP, Cllr Tracey Taylor, Cllr Keith Girling, and young people from Manor Youth Club in Mansfield Woodhouse.
© Nottinghamshire County Council

A new outdoor adventure centre at Sutton in Ashfield’s King’s Mill Reservoir will open its doors for the first time on Saturday. Adventurers can enjoy facilities including a net park, zip wire, high trek trail and “The Drop” – where thrill seekers can put their courage to the test by taking a leap of faith to land safely on a giant inflatable air bag.

Notts Outdoors, the county’s outdoor environmental education service, runs the centre, known as Adventures. It says that it will “offer an affordable and fun experience” with its diverse range of “high-flying activities for all ages”.

Adventure’s high treks course enables visitors top navigate suspended obstacles high above the ground. The net park is a sprawling network of interconnected nets for adventurous visitors to explore. The 100-metre zip wire is described as being “perfect for adrenaline junkies who’ll be able to soar through the air at break-neck speeds.”

The new outdoor adventure centre will sit alongside one of the country’s leading outdoor education centres for schools and young people – the Mill Adventure Base – as well as a café, boating house and other attractions at the King’s Mill Reservoir.

“The launch of the new Adventures project forms part of the county council’s commitment to improving health and wellbeing in Nottinghamshire’s communities, growing the economy, improving living standards and its tourism offer”, Nottingham County Council said.

“This new venue is hugely exciting for Nottinghamshire, and I was delighted to see for myself the fantastic facilities it has to offer when I and colleagues from the county council visited it recently”, Cllr Tracey Taylor, cabinet member for children and families, said. “It offers an affordable and fun experience to our communities, as well as to those visitors coming to our wonderful county from outside of the area.

“Getting outdoors is great for our health and wellbeing and this venue offers young people and families the opportunity to experience action-packed adventures in the great outdoors.”

The county’s cabinet member for economic development and asset management, Cllr Keith Girling, was on the council’s visit. He said: “Adventures is a fantastic new addition to our tourist offering and forms part of our wider commitment to help grow our economy.

“More visitors coming to Nottinghamshire helps to attract more investment, stimulates growth, and provides more employment opportunities for local people.

“Exciting projects like Adventures are vital in helping us to meet our pledge as part of the council’s 10-year Nottinghamshire plan to strengthen businesses, create better-quality jobs and make our county somewhere people love to live, work and visit.” The cost of activity sessions at Adventures are priced from £12. Further information and online booking are available on the dedicated website: adventures.nottinghamshire.gov.uk.