Lakeside Bootcamp Holiday: Open Water Swimming, Fell Running & Paddleboarding

The week runs on a flexible programme rather than a fixed schedule, which is unusual for a bootcamp-style holiday. When you book, you tell the team what you want from the trip — weight loss, general fitness, open water confidence, a specific event you're training for — and they assemble the activity blocks accordingly. Sessions are led by fitness trainers and specialist instructors, so the swimming coaching comes from someone who swims open water, and the mountain biking is led by someone who rides the trails locally.

Open water swimming is the strongest single thread. They offer wild swimming introductory courses for people who've never swum outside a pool, progressing to longer river swims for those with experience. Wetsuits and safety cover are part of how they run it. Alongside that, the water is used for kayaking, canoeing, sailing and stand-up paddleboarding, with equipment bookable in advance. If you're training for a triathlon, the combination of open water swims plus road biking plus fell running gives you a genuine multi-sport week.

On land, the options include fell running (guided, on local trails), mountain biking, road biking and hiking. There are also the less obvious activities — clay pigeon shooting and archery — which tend to be the ones people remember, plus yoga and shiatsu for recovery in the evenings. The mix means a group of mixed abilities can train together without anyone being left behind, because people can split into different activities during the day.

What separates this from a standard fitness camp is the range. A typical day might start with a lake swim, move into a bike session after breakfast, and finish with yoga before dinner — or you might spend the whole day on the water. It's not a results-guaranteed weight loss programme with daily weigh-ins; it's a training holiday where you get coached, fed and given access to a lot of equipment and terrain in one place.

The team describes themselves as bringing together professionals to help you reach the next stage of fitness, and the structure reflects that: rather than one head coach running everything, different specialists cover different disciplines. Accommodation and full catering are part of the package, and the setting is deliberately chosen for the surroundings — trails, water and open countryside on the doorstep rather than a gym studio in a town.

What's included

- Accommodation on site for the duration of the holiday - Healthy meals to fuel training - Fitness training sessions led by qualified trainers - Open water swimming courses, from introductory wild swimming to river swimming - Fell running sessions - Mountain biking sessions - Road biking sessions - Kayaking and canoeing - Sailing - Hiking - Clay pigeon shooting - Archery - Yoga sessions - Shiatsu sessions - Specialist instructors for each activity

What's not included

- Travel to and from the retreat - Travel insurance - Personal expenses - Additional pre-booked equipment hire beyond the programme - Any spa or external treatments not listed - Alcohol and extra snacks outside meal times