Pendragon Project, an award-winning social enterprise that delivers innovative team building adventures and games, has announced that it will be opening a new site in early 2024, with bookings being taken now.
From January 2024, groups will be able to take on espionage thriller The Hunt: Rogue Agent an outdoor escape and evade scavenger game set in the spectacular 5,000-acre, 18th century Stanmer Park estate in Sussex, close to Brighton, widely regarded as being the gateway to the South Downs National Park.
Teams of 2 to 100 players will become secret agents working collaboratively to retrieve hidden intelligence and complete their mission objectives, all whilst evading capture from a team of specialist Hunters who are trying to track them down.
The new location will support Pendragon Project’s mission to fund outdoor adventure expeditions for young people aged 17-25 who are facing complex transitions to adulthood. This includes young people who are care experienced, seeking asylum, at risk of exploitation or homelessness or facing multiple challenges that make their lives more difficult.
Building on the success of their original site in the Peak District, all profits from bookings will directly fund this cause, supporting disadvantaged young people to access the opportunities outdoor adventure provides, including building confidence, enhancing wellbeing, and developing transferable leadership and team collaboration skills. Young people also take part in a digital detox and must hand over their devices for the week, giving them a much needed break from the online world and a chance to forge meaningful connections with each other.
Alongside The Hunt, Pendragon Project will be offering their other flagship activity Showgame, an interactive team gameshow for 9-100 players. Brought to a location of a customer’s choice, the Pendragon Project team will transform any space into a gameshow studio and guide players through a series of hilarious rounds inspired by tv classics and a host of original rounds personalised to the group.
Pendragon Project specialises in working with large groups and corporate clients to deliver high-impact, bespoke activities for work teams and special occasions such as Stag and Hen parties. Alongside The Hunt and Showgame, they offer a ‘Create Your Own Adventure’ service where they work with clients to build a completely bespoke activity based on an original concept and team objectives.
They have also unveiled plans for their most immersive experience yet: Race Across The Downs, which will involve teams embarking on an epic race to the finish across the South Downs National Park. They will have to navigate their route through checkpoints with only basic equipment, a tiny budget and no smartphones.
For schools, youth groups and local authorities Pendragon Project delivers Adventure Camps for young people. The camps are fully bespoke and will be tailored to deliver the agreed outcomes, including skills development such as navigation and bushcraft, and participating in Pendragon Project’s team adventure activities.
The Pendragon Project is a unique British adventure company as it is a not-for-profit Certified Social Enterprise, supported by the Prince’s Trust. All bookings directly fund Pendragon’s expeditions with young people aged 17-25 who are facing complex transitions to adulthood.
Since their launch in 2021, Pendragon Project has delivered three adventure treks in the Peak District that were fully funded using profits from their commercial team building adventures. The treks lasted five days and included trekking over 40km on challenging terrain, carrying rucksacks, and making camps. Participants received training in camp skills, dynamic risk assessments, trail walking, navigation and bushcraft and survival skills. They also took part in campfire storytelling and musical workshops, and adventure activities including a high ropes assault course. To date, Pendragon Project has worked with over 40 young people.
The Pendragon Project was founded by Laura Bryon and her partner Adam Young in the Peak District in 2021. They met running international youth development expeditions in Malaysian Borneo. During that time, they became passionate advocates for using experiential learning in wild spaces to build skills and foster connections to each other and the planet. However, they noticed that young people facing complex transitions to adulthood and those experiencing compounded disadvantages were massively underrepresented.
The idea for the Pendragon Project was born and Laura and Adam decided to return to the UK to set up a social enterprise that would harness the power of adventure to provide opportunities for young people in the UK, especially those experiencing complex transitions to adulthood. They combined their love of games and adventure with their team building and facilitation skills to create the immersive ‘Team Adventure’ products that fund their youth expeditions.
The company has experienced incredible growth since launch. In its second year alone, The company saw a 268% increase in turnover and a 112% increase in bookings and has hosted teams from organisations such as Rolls Royce, NHS, GymShark, EQANS, Balfor Beatty, Fieldfisher, Sheffield University, and Loughborough University.
“We are so excited to be launching the Pendragon Project in the South Downs, and we’re very fortunate to have secured Stanmer Park. It is the perfect location, with the space, terrain, and natural beauty that our immersive adventures require,” explains Laura Bryon, co-founder of the Pendragon Project.
“We expect our experiences to be just as popular as they have been in the Peak District. They’re exciting, they’re highly strategic, and use humour to bring teams together as they work through different challenges, and they get you out into areas of the British countryside that you probably haven’t seen before. They are unique, memorable experiences that teams can enjoy while knowing that they are also helping fund outdoor experiences for young people and helping them experience the proven health and wellbeing benefits that spending time in nature provides.”
Bookings for the South Downs are now open via the Pendragon Project website. For more information and to book please visit www.pendragonproject.org.