'This one time, at band camp...'…read more Ah summer. Kids running loose. Parents desperate to get rid of the little blighters so they can do exactly the same. Hello Summer Camp. The UK may be a tad behind on the sending kids off packing to camp thing, but there are still a fair few options out there for you. I should know. I've been to a few. In Cardiff King's Camps runs summer camps and sport and activity day camps at Howell's School, Llandaff, during the Easter and summer school holidays. Howell's is one of the oldest girls' schools in Cardiff and is the perfect venue for a children's summer camp because it offers a great range of sports facilities including the sports hall, swimming pool, tennis courts, activity rooms and outdoor area. Check the website for more info on Scamps (3-5s), Splash - Learn to Swim (3-8s), Kids Camp (3-10s), Michael Vaughan Cricket (5-10s), International Soccer Schools (5-10s), and Teen Camp (11-14s).

To put it very simply, this company is taking advantage of young people who are desperate to travel…read morethe world. Never would I go with them again, it was the absolute worst experience I've ever had with a company. They were terrible from the start and point-blank refused a refund in the middle of a global pandemic. At the beginning, straight after I applied, I got a call from them and I had many questions. It seemed as though they were hurrying me during the call and giving me the answers I wanted to hear. They tried to pressure me into giving my bank card details over the phone (not good). I said I wanted to pay online on my footprints portal and in monthly instalments, they weren't happy about that as they clearly just wanted the whole £600 up front, ASAP. They called me all the time to tried to get me pay all the remaining money ASAP instead of continuing with my monthly instalments. On my initial phone call one of my many questions was wether my availability was ok, they told me that they could be very flexible with the end dates and that my availability 'worked great'. Fast forward about 4 months when I've payed all my instalments, they tell me that my dates didn't work and that I'd have to work at camp longer than I physically could. They also lied to me multiple times about which airport I could fly from, turns out I couldn't fly from Newcastle at all and I'd have to travel hours down to Manchester. And this cost £150 extra just to fly from Manchester instead of London. They also lied to me multiple times about which airport I could fly from, turns out I couldn't fly from Newcastle at all and I'd have to travel hours down to Manchester. And this cost £150 extra just to fly from Manchester instead of London. All the answers to my questions seemed to be an enthusiastic yes until I'd payed all my instalments. A couple weeks later I get a phone call when I'm working, my phone is in the staff room so I can't take the call. When I get out of work I see a message from them saying I had 30 minutes to respond to their message before they booked my flights and if they weren't the ones I wanted I'd be liable for the costs. The message had been sent exactly 40 minutes earlier, as quickly as possible I messaged them back telling them to "STOP" as I needed time to process the information and decide wether these were the ones I wanted. Something they don't tell you is if your visa gets declined then they will cancel your whole application, not only will they not give you a refund but if you've paid them to book your flights, they will FORCE you to give them the money they spent on your flights .You'd think that the extra money you've given them to book your flights will cover the cost of the actual flights but no, that's literally just the cost for them to sit on the computer and complete the booking. For this reason they will deliberately try and book your flights before your visa appointment which they shouldn't do. I was also constantly getting emails saying something like "URGENT ACTION NEEDED, chose your departure airport/date or we will make the decision for you" very stressful for me and unprofessional on their part. Covid happened and my camp said that that they would think about putting our start dates back a little. My camps leader contacted Usa summer camp to inform them that they MAY decide amending the start dates if the situation got any worse. Usa summer camp clearly did not read the email correctly as they emailed us and said our camp was putting back the start dates which meant our flights would have to be rebooked, which obviously wasn't the case. Camp was inevitably cancelled so I asked for a refund, the boarders are closed and I wasn't getting into the US anymore. After many disputes they still said no refund and only offered to defer my application to next year, which I couldn't do anyways. I had to go through insurance to get my money back. side note: I've been finding it really hard to leave reviews about this company anywhere, they got my trust pilot and google reviews taken down, and I assume my facebook ones too because I can't see them anymore. I contacted trust pilot and got that one sorted but I've been silenced on all other platforms.

From the owner: The best summer of your life. That's what we strive to give all of our program's participants…read more We want to share the fun and the friendships of camp with as many people as we can because it's the opportunity of a lifetime. We'll do everything we possibly can to get our participants to camp, and that's our promise. Summer Camp is in our DNA and who better to get people to camp in America than an office full of Camp Counselors?

Birmingham boasts many pretty impressive golf courses. I've played a round or two at Warley Woods…read moreover the years and I am impressed with the course. Beautifully maintained 18 hole course is looked after by a small, dedicated team, some of which are volunteers. There's a Pavilion which is a public building with a cafe offering a delicious breakfast and toilets. It's home to the Club house and golf coaching is offered by resident professional Greg Lynch. Greg takes on individual clients including groups and he occasionally offers drop sessions. There may be a charge so best to check before turning up. The Pavilion is open all year round except Christmas Day.

9-hole golf course really close to the centre of Brum. Nestled just past Bearwood in the middle of…read moreWarley Woods Park, this is a good quality pay-and-play course for all-comers. Also boasts an excellent greasy spoon café for egg and chips on those chillier days. The holes are mostly a decent length with a couple of gentle par 3's and some more demanding 400+ par 4's. The greens are well-groomed and the bunkers pretty well maintained. Not too much rough to go trapsing through, and the hilly lie of the course means you get a good workout, too. At £7.50 to go round, it's well worth a visit.