New owners for Grantown-based award-winning outdoors activity company
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An award-winning outdoor activities centre by Grantown is set to expand after being taken over by a fast-growing specialist in the industry.
Craggan Outdoors based on the outskirts of the town has been acquired by New Forest Activities which is headquartered some 600 miles away by the river Beulieu in Hampshire.
However, whilst distance between the locations may be a stretch, one of the new bosses has said the values, ethos and potential of the two locations is what unites them.
Co-founder Sam Sutton explained: “Our company was born in 2003 with a few canoes and lots of ambition, based out of an old military hut on the Beaulieu River.
“Our mission has always been simple; to provide fun and enlightening experiences to people of all ages and abilities, and to help them make the most of their time in the great outdoors.
“That is the opportunity we hope to deliver here at Craggan Outdoors following on from the fabulous work of Keith Ballam and his team who have created something very special that we will cherish.
“In fact, we’re building the team already, with at least six job roles to fill as we gear up for a busy summer season."
Cairngorms Activities, trading as ‘Craggan Outdoors’ is the second location to be brought into the over-arching National Park Activities group under the ownership of Sam Sutton and co-founder Rich Pearsall this year.
It follows the launch of ‘PaddleTime’ at the National Trust run Buscot and Coleshill Estate on the Thames back in March.
Mr Pearsall said: “Perhaps one positive that the pandemic brought to us all in the UK tourism sector was that more and more people were exploring where they live.
“As such, we made it our mission to find other stunning locations across the UK to offer what we do and that can work in partnership with one another.
“We’re excited about our first site at Buscot developing already and we’ve now brought Craggan Outdoors into the family which has a different offering but a similar mission – fun in the great outdoors.
“We can’t wait to discover and open up even more locations across the UK.
“Of course to do that, we will need people who are just as passionate about canoeing, paddling and just being out on the water and in nature as we are so if that is you, please do consider applying.”
No price for the sale has been disclosed other than it being a six-figure sum. Mr Ballam could not be contacted for comment.
