UK Kayaking/Southwater Watersports Centre

We had our son’s 12 birthday party outing here to do some stand up paddle boarding and it was excellent. Six 12 year olds were easily entertained/occupied/worn out(!) by a really lovely instructor and we would highly reccomend it.

They give you a wetsuit, and instructors are friendly and work with all ages and all abilities. Recommended for parties as there is a space outside the centre for picnics. There is a cafe nearby and showers available.

Don't bother trying to visit their shop. Website said during September shop open at weekends. Turned up today to purchase new paddles for our kayak. Young, helpful but uninformed staff told us the manager had the key to the shop but they never see the manager and don't have contact details for him. A wasted 40 mile round trip and will spend our money elsewhere

Really well organised, first time paddle boarding and really enjoyed it, lovely surroundings

Quite a good place for a family to have a go at watersports as there's changing facilities, cafe etc. However my Sister in law and niece as complete newcomers to SUP were just given a board to have a go on with no instruction or guidance on how to stand up. The paddle for the niece was far too short as well which became obvious once she had got the hang of standing. It's a pity that the place was staffed by youngsters that probably hadn't been given the right training and cared little.

Update: since posting my review, the company have issued a full refund, and explained the postage cost involves packaging, thus resolving the issue, so I’ve changed the rating accordingly.

I ordered a cag from the website, paying £10 for the postage; the postage label on the package when it arrived was only £5.05, the standard price for a small parcel, so why are they charging so much? To add to my annoyance, the cag appeared to be old stock. It only somewhat resembled the image of the one on the website, and on top of that, a lot of the waterproof taping had started to come undone inside the jacket. I can only imagine it had been sitting in storage for a long time.

I emailed the store to complain and received a reply stating that the jacket was an older model than the one pictured on the site, and that I could return it for an exchange or keep it and receive a partial refund. I replied suggesting a partial refund would be acceptable, however after some research I discovered that re-taping was going to be quite expensive, and after not hearing back for several days, I emailed again asking to return the cag for a full refund, only to receive a somewhat terse reply saying that I’d already agreed to the partial refund.

Despite having a statutory right to return damaged goods, the chap who had been emailing me followed up his email very shortly afterwards, saying he’d processed the partial refund, not even allowing me time to respond.

Being overcharged for postage, receiving an item different to what I’d ordered which was also damaged, and then being treated in quite a dismissive manner is really poor form. In the end I could tell I wasn’t going to get anywhere with the guy, so I just accepted the partial refund. I’m now stuck with a cag that isn’t entirely fit for purpose.

This was a best experience for us grand parents and our 3 grand children. Good equipment, great instructions far more than we were expecting. Adrian and his team are well worth a visit, they also have a similar set up at Tilgate Park, we haven't been yet but we will be going when the weather picks up. Well worth the 5 Star rating.

I am awarding 5 stars because southbourne provide all watercraft and accessories of a high standard! Their kayaking is absolutely brilliant and courses and experiences they run are amazing! I’d highly recommend for anyone who wants to get out the house and go sailing! Very very very fun! I’d highly recommend if you love kayaking as the kayaking is great! They have a range of amazing watercraft that you can hire and honestly it is so worth it!