Quad biking is some of the best, messiest fun you can have in the countryside. After a thorough safety briefing you'll get kitted out in protective clothing and be introduced to your quad. To start off with you'll be driving on level ground round a marked circuit while you get a feel for the quad. As you gain experience - and bottle - you'll be able to shift up a gear and soon you'll be power sliding round the turns like you were born on the bike. Then take off on a quad safari for a taste of what quad biking is really about, venturing across woodland tracks, through water and up and down slopes, with your instructors keeping a close eye on you all the way. You will get mud spattered, but can hand in those overalls at the end. The bikes are usually Honda 250ESs - a utility machine with five forward gears operated by electric thumb shift - or Sportrax 90s - smaller, sports-tuned quads.

Blow away the cobwebs with avengeance with a full-on day powerboating around the English South coast. You start with a safety briefing and introduction to both Honda and Hypercat boats. After you have changed into your safety gear and racing team kit, head out onto the water with an expert driver in a Honda Formula 4-Stroke (HF4S) championship boat - surely one of the most exciting offshore powerboat series in the world. Your expert driver (usually a current or veteran racer) will put the boat through her paces while you hang on tight. You'll get tuition in how to handle the boat and about 15 minutes of hands-on driving (at the skipper's discretion). Break for lunch (not included) and prepare to go back on the water to whizz round in a Suzuki Hypercat, one of the fastest production powerboats going. Learn how to control the boat at speeds up to 60mph, then as you head out into open water there's an opportunity to have a go at driving. The perfect combination for a thrilling day!

Enjoy life on the ocean wave with an introduction to three fun-packed watersports activities in this family experience. First up it's dinghy sailing and the chance to helm your own boat. With expert instruction you will be off in a matter of minutes and whether you plan to glide across the water or crash through ocean swells, you'll have great fun in these little boats. If you managed not to capsize in those, then move on to getting wet! After a quick lesson on the dry land simulator, go out on the windsurfers, combining style with speed as you race across the water (or combining chaos with flailing limbs as you fall in ungracefully!). After lunch move onto the kayaks. These are great fun, anyone can do it... and if it's that easy to get going, then it's the perfect vehicle to challenge your family to a race!

Your experience takes place at this beautiful spa within an atmosphere of calm and tranquillity. The three hour massage workshop will teach you and your partner massage techniques that can be used on the whole family. To start, the session will include head, neck, shoulders, foot and hand massage for which you will be fully clothed. For the last part of your experience, you and your partner are allocated a private room (so modesty can be respected at all times) in which you will be taught to give a relaxing back massage with massage oil. Mineral water and fruit tea are available throughout your experience. You will also be given a bottle of massage oil so you can continue your practise at home. The art of touch - it's worth doing well and this experience is an excellent opportunity to learn from the experts.

You know how most James Bond films include at least one great chase down a river? This experience is your chance to have a go at driving the sorts of boats Bond uses (just without the hail of bullets). You'll start off with a safety briefing and an introduction to the boats, and then have a two-hour session in the OSY Hydroplanes. Driven either kneeling or lying down, these are the go-karts of the powerboat world - small, fast and terrific fun. After a hot buffet lunch you'll receive a short briefing on the boats that you'll be driving in the afternoon. Then you'll be back on the water, trying out Formula 4 and 5 catamarans and T850 and T750 monohulls - all of which are race-prepared, high-performance single-seater boats powered by outboard engines. Finish the day with tea, and collect your certificate and souvenir T-shirt. The day is organised by a world speed record holder, so you'll be in excellent hands, Mr Bond.

Cars? Cars are for wimps! If you want to drive something really amazing it's got to be a powerboat, if possible one that goes at speeds up to 125mph and powers along at such a rate that it flies above the surface of the water - no chance of a car doing that. With our powerboat experience you'll go out in the Hypercat, one of the fastest production powerboats in the world. Built in California, the boat is amazingly graceful and incredibly manoeuvrable. You'll start off with a safety briefing and introduction to the boat - with its hull the same as a class 1 powerboat, she rides on a cushion of air providing a fast, yet comfortable ride. Your crew will usually be veteran powerboat racing champions who know how to get the best out of the Hypercat. You'll learn how to control the boat at speeds up to 60mph, then as you head out into open water there's an opportunity to have a go at driving - that should blow a few cobwebs away.

Splice the main brace, shiver me timbers and other such nautical nonsense... there'll be none of that on this experience, which offers an introduction to sailing in a friendly and informal atmosphere aboard the 34ft yacht Half Nelson. It's great fun - exhilarating and relaxing at the same time, and the best way to experience the beauty and freedom of the open sea. After coffee, biscuits and a safety briefing, your Yachtmaster skipper will introduce you to the basics of sailing and in no time at all you'll be sailing down to the Hamble or Cowes. After a lunch break ashore you'll be back on the water, and if you're feeling energetic you can put theory into practice and take an active part in the afternoon's sailing on the Solent or Southampton Water. If you'd rather, you can just sit back in the cockpit and let the crew do the hard work while you relax and enjoy an afternoon at sea. All refreshments aboard are also included. All in all a very civilised approach to a wonderful pastime.

Step into the state-of-the-art kitchen studio owned by Giancarlo and Katie Caldesi of BBC2's Return to Tuscany for a mouth-watering experience. Learn how to create delicious Italian dishes to wow friends and family - even if your culinary prowess extends no further than boiling an egg! On arrival, enjoy tea or coffee and biscotti or a glass of Prosecco and freshly made Focaccia. Then the chef will demonstrate the antipasti and seasonal pasta dishes you're going to prepare. Pay attention, it's your turn next - get your aprons on and your hands dirty creating your very own Italian masterpieces. Friendly, expert advice and help is on hand throughout, and once everything is cooked, reap the rewards of your hard work by sitting down to enjoy your creations in the light, airy kitchen seated area. Your meal also includes a great-tasting half bottle of Italian wine, chosen to complement your food perfectly. Water, tea and coffee are available all day, and you'll also take home a free gift.

21st century living is all about comfort and cosiness - often our idea of adventure is ordering a different takeaway. But we were designed to be capable of much more! Leave the mod-cons at home and rediscover your survival instincts with a weekend in the wild. Say hello to your fellow survivors as you sort out equipment preparation and get some initial instruction. You'll then set off together across a 500 acre site on an awareness walk using a map and compass, with training in all sorts of survival techniques - learn about edible plants, survival medicine, firelighting, skinning food (oh yes, this is proper survival), food preparation, collecting water and navigation. You'll build your own shelter - make it a good one, you'll be spending the night in it - before preparing your meal and cooking it over an open fire. Then bed down in your shelter for the night in the wilderness. Learn more survival techniques on Sunday and enjoy a survival-style Sunday lunch to wrap up your weekend.

Rediscover your sense of adventure (and what it's like to be soaked to the skin) with this white water rafting experience in an inflatable raft. You and your friends will be rafting on either the Tryweryn, a steep and rocky mountain river in north Wales, or the mighty River Tay in Scotland. You'll start by being kitted out with all the equipment (note: this is not an experience for the style-conscious!), before a full safety briefing and instruction in rafting techniques. Then an experienced guide will take you onto the water for a series of runs down the twists, turns and drops of the white water course, building up your confidence (and getting wetter and wetter) with each run. You can get your breath back and enjoy some beautiful scenery during the odd quiet spell between white water. The UK's white water grading system starts at one (relaxed) and goes up to six (too rough to offer commercially). As a guide, the Tryweryn course is graded 3 and the River Tay course is graded 1-3.

Rediscover your sense of adventure - and what it's like to be soaked to the skin! Canyoning is a truly all-round adventure experience, following a natural water course through a precipitous canyon. To start off with you'll have a safety briefing with your instructor and get kitted out with the right equipment. Then after a short walk to the top of the beautiful Allt' a Bhealaich Gorge, you'll follow the natural water course down through the gorge, descending waterfalls, sliding down natural water flumes, scrambling down gorges and jumping into deep, clear rock pools. In some sections you'll use harnesses and ropes to get down, all safely controlled by your instructor. This is a challenging, exciting and very physical experience and you might get a few bumps along the way, but there's a path running along the length of the canyon, so no part of the descent is compulsory - you can always take the path instead.

Looking for something different for the family? If the cobwebs have been gathering while you've been getting on with the nine-to-five, we guarantee that speeding round the south coast in a powerboat will blow them all away! It's wet, it's windy, and much more fun than the gym. The Honda Formula 4-Stroke championship is the most exciting offshore powerboat series in the world - these boats are responsive, manoeuvrable and so fast that they fly over the surface. You'll start off with a safety briefing and an introduction to the boat, then it's time to get changed into your safety gear and racing team kit. You and your family will head out onto Southampton water with an expert driver, usually a current or veteran racer, who'll put the boat through her paces while you hang on tight. You'll get tuition in how to handle the boat, and then about 15 minutes hands-on driving (at the skipper's discretion). The boat operates within Southampton Water and, weather permitting, out onto the Solent.