Whether it is a team building exercise you want or to improve your driving skills, 4x4 off-roading is the latest thing.
Weston & Worle News news editor Juliet Auty was invited to take a trip up hill and down dale in a Land Rover Defender to experience first hand the thrills of going off-road.

The closest I have ever been to off-roading is driving in to a make-shift car park in a field at Priddy Sheep Fair - so when I was offered this chance, I jumped at it.

High Action, the company which runs Avon Ski Centre and the riding school out at Churchill, has launched it as a new attraction.

I have to say, though, my enthusiasm was dampened at the point where instructor Alex Rutherford had the Land Rover Defender almost on its side as he drove up a grass bank at a 35 degree angle.

As the ground rushed up to meet me I wondered if it would not have been a better idea to get one of the reporters to do this feature.

Alex assured me as long as the centre of gravity of the vehicle is above the point of balance we would stay upright. He said we could go as far as 37 degrees. I told him 35 was enough.

Unwilling to show I was nervous, I struggled on with my note-taking as the vehicle returned to a more level position and we began our tour of the track.

Alex is one of two instrucors working with High Action to show people what you can and cannot do off-road.

They are creating a series of hills, dips, ridges, side slopes and tracks around 50 or so acres.

Stone has been brought in to help create some of the features but the rest have been made using the trees, soil, wood and rubble already on the land.

"It has been so wet since December we have only managed to clear a bit of the area using a JCB and a digger," Alex said.

"I love driving. And this is one element of it with a degree of skill and something which I happen to be good at.

"The one thing you should never be frightened of is getting stuck because that is when you discover what you can and cannot do."

At the end of our tour, I have to admit I was grinning like a madwoman. Alex is a skilled and safe driver who showed me that off-roading is great fun and not nearly as scary as I thought.

I even got to have a quick go at the end although I stayed on level land. It has given me a taste for more. Alex says women often make better learners because we don't go in assuming we know it all - so he had better be prepared; I'll be back.

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