Testimonials

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We Are Proud Of Our Excellent Testimonials!

WE’RE NUMBER 1 ON TRIPADVISOR FOR ACTIVITIES IN CORNWALL, AND OUR 5 STAR AVERAGE RANKING ON GOOGLE SPEAKS FOR ITSELF!

Don’t just take our word for it though, read some of our customers reviews below…  And if you’ve had a great time with us then please do leave a review on either TripadvisorGoogle or Trustpilot.

Here at Newquay Activity Centre we’ve been lucky enough to welcome national athletes, Hollywood actors, TV stars, town councillors and active military personnel. We love introducing people to the great outdoors and, celebrity or not, the benefits of spending time by the ocean with our award-winning instructors is ever-present.

We’ve also built many relationships with local and global businesses that we are super proud to support and maintain. Most notably is our relationship with one of the largest surf brands in the world – Rip Curl.

Read on to find out a bit more about our sponsors, customers and celebrity visitors!

Rip Curl

Newquay Activity Centre has been sponsored by Australian surf giants Rip Curl since 2005. Our companies’ ethoses align perfectly and we’re stoked to have such a well-established outdoor brand by our side. Having had the ultimate advocates of The Search as our official sponsor over all these years, it’s meant that we’ve been able to supply our customers with the latest and greatest in wetsuit technology each and every season.

As a customer of Newquay Activity Centre, as well as being kitted out in the best wetsuits on the market, you will also receive an exclusive 15% discount at Newquay’s Rip Curl store on Bank Street. Why not treat yourself to some discounted goodies while you’re in town?

Our relationship with Rip Curl has grown from strength to strength and we have exciting plans for the future. See the video to find out more from Rip Curl’s sales manager Sean Harris.

England Rugby Team

In the lead-up to the Rugby World Cup in Japan, Newquay Activity Centre was contacted by the RFU to create a bespoke training package for the England Rugby Team. In association with RAF St Mawgan, we put together a selection of ocean challenges to help test the elite athletes outside of their natural comfort zone.

The players took to the water using rescue tubes, rescue boards and stand up paddleboards during a series of lifeguarding and life saving drills. These challenges took place a world away from the relative comfort of terrafirma, and so the testing nature of the ocean was an ideal platform to display their teamwork.

The aim was to test their mental and physical strength and coach Eddie Jones was impressed with the results. The overall process helped towards the team selection for the Rugby World Cup and we think that the Newquay coastline played its own special part.

To cap the day off, the team were picked up for an adrenaline-fuelled ride on Odyssey Marine’s 200hp RIB jet boat! Watch the England Rugby Team’s day out on Towan beach in the video below.

Mayor Louis Gardiner

As part of our development programme and for a fresh start in 2021, Newquay Activity Centre moved premises to one of the most desirable and up-and-coming areas of the town centre – Fore Street. Our purpose-designed HQ is now ideally located within walking distance to Towan Beach, Fistral Beach, Newquay Bay as well as the bustling town centre itself.

To help cut the red ribbon for our grand opening, we invited a few special guests including Councillor and Newquay Town Mayor Louis Gardiner. We were proud to welcome such an important figure of the Newquay area and delighted to share his enthusiasm for local businesses in the vicinity. The Mayor made these comments during his warm visit:

“It’s absolutely fantastic to see a Newquay based business expanding in such uncertain times. Newquay Activity Centre is a real success story of the town, employing local people and supporting the local economy. I’m sure that with their new premises they will go from strength to strength”.

RAF St Mawgan

Our relationship with the military dates back many years and we’re proud to have a solid partnership with the local RAF base at St Mawgan. Newquay Activity Centre share’s the military’s core values of teamwork, camaraderie, adventure and self-confidence and we believe the ocean is a fantastic place to build these aspects.

Throughout the years we have also developed many bespoke training adventure days for military personnel. With the help of our ex-forces office manager Hannah, we have been able to create and deliver adventure training along the coastline of Newquay to challenge even the most elite teams in the country.

For our relocation grand opening in 2021, our esteemed guests and good friends included RAF Wing Commanders Jolyon Goodwin and Marshall Kinnear. Wing Commander Goodwin had this to say about Newquay Activity Centre:

“Newquay Activity Centre has provided the RAF’s Robson Resilience Centre, located at RAF St Mawgan, with fantastic support in recent years offering programmes that will help develop leadership, interpersonal skills and resilience. It’s great to see the centre going from strength to strength and we look forward to a continuing relationship.”

Terri Hatcher

The UK’s surf capital doesn’t just attract excited frothers and nomadic campervan owners, it also has a special place in the heart of Hollywood actresses! During the summer of 2018, Desperate Housewives and The New Adventures of Superman star Teri Hatcher paid us a visit for a surf lesson with a celebrity twist.

Teri was in the UK, and more specifically Cornwall, whilst filming her YouTube series Van Therapy. Teri was a huge fan of the Cornish coast and after taking to her first lesson like a pro, she came back for a second day of surfing with Newquay Activity Centre!

“Cornwall is so beautiful and I am so excited to be here. I’m shooting my YouTube series for the first time outside of the US and I can’t wait to get started.”

Jason Bradbury

Jason Bradbury, star of the Gadget Show and expert extraordinaire in all things tech is a regular visitor of ours. Originally teaming up with us to do the first ever ‘Drone Bodyboarding experiment’ for his Youtube channel and since working with us on a number of other exciting projects. It’s been great to welcome Jason and his family to surf, bodyboard, SUP and Coasteer with us.

Media Coverage

Check Out Our Excellent Feedback Comments From Many Of The Uk’s Top Media Sources

“Training centres such as Rob Barber’s Located at Fistral welcome all skill levels”

Men's Fitness

Nathan Ditum
– Men’s Fitness

“It was the most insane, radical, extreme experience I’ve ever had! All joking aside I had a fantastic time and Rob got me riding on my 6th wave. Thanks!”

BBC Radio 1

Carrie (news reader)
– BBC Radio 1

Micheal The Guardian

“Fistral beach, an easier, cheaper and safe starting point for learning to bodyboard and this beach is Britain’s surfing capital, provides the best local spot.”

The Guardian Newspaper

Michael
– The Guardian

Kate Spicer Style

“Rob Barber is a guru for the realists who have given up the dream of being the next Kelly Slater and have taken up the instant and rewarding buzz of bodyboarding. On a family bodyboarding safari Rob Barber improved our skills and finessed our style; Brendan had my learning disabled brother catching waves. This was a day none of us will ever forget. Proper priceless family harmony, chuckles and joy. Try achieving that on a surfboard. Skills are high and the attitude is low from teachers at the Bodyboarding School. Even the surfers in our family loved learning about bodyboarding. Everyone who enjoys riding waves should do a bit of time with Rob.”

Sunday Times Style

Kate Spicer
– Sunday Times Style

Lisa Scott Metro

“But when I finally catch one, it’s a euphoric feeling giving me the confidence to seriously consider taking up the sport.”

Metro

Lisa Scott
– Metro

“After a couple of failed attempts to catch a wave, Aidan showed me some personal attention. My finest moment in the waves was the first time I rode a wave all the way to the shore”

The Sun

Emily Payne
– The Sun

Nathan Ditum Front Magazine

“Rob, the English surf-team coach, is around to show us the ropes. Within minutes he’s run through the basic manoeuvres and got us catching four-foot waves.”

Front Magazine

Nathan Ditum
– Front Magazine

AntonySattin-SundayTimes

“It is one of those experiences, like first-time sex and driving at great speed, which will stay in the memory. There is a burst of power, a surging, swelling roar of water, a rush of adrenalin and I hurtle towards the shore on the crest of a wave, moved beyond my usual element, mixing water and air, where are the cameras? Where are the lights? Because I’ve got the action.”

Sunday Times

Antony Sattin
– The Sunday Times

“This was it: what hooks you and drives you to the beach in the rain and shine. Exhilarated and breathless I joined Rob on the beach. We ended on a high.”

Coast Magazine

Miranda Krestovnikoff
– Coast Magazine

John Bentley The Gadget Show

“Under Rob’s expert guidance I managed to catch an amazing ride back to the shore, with the waves crashing around me I got some great waves, one in particular was an absolute belter, it was brilliant!”

The Gadget Show

John Bentley
– The Gadget Show

“You can see how people get hooked on this! Even though I had done relatively no bodyboarding in the past I had some amazing moments! Rob my coach was undoubtedly competent with his two decades of coaching that enabled me to succeed.”

The Observer

William Cook
– The Observer

Lisa Scott This Is Cornwall

“Rob has helped me loads, but specifically in my competition surfing, and in nailing certain manoeuvres. The video analysis sessions are an excellent way to see what you are doing wrong, or how to improve certain aspects of your riding.”

This Is Cornwall

Lisa Scott
– This Is Cornwall

“After six days of surfing, beachside yoga and a whole lot of fun, I’m feeling fit and invigorated. I’ve come a long way. I’m braver, I can catch a wave and I’ve made at least one lifelong surf-buddy. Bodyboarding? I’d say it’s ‘totally sick’…”

Zest Magazine

Jane Labous
– Zest Magazine

Gary Weeks Daily Mirror

“The beaches around Newquay in Cornwall offer some of the best year-round surf in the world, bodyboarding is fast gaining popularity as it’s easier and more accessible than its sister sport of surfing, Rob Barber and his team will show you how.”

Daily Mirroc

Gary Weeks
– Daily Mirror

Rebecca Scott Newquay Voice

“The atmosphere is perfect, bodyboarding is a minority sport and this is a chance to meet like-minded people. You get less benefits surfing on your own, when you bodyboard with more people your confidence grows and you progress, the instruction really works.”

Newquay Voice

Rebecca Stott
– Newquay Voice

“Bodyboard instruction will see you progress fast, you’ll be out back catching the unbroken swells, before you know it you’ll score your first tube ride.”

Surfgirl

Louise Searle
– Surfgirl

“‘Paddle!’ shouts Rob. It seems to me that I hang for a moment on the crest of the wave, suspended above the drop – it’s only about five foot but it looks enormous. Gosh, I think, peering down and then I’m off, me and my board divvying down the cool blue edge of the wave. I can feel its contours, every change and movement of it. It’s a wonderful feeling like being part of the wave itself.”

Cornish Guardian

Jane Labous
– Cornish Guardian

“I paddle further into the clear water as kittiwakes wheel overhead. A grey seal pops his glistening head just metres from me, before retreating beneath the ripples.
Sea Kayaking allows you to experience from a different perspective. Paddling up to ancient rock faces that walkers and most tourists don’t see”

The Times

Will Hide
– The Times

“As featured in Lonely Planet’s Make It Happen guide to Cornwall Lonely Planet Traveller, September 2017”

Lonely Planet

Jane Labous
– The Lonely Planet

“NAC organises snorkel stand up paddle board adventures around the Gazzel which is such a beautiful and dramatic stretch of coastline. In the capable hands of our instructor, my wife and I were given guidance on how to manoeuvre the board close to the waters edge so there was no prior experience necessary”

Newquay Voice

Warren Wilkins
– Newquay Voice