The South West boasts plenty of country sport activities and breaks and a dedicated country sports consumer website is helping to support and promote this vital rural sector in the region.
The website is one element of a £1.6million Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) project, which aims to establish the South West as a premier country sports destination.
The website www.countrysportssouthwest.co.uk welcomes both experienced and beginner country sport visitors who want to find a country sporting activity or holiday in the South West. It contains a country sport activity search listing key country sport businesses around the region. The website includes information about activities including game and coarse fishing, game shooting, deer stalking, clay pigeon shooting, falconry and horse riding.
There are also country accommodation listings including B&Bs, hotels, self-catering and camping and caravanning options where country sports are available either on-site or nearby. There is an ‘inspire me’ section for those looking for ideas along with articles explaining how to start out shooting, fishing and riding; what to wear and what to expect plus game recipes and a news and offers section.
The country sports team has been out and about throughout the year attending county shows and the national CLA Game Fair promoting the region and meeting farmers and consumers. The team also gave out a range of country sport competition prizes to help to promote this tourism experience for the region.
Annette Cole, senior country sports manager, said:
“The South West is well known for its fantastic coastline. However this project is about bringing the visitor experience inland particularly outside the main tourism season, which will help to generate new tourism economies for the rural areas.
“The website is unique to the South West and contains all the information visitors need to plan their country sports break, from fishing to shooting and riding. The site is aimed at both experienced and novice country sports visitors who are looking to try something new. It also contains lots of ideas including falconry, game cookery courses, night sea-trout fishing and taster days. This project is focused on our rural tourism product and we want to position the South West as a premier destination for country sports.”
Country Sports South West is an initial three year project to ensure that the South West region, which is renowned for its unique landscape and countryside, becomes a premier tourism destination for country sports and celebrated for its local game and fish. The new project aims to improve the visitor experience and participation in country sports while creating sustainable rural tourism businesses which can respond to future challenges and exploit new opportunities.
Development officers are currently working with a number of rural businesses around the region advising about the country sports sector. This has involved offering advice about potential match-funded investments from the project, helping with organising networking opportunities, offering expert training, organising shoot and fishing development plans, linking businesses to various country sports marketing promotion and much more.
Rural tourism businesses are being invited to make contact with the Country Sports South West team to find out about potential business investments, supplier matching, website listings and much more.
Email: info@countrysportssouthwest.co.uk or call: 01823 480 938.
The Country Sports South West £1.6 million project is one of the Rural Development Programmes for England (RDPE) jointly funded by the EU and DEFRA in partnership with the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) and the Westcountry Rivers Trust (WRT).
ENDS