We welcome Rob into the bosom the PV office

Waaaay back in September we advertised for a new post at PV...for that 'special person' to come and join us in the office and share the thrills and spills of our day to day lives; the coffee, the cakes, and all that malarkey.

Well, after 50 application forms, a job seminar attended by 20 potentials, and then a gruelling interview process (arm wrestling, push ups and some very tricky questions) we've found someone we hope will be just the ticket!

Here he is, our Rob - with Sophie and Libby, all looking very chipper and excited about getting on with it all in January. Yay! Welcome Rob, we're sure you're so going to love working with all these crazy women in the PV office :)

Sophie, Rob and Libby all looking excited about 2010, and also about the lovely new pool table lights that Nick made - go Nick!

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what to wear coasteering...what not to wear coasteering

Public information posters from Preseli Venture...

What to wear for surfing
What to wear for sea kayaking

What to wear for coasteering

What not to wear...ever

VisitBritain coasteers with Preseli Venture

Last Saturday, despite the wind and the rain, a valiant group of VisitBritain staff from all over the world braved the conditions to discover the joys of coasteering on the Pembrokeshire coastline.

Here's are some piccies of our audacious crew:

and there are more on the Preseli Venture eco lodge and adventures facebook page. Thanks for coming along to see us VisitBritain, hope that you enjoyed your Wales trip, and come see us again sometime soon :)

Preseli Venture in Parklife!

Preseli Venture in Parklife! um, no I'm not talking about Damon Albarn (I once saw him on an escalator in H&M on High St Ken don't you know), and this.

I mean 'ParkLife' magazine, winter 2009/10. It's a lovely piece about people who live and work and play in the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. And yes, the picture of me is rather old, climbing Sinecure back in the day - but hey, you gotta grab your 15 minutes where you can!

Here it is:

Packed full of 'money off' park attractions, where to go and what to do, plus details of walks in the National Park you can pick up your copy in local shops or tourist info centres! :)

An American Adventure in Wales

Found this lovely blog post from Alexis who came to visit us a couple of weeks ago - thanks Aexis, glad you had a fun weekend :)

"On the early afternoon of Friday, October 16, I was on a train to Haverfordwest, Wales. It was a long train ride… about 5 hours.

When we arrived in Havenfordwest, Libby, a really crazy and energetic person, picked us up and took us to Pembrokenshire, a tiny town about 20 minutes away. Right away, I knew I would need lots of energy for the weekend.

I was very impressed with the accommodations. Come to find out it’s a 5-star eco-friendly lodge. I enjoyed delicious and healthy food the entire weekend! Probably the best I’ve had since I have been in Europe.

Our group wanted to kick off the adventure early and head to the beach, about a 20 minute walk, but since it was black out, Charles, our group leader told us it wouldn’t be a wise decision. Instead we sat around a bonfire and looked at the vivid stars.

Surfing was my morning activity on Saturday and we were all pleased to have beautiful weather. After struggling to put on 5mm winter wet suits, my group headed off to the beach to catch some waves! I was able to stand up a few times, but it wasn’t long until I lost my balance and jumped off. We all had an incredible time and didn’t want to leave. I will probably have to hit up the surf in Hawaii soon. : )

After enjoying hot chocolate and soup for lunch, my group went on a seven mile hike. The leaders gave us map and dropped us off. We trekked up and down mountains, through fields and pastures and along the coastline. It was gorgeous! We even heard and saw an Atlantic Gray Seal.

As we made our way back to the lodge, my hands were freezing so Sarah and I enjoyed tea by the fireplace. After dinner, we made s’mores the English way with Digestive cookies, Galaxy chocolate and mini marshmallows. Another group at the lodge was a bachelor party. We were able to make them s’mores and had an intellectual conversation comparing the UK and the US.

On Sunday I went coasteering. It is probably the coolest thing I have ever done. The sites were absolutely stunning as we swam through caves and climbed and jumped off cliffs. My first jump was only six feet high to get used to the technique, but we finished our journey by jumping off of a 15 foot jump and finally a 20-25 foot jump. It was so exhilarating!

I wasn’t as sore as I thought I would be, but it was nice to get a lot of outdoor exercise. It was also nice to breathe clean air. Wales Adventure Weekend was a fabulous time; it’s going to be hard to top this excursion!

I’m still waiting on the coasteering pictures, but I will put them up once I get them. If you’re really interested, you can check out their website: http://www.preseliventure.co.uk/"

Read more about Alexis's adventures in Europe

New coasteering piccies!

A Sunday afternoon training session at a new coasteering location starts normally enough...today the crew includes Ant, Libby, Jon K, and Paul, joined by Nick, Lucy and Sam. Oh, and this guy too, what's his name?

Ah yes, Charles - resplendent in a longjohn wetsuit. I can almost hear him say 'Come on coasteering....do your worst...I feel NO FEAR and I tweak the nose of death'. Erm, ok Charles.


Setting off and traversing around...




Splashing fun...


Professional coasteering stance, as demonstrated by Paul and Sam...


Happy faces. Charles - digging your blue helmet...


Paul with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Oh no, it's just Sam.

Happy Lucy in a cave...

resting on a rock...
Look at those faces (yes, I mean Charles).

They found a natural coasteering jacuzzi, awesome!

...waaa big wave!
most coasteering piccies from the weekend just posted on the Preseli Venture eco lodge page on facebook http://www.facebook.com/preseliventure

Want to come and join us in the office of eternal fun and happiness?

Tomorrow is the cut off point for applications for the lovely 'customer services and marketing' role that we have advertised.

We have had some corker CV's and we're really looking forward to meeting people at the job seminar in a couple of weeks time. In the meantime, if you're interested in hearing more about the role pop us a CV to info@preseliventure.com because it's not too late and we'd still love to hear from you!

Go on....who wouldn't want to to come and work in an office with these lovely peeps?

Libby

Sophie
Claire

Yes, I did deliberately choose these 'special' photos. Sorry Libby and Sophie :)

We hope to see hear from you soon :)

Preseli Venture want you!

Preseli Venture are after someone lovely to come and work with us in the PV office! email us info@preseliventure.com for more information, hope to hear from you soon :)

A big pat on the back...

...for all of our lovely guides and lodge staff. Had a super email from John who was here for his stag weekend, I'll let John do the talking:

"Please pass on a huge thanks to everyone at Preseli for a brilliant stag do this week end. It really was perfect in every way. The centre itself is terrific - the rooms were all different, clean and comfortable, showers warm and plentiful and the main room set the place off. The food was to everyone's liking and all of the people who work there are a credit to you. All were friendly and helpful and made it extra special. And then the activities!

The coasteering was the best thing I have done! Unbelievable. And again the instructors were great as we diced with certain death. Kayaking was also spot on and I thought the walk would be an anti-climax. But no, the wonderful Pembrokeshire countryside came in to steal the show! I am running out of superlatives now. Only one complaint. The wedding may be over shadowed by the stag do! So well done to all of you and a massive thank you!!!
Cheers, John 'The Groom'"

Thanks John, we hope your wedding day is just as awesome and exciting as your coasteering adventure! :)

Concur Technologies chooses Preseli Venture

August C & IT magazine featured a fab case study of Concur Technologies team development event at Preseli Venture back in February - check out C & IT online, or find out more about PV's leadership training and team development programmes

Coasteering this bank holiday - as featured in the Guardian last weekend :)

Lovely snippet from The Guardian at the weekend, who were covering 'Wacky Bank Holidays Days Out' and decided that coasteering at Preseli Venture would be a corker for this category! Here 'tis...

"Deep breath, open your eyes, peer over the edge, step back, deep breath, count to 10 ... and finally, when you're ready, jump! Making yourself do something scary is a surefire way to end the day on a high. Coasteering combines a few scary jumps with easy rope-free rockclimbing through caves and rock arches, scrambling along coastal rocks and sea swimming. Preseli Venture in west Wales has availability for half-day adventures next weekend in the beautiful Pembrokeshire coastal national park, where guides will point out local wildlife such as seals and oystercatchers - though being quiet enough to avoid scaring them off may prove difficult. You'll be kitted out in wetsuits, helmets, neoprene gloves and socks and life-jackets - and despite the cliff jumping, it's not too extreme for most people..."


We do have just afew spots available this BH weekend, please do give us a bell on 01348 837709 if you'd like to join us for some cliff jumping, cave swimming, rock clambering fun :)

PV new staff uniform as modelled by Ant - hot...in more ways than one!

Caty turns 20 in Wales

aahhh....another wander round the blogosphere turned up this lovely blog from Caty - who came to see us on the weekend 10-12 July and celebrated her 20th birthday with us - happy belated birthday Caty! The crumpet covered in squirty cream, with a candle stuck in it, made by Charles, that I found in the fridge at PV last weekend must have belonged to you - I'm not suprised you didn't eat Charles' creation :)

Anyways....lovely blog. Caty braved the 'sheep poop', as well as facing her fears regarding the eating of vegetables. But most of all I love her Abermawr swimming experience, I've seen the photos on facebook and well done for proving that the sea in Wales is actually FINE for swimming in in your bathers - go girl!


"Abermawr Beach is my perfect beach and we were there at the perfect time. The sun was setting making the clouds yellow and pink and purple. There was a cliff on the right side and on the left side and the beach was rocky instead of sandy. I fell in love immediately. Those of us brave (read: stupid) enough stripped to our bathing suits and ran into the water. Let me tell you, if I thought the Channel in Cornwall was cold, the Irish Sea in Wales is even more so.

After dunking my whole body under, I came up screaming. Your skin goes numb eventually but for a few minutes there, it is intense. After wave jumping and allowing our bodies to get used to the water, some of us swam over to some rocks and went climbing. Not the best idea in bathing suits and bare feet especially since the rocks were covered in barnacles and thus very sharp.

It was really fun though and I got to sing "Part of Your World" from a rock similar to the one in the movie where the ocean crashes up behind her. We left the rocks and Phil and I stayed in the water some more before going and sitting on the sand right at the water line and just staring around us in wonder. The sky looked like a gorgeous still painting because there was no wind."

You can read this and more about Caty's coasteering adventure on her blog.

VisitWales blog competition

Yay! Check out our badge

Inspirational Adventures in Wales

We're nominated in the VisitWales blog competition, and very pleased we are too.

If you have written lovely words about Wales, or if you have an online collection of great Welsh piccies, you can enter the blog comp too - and win a swanky weekend of love for 2 :)

Family Adventure Holiday feedback

Here are our guests on our inaugural Preseli Venture Family Adventure Holiday. What a lovely bunch. Gina is on the far left, what a super lady, hopefully she'll be back for some more coasteering and sea kayaking adventures soon. I did try and convince her to relocate her and her husband here...watch this space :)

This is what Gina had to say about her week with Preseli Venture:

"From day one PV made you feel really welcome and that good times were ahead. We were greeted by Libby who was our host and her effervescent personality left you feeling as though you had been given a glass of champagne on arrival.

Lunch was served and we were provided with hearty and wholesome food that was perfect for fuelling us for our surf session in the afternoon. We were greeted by our instructor Jon who had humour and professionalism that quickly reassured us that we were in good hands. He explained to us about the surf and weather conditions and gave instruction that was tailored to individual needs. Having worked in adventure tourism and seen a multitude of teaching styles it was great to see someone who was in the job to enable others to enjoy the outdoors rather than just to boost their ego.

We relaxed in the evening full of gertitude and plumptiousness after Helen and Libby’s cooking and a nice fire stoked to the brim so that we could get toasty after our exertions and watch the greater spotted woodpecker devour nuts through the window on the bird feeder. It was like watching springwatch but without the cheesy jokes. There wasn’t any need for TV because chatting about the days events with drinks from the bar was the way forward.

On Tuesday we kayaked out of a beautiful harbour, exploring inlets and learning new paddling skills. The magic hot chocolate that is provided on every trip was bought out as we stabilised each others kayaks whilst looking out to the blue yonder and being rocked gently by the waves.

In the afternoon after refuelling with more great lunch we went coasteering; scrambling through rocks and seaweed and swimming between rocks as the waves came in was awesome. We got up close and personal with sea creatures and learnt about them as well as getting a buzz from jumping off rocks of increasing heights. We were shown a cave that had the most amazing colours due to its geology and it seemed very surreal supping hot chocolate as we wallowed inside it.

Jumping off a wall of a disused mine, into a blue lagoon rounded off our day nicely and 26ft was high enough for me but others jumped 30ft and it was smiles all around especially as there was no pressure to do a jump but I would recommend getting out of your comfort zone to anyone – it makes you feel more alive.

Wednesday was chill out day and we could do what we wanted which was nice as we got to explore the surrounding area independently and St Davids is well worth a visit with all its history and amazing architecture. As I ventured onto the nearby country lanes, I even got to see coloured horses and foals galloping around at the local stud farm because a loose horse had decided to pay them a visit.

On Thursday we had a group hike along the local coastal path and were dropped off by PV at a start point so that we could do a circular walk back to the centre for lunch. The coastline is breath taking with all its varied flora and fauna and it gave all of us a chance to get to know each other better as we walked and talked.

In the afternoon it was surfing again which we had all chosen to do again rather than mountain biking. The flexibility within PV’s organisation makes it all the more special and we were completely hooked on surfing by the end of the week.

Friday morning was a sad morning; I didn’t want to leave as I’d had such an amazing time and found my wild woman within me! Strangely I’d joined the family week as a lone ranger not fancying a lazy beach holiday and it didn’t matter that I hadn’t bought any family with me because PV made you feel like you were with family (the relatives you actually like!)."

Thanks Gina, we LOVE you too :)

May piccie round up

I've just been ferreting round in my piccie folder and found a load of May pictures - some I took for the VisitWales guest blog but decided they were too 'random', and some - well - Libby get holds of the camera and takes inappropriate photos in the office. We don't mind though.

So, in no particular order - scarey moth, woodpecker on PV bird table, Sophie table dancing in the office, Michelle's hen group, silver guitar man (found him by chance on Newgale hill), miniature horses, miniature horse riders, handsome Daf, and Jackie pics. Just another month in Pembrokeshire :)