As a key component of the National Curriculum for primary schools, orienteering is a fun and exciting activity. Find out why most of the schools in the area have worked with us, and how we will tailor a day to suit you!

Based at Talkin Tarn Country Park, an enclosed, 165 acre site near Carlisle, Talkin Adventures lead groups of both primary and secondary school age in progressive Orienteering sessions, tailored to suit their age.

Get in touch today, to find out more about orienteering, and a wide range of real adventure activities, for your class.

With over 40 control markers dotted around the site, each route we design will have a level of difficulty to suit the participants. For younger groups, we will keep more closely to the main path around Talkin Tarn. Older groups will enjoy more freedom, with remote supervision, whilst all the time being within the country park on routes that our team will monitor to ensure safety.

All orienteering sessions with Talkin Adventures begin with an interactive map work lesson, safety briefing, and a quick demonstration, before small teams head out around the site on pre-planned routes.

Orienteering is an activity session that can be arranged as part of a multi-activity package, or as the only focus of a visit to us at Talkin Tarn Country Park. Get in touch today to find out how we can help you provide a fantastic experience for your class.  

What is orienteering and how can it benefit my group? Orienteering is an exciting adventure activity which involves using a map to find a series of precise locations at a site before your competitors. Orienteering offers lots of benefits for groups as a fun way to learn basic navigational skills, bond as a team and improve cooperation within a group.

Learn navigation skills and basic mapwork during your activity day, with orienteering games, organised by Talkin Adventures. Wherever you are in Cumbria, we can bring fun filled practical orienteering courses to your own site or tailor a sequence of orienteering activities at our north Cumbria venue. These sessions fit well with the National Curriculum Geographical Skills element and link with outdoor learning, the natural environment and health and well-being.

You will find a whole range of orienteering challenges to suit groups of young people and adults. The activities will suit school groups and adult candidates for team building events.

Our bespoke orienteering courses will be set to suit your group at your venue or ours. Will you find all the checkpoints spread throughout the woodlands and paths at Talkin Tarn Country Park, and will your team complete our unique orienteering challenges?

Depending on your group’s objectives you may be involved in a range of orienteering challenges! Can your team find the orienteering symbols quickly and navigate a basic course? There are a range of orienteering skills which your group can be challenged to grasp:

• Describing our surroundings
• What is a map?
• Reliable features
• Symbols, Keys, Scale, Direction, Communication
• Creating an orienteering map
• Applying new skills
• or simply setting off on the hunt to be the first to find all the markers around our navigation course

Orienteering sessions can be used to introduce and develop an understanding of maps and describing locations as outlined in the National Curriculum for Key Stage Two.

Talkin Adventures are ideally situated in the outdoor environment, near to Carlisle, to deliver a progressive and engaging session and enhance your Geography syllabus. We are happy to set the foundations of this element of the syllabus or to build on prior learning by helping your students to apply their skills and knowledge in a fun and competitive way. Consolidation of the learning in our sessions can be simply managed back in the school environment.

Orienteering may be organised as a stand alone activity or built into the treasure chest or other team building activities. Visitors to Talkin Tarn are welcome to enjoy the permanent course that has been set out at the site by Border Liners Orienteering Club, part of British Orienteering. It provides a perfect introduction to orienteering for beginners and kids to try their hand at a high energy outdoor sport! Our orienteering taster sessions and team building events use bespoke courses with challenges specific to each group.

• Group size: event dependent
• Key outcomes: Attention to detail, fun, communication, confidence, cooperation, map reading, teamwork, trust
• Venue requirements: Orienteering works best at venues with a large outdoor space. Orienteering challenges can be organised at smaller venues with a field or large hall