Residential multi activity summer camp in Connemara, County Galway

The camp is sold in two formats and the operator states that both commence on a Sunday only: a five-day camp, which ends on the Friday, and a seven-day camp, which runs Sunday to Sunday. Children and teenagers aged ten to seventeen are led throughout by the resort's own professionally trained instructor team. A typical day starts with breakfast between eight and nine, a morning activity from half past nine until one, lunch, an afternoon activity from two until five, dinner, evening activities from seven until nine, supper, and dorms by half past ten. Children are dropped to the resort in the late afternoon of the first day and collected in the late afternoon of the last.

The fee is all-inclusive. The operator states that all residential camp pricing is inclusive of activities, food and full bed and board, and the camp brochure lists accommodation, non-stop activity from dawn to dusk, around-the-clock care, meals every day and a professionally trained team. A return bus transfer between Westport railway station and the resort is offered separately and is listed under extras; train tickets are not included and are arranged by parents. Pocket money is not needed for meals or entertainment, but there is a shop on site selling sweets, soft drinks, T-shirts and basic toiletries, so the resort suggests a small amount if a camper wants to buy a hoodie to take home.

Campers sleep at the resort's own Wild Atlantic Hostel, which stands on the grounds of Delphi Resort, in multi-bed dormitory rooms. From half past nine in the evening until half past nine in the morning a night guard is on duty in the hostel, with the support of a night porter in the hotel. Drying facilities are available for wet outdoor clothing, and the resort advises bringing plenty of changes of clothes. Hostel guests also have access to the resort's wider spa, adventure and dining facilities.

Three meals a day plus an evening supper are included, cooked on site. The resort describes the food as good home cooking with the menu varied through the week and the emphasis on a balanced diet; dietary requirements can be catered for with advance notice. Breakfast is a selection of cereals, toast, sausages, beans, fruit juices and tea. Lunch is homemade vegetable soup with a fresh crusty roll, filled with ham, chicken, cheese or salad, plus fruit and a drink. Dinner is served in rotation between chicken curry with rice and chips, spaghetti bolognese, and chicken goujons with chips and salad. Supper is a chocolate chip cookie, a jam doughnut or a chocolate muffin.

Everything is instructor-led and runs on the water, on the ropes courses and on the land. For the camps the resort names zip-lining, climbing and kayaking, and its own sample camp timetable sets a morning activity such as kayaking and an afternoon activity such as the aerial trek and climbing. Evening activities include a talent show, a campfire, forest walks and energising games. The resort's wider adventure programme on the same site includes canoeing, sea kayaking, surfing, raft building and a bog obstacle course on the water; abseiling, the aerial trek, the zip line, high ropes, a boulder wall and climbing on the ropes; and archery, combat archery, bushcraft, mountain biking, orienteering, tunnelling and walking in Connemara on the land.

The camp runs entirely on the resort's own site at Leenane: the Wild Atlantic Hostel for accommodation, the resort's kitchens and dining rooms for meals, its adventure centre and instructor team, the water of Killary Harbour and the lake for paddling activities, the ropes and climbing structures, and a shop on site. Vending machines on site take coins only, while the shop takes cash and card. Parents can reach a camper by telephoning the resort, which recommends calling in the morning, around lunchtime or in the early evening; the resort publishes its own mobile phone policy for campers.

Delphi Resort sits in Connemara at Leenane, between the Mweelrea mountains and Killary Harbour, Ireland's only fjord, on the Wild Atlantic Way, and bills itself as Ireland's leading adventure resort. The camp is an outdoor week in one of the wildest parts of the country, with children mixing with campers they have not met before and working through activities in instructor-led groups. The resort advises packing for all kinds of weather, since there can be four seasons in a day in this part of Ireland. The resort also asks parents not to telephone during the first few evenings, on the grounds that children settle in faster that way.