Lord it up lads
Alfresco BBQ evening in the Deerhouse, Swinton Park, North Yorkshire. See your stag off in style with good food and a roaring fire in a restored hunting lodge. With views over the Yorkshire dales and your own private bar, the deerhouse, which can seat from 20 to 50 people, is a setting fit for kings. To find out about the packages that can be put together click here.
Adventurers
Do a Hilary – Why not collectively follow in the footsteps of your hero explorers, be they Fiennes, Hilary, Shackleton or Tenzsing Norgay.
3 Day Pyrenean Expedition. Learn the skills to become an intrepid explorer over three days spent adventuring round the Pyrenees with a professional explorer and hard man Mark Kalch – 3 days costs £295 (10 people max). For full details click here.
Your stag might even put his new knowledge to use one day by Climbing Everest. The expedition costs a cool $60,000, making it the absolute ultimate stag gift, requiring a mind boggling whip-round. Good news though; the stag’s oxygen tanks are thrown in free.
Educational Drinking…
Learn slick skills of a Cocktail barman - give your groom the ability to impress his new bride with sexy bar-room moves. Renowned bar school Shaker can put together a package for you for £60 pp in their London bar school in Shoreditch, £50 in Birmingham or £70 at a venue of your choice.
Brian: Should we let it breathe?
Doug: It hasn’t breathed for fifty years, it’s dead. Let’s just drink it.
(Tom Cruise and Bryan Brown, Cocktail, 1988)
Itinerary idea, London: What about an afternoon cocktail making session, followed by one of the best pizzas in town at relaxed Pizza East, then a night clubbing downstairs at Concrete, a wicked venue the boys will love. Enjoy big name DJs and watch someone else to make your cocktails.
Itinerary idea, Birmingham: Follow your cocktail making session with a curry at the Kashmir Cottage, Bearwood High Street - a tiny, no frills, old style balti restaurant known for outstanding food. Once digested and able to move on, head to the Factory in Digbeth – take note though, this venue is definitely more break beat and hip hop, baggy jeans and trainers than a shirts and shoes kinda place.
Beer Safari - Journey to Suffolk for the weekend for a guided day of hop farms, breweries and beer tasting. Culminating in dinner and a tasting at one of Suffolk’s leading gastropubs The Anchor at Walberswick. Which, by the way, has some rather nice bed and breakfast rooms for £55pp a night.
So why not spend Sunday on the beach with a picnic, playing beach football and damn building.
The ultimate private dinner and clubbing in London.
Located high on top of a department store on High St Kensginton in London, with amazing view across London, the private dining room at Babylon, the restaurant at the Kensington Roof Gardens is an hidden find. The dining room sits up to 12 people and has a glass fronted view across town and its own private terrace.
If you are looking to splash some cash then this is the place – there is no charge to hire the venue but there is a mimimum spend of £1000 (on a Fri or Sat night) for the evening – though this can also include the cost of entry to the famous roof gardens club below.
Surfing
An oldie but a goody. Try this all inclusive Surfing weekend in Devon, because surfing is cool and men excel at being looked after.
Two days of surf lessons, all food, equipment and accommodation are all included. £325 will buy you a worry free weekend of surfing, eating and drinking with your mates. This could be a stag weekend where you return feeling better than when you left. Then again, there are plenty of local watering holes you can go cause trouble in.
For something a little different you could go Kite Landboarding in Dorset . You, a beach, a massive kite, a skateboard buggy and you’re off. Paracademy run a great one day courses (£99pp) for up to 6 people on the beaches. Follow with Fish and Chips from Fish ‘n’ Fritz on the harbour wall.
Based out of Waymouth and Portland, sign up for a Three day kitesurfing course and take advantage of some of the UK’s best Kitesurfing water. To book and to find out more click here.
Bikes Boys?
See this bike… spend a day with your friends riding one of these beauties around the Lake District. Could this be one of the last memorable rides of his life for the destined groom…?
This Triumph Bonneville Motorbike day tour includes bike hire, delivery to your accommodation, pub lunch, fuel, insurance – the lot. Click here for full itinerary and details.
For accommodation, go self-catered at one of the 4 or 5 star Hall Hills Cottages.
Or get looked after at the traditional, award winning, and reasonably priced Mardale Inn or Westmorland Hotel, or for £25 a night stay at the Bradley Foot B and B.
Butchery and Fishing
Mastering meat, butchery course: a man is not a man without a few nifty knife skills and if anyone is going to show you how it’s done, you can count on Andrew Sharp (no pun intended).
A renowned master butcher and advisor to HRH The Prince of Wales, Andrew runs hands-on butchery courses in both London and Cumbria. Learn how to cut, grind and prepare top-notch mean and “what makes good meat fantastic meat, and most importantly what makes crap”. Nicely said.
Catch and Cook day out fishing in the North Sea. Spend the morning fishing for cod, ray and mackerel before returning ashore for a late seafood lunch. After lunch you’ll learn how to skin, gut, fillet and cook the fish you caught that morning.
The day out costs £260 pp which covers boat charter, kit and food throughout the day. For full details click here.
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Right chaps, no excuses now for lame stag weekends. Above are 12 or 13 ideas for things you can book straight away, or use for inspiration for weekends that involve more than just drinking, drinking and drinking some more. Do one of these things
… and then find a local pub and get stuck in.
And do be careful boys: that ”what happen’s in Vegas, stays in Vegas’ promise thing? More often than not, it does not – so do try to behave…
Tags: adventure, Andrew Sharp, Beer, Birmingham, Butchers, Clubbing, Cocktail making, Dorset, Explore, fishing, Food, Kite landboarding, Kitesurfing, london, Motorbikes, Party, Pyranees, Stag, Stag nights, Stag weekends, surfing, training, Travel, workshops
