THE largest provider of outdoor activities in the New Forest has acquired a business 600 miles away in Scotland.

New Forest Activities has acquired bought Craggan Outdoors, which is based in the Cairngorms National Park, next to Craggan Golf Course in Grantown-on-Spey, Morayshire.

Sam Sutton, co-founder of New Forest Activities, said: "Our company was born in 2003 with a few canoes and lots of ambition, based out of an old military hut on the Beaulieu River. Our mission has always been simple; to provide fun and enlightening experiences to people of all ages and abilities, to help them make the most of their time in the great outdoors.

"That is the opportunity we hope to deliver at Craggan Outdoors following on from the fabulous work of Keith Ballam and his team who have created something very special that we will cherish. In fact, we’re building the team already, with at least six job roles to fill as we gear up for a busy summer season.”

Cairngorms Activities, trading as Craggan Outdoors, is the second location to be brought into the National Park Activities Group by New Forest Activities’ owners Sam Sutton and co-founder Rich Pearsall.

It announced the launch of PaddleTime at the National Trust-run Buscot and Coleshill Estate on the Thames in March.

Mr Pearsall said: “Perhaps one positive that the pandemic brought to us all in the UK tourism sector was that more and more people were exploring where they live.

“As such, we made it our mission to find other stunning locations across the UK to offer what we do and that can work in partnership with one another.

“We’re excited about our first site at Buscot developing already and we’ve now brought Craggan Outdoors into the family which has a different offering but a similar mission – fun in the great outdoors.

“We can’t wait to discover and open up even more locations across the UK. Of course to do that, we will need people who are just as passionate about canoeing, paddling and just being out on the water and in nature as we are.”