PGL (company)

PGL Travel Ltd. was established in 1957 as ‘PGL Voyages’ and is a provider of school activity courses and adventure holidays for children.

In the 1960s and early 1970s the ‘PGL Experience' was aimed at young adults and based on three main activities - canoeing, sailing and pony trekking, with accommodation in tents. PGL moved into the school and group travel market and during the 1980s expanded, purchasing more properties, ranging from a mansion house in Perthshire to a converted farm in Oxfordshire.

PGL opened a headquarters in the South of France and became one of the first UK organisers of canoeing holidays in the Ardèche Gorge.

In the early 90s the acquisition by the company of the former Quest Outdoor Adventure programme as well as the purchase of a number of centres operated by competitors, resulted in a considerable expansion in the schools’ adventure market in the UK and France. In 1993 the company also entered the school ski market with the acquisition of Ski Europe and Ski Wessex.

In 2000, PGL purchased Château de Grande Romaine, a 300-bed former hotel and grounds on the eastern outskirts of Paris. This was followed by the acquisition in 2005 of its competitor 3D Education and Adventure with its three centres on the South Coast of England as well as a contract with Pontins to provide children's activities on their sites. Pontins went into administration in 2010 [3] and was subsequently purchased by the Britannia Hotels Group in 2011 [4] and the contract between Pontins and PGL ceased to be.

The company was sold in 2007 to Holidaybreak Plc [5] and formed the first part of the Holidaybreak 'Education Division'. Significant property acquisitions in the UK in recent years have included Caythorpe Court, near Grantham in 2004 and in 2009, Liddington in Wiltshire.

In July 2011, Holidaybreak was purchased by Cox & Kings Limited, based in India and then in 2014 PGL opened an office in Melbourne Australia and acquired two centres in Victoria and one in Queensland, Campaspe Downs, Camp Rumbug and Kindilan.

In 2017, PGL sought to acquire two new centres - Newby Wiske Hall - formerly North Yorkshire Police Headquarters [6] and Bawdsey Manor on the Suffolk Heritage Coast [7] The purchase of Newby Wiske Hall is still 'subject to contract' due to PGL's applications for planning consent for change of use and listed building consent for the site being referred for Judicial Review in January 2018.

PGL's largest area of business continues to be school trips and educational travel. These range from activity and adventure trips to subject focussed trips (Science, ICT, Maths, Field Studies and French Language courses). During the UK school terms PGL mainly offers school and youth group holidays, as well as birthday parties and day trips. Outside of the UK school terms, PGL also offers family and child-only adventure holidays (summer camps).

PGL operates a number of centres in the UK, including:

During the UK school terms PGL mainly offers school and youth group holidays, as well as birthday parties and day trips. Outside of the UK school terms PGL also offers family and child-only summer camps.

The most popular holiday run is the "Multi-Activity" where guests get to sample a range of activities.

PGL has centres in France for School and other youth groups. These offer both activity and educational holidays.

• The Independent
• BBC news article
• Article from The FT on acquisition by Cox & Kings
• Article from Travel Weekly
• Article on expansion to the Australian market
• BBC article on purchase of PGL Liddington
• Article on purchase of Caythorpe Court

• Official website