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X Marks The Spot continues to innovate by being first with cycling treasure hunts that make use of the recently introduced London Cycle Hire scheme.
The London Cycle Hire area covers all of London's major sights from Camden Town in North London to south of the Thames at Lambeth, east to Bethnal Green and west to Kensington. Hundreds of bicycle docking stations are dotted all over the capital, never more than 300 metres apart.
The bicycles are available to hire 24 hours a day. You can pick up at one docking station and drop off at another and hire as many times as you want. For a treasure hunt, each cyclist will only have to pay a one-off cycle access fee of £1 at the first docking station and all journeys under 30 minutes are free. So, using a bike for your treasure hunt might only cost each person a pound! See tfl.gov.uk for more details of the London Cycle Hire scheme.
Our London Cycle Hire Treasure Hunt combines mental challenge with some physical exercise in an environmentally friendly and easy way to travel around central London. Contact X Marks The Spot on 07801 693001 for more details.
School's out and you're faced with the annual dilemma of how to keep the kids amused during the long summer holidays without it costing you a fortune or losing your sanity.
Fresh out are summer versions of our London Mystery Tours. Great fun for kids and easy on your pocket. Together, can you solve a series of puzzles and observation clues that will guide you around the City, West End or South Bank and can you crack the final code?
Many shrewd parents have already bought a Mystery Tour from our website for only £12.99. A group of up to 5 can have fun exploring together and it's great exercise too. Try it with your own kids and their friends - you can always buy more than one pack if you have a larger group.
Surely something that brings children together, challenges their imagination, tires them out while being great value for money has to be the ideal combination for Summer 2010?
Find out more about our London Mystery Tours
The online enquiry to X Marks The Spot read:
“We are having a lovely girlie hen do in the Oxfordshire countryside and wish to include a treasure hunt. We have seen ready made packages in Oxford itself, but as we are travelling into Oxford on Saturday night, we'd rather not go back and forth twice. Is it possible to have a tailor made treasure hunt near where we are staying in Bampton?”
Never one to shirk a challenge our team set about finding out as much as possible about the hen (without her knowing of course!) Her 'friends' provided an invaluable source of information from photos to funnies, nicknames to nuances and in-jokes to interests. The area was then painstakingly researched through the internet, books and site visits so that the information gathered could be woven into clues and locations. A few weeks later, with clues compiled and personalised Ordnance Survey Maps at the ready the surprise was sprung.
“I just wanted to say what a fabulous time we had last weekend - obviously the weather was perfect and showed the Cotswolds off to absolute perfection. The treasure hunt was so carefully thought out and nicely challenging that it took full advantage of our competitive natures and there was lots of adrenalin flowing as we chased each other in cars around the countryside! The cricket pitch picnic was picture perfect and the walking circuit from Swinbrook was so picturesque it was almost difficult to concentrate on the hunt! Melissa absolutely loved it and said how happy she was that her bridesmaids knew her so well to plan something so perfect for her. All in all, a fantastic success - thank you again for all your assistance!”
Fancy something similar? Find out about custom-made hen treasure hunts
Global Healthcare Company Sanofi-Aventis celebrated St George's Day with a special London treasure hunt from X Marks The Spot.
As a frequent customer, the challenge set for us this time was to encourage teamwork, make the clues and format appeal to members of the finance and accounting teams, integrate the event with an overnight hotel stay and a meeting in the capital and set up the treasure hunt so that Sanofi-Aventis could run it themselves.
Themed around the City of London, sprinkled with financial terms and number puzzles and including a devious safe-breaker clue, the teams of accountants were quick to give credit afterwards... yes, credit from an accountant, whatever next? :-)
“London was buzzing with St George's Day celebrations” enthused organiser Stella Arthurs. “Lovely weather and despite heavy heads from the night before, the fresh air perked us all up! The treasure hunt content was meaningful and appropriate and we managed to facilitate without any problems. Thank you. We had a great day and I would recommend it for other teamwork sessions.”
Is your team being denied a team building event because your company say they can't afford it?
Don't worry, there IS a way to get that morale-boosting team building activity and it won't even cost your employer a penny.
The UK Government allows all UK companies to claim £150 including VAT per employee per year for staff entertainment. If your company is profitable, then you could be missing out.
Making use of the corporate entertainment tax allowance can enable your company to claim for the cost of your staff events – otherwise that money goes straight to the taxman. Why give money to HMRC when your company could put it to better use on a team building treasure hunt activity and day out?
With X Marks The Spot team building treasure hunts starting from as little as £10 per person, you'll effectively get your treasure hunt for free courtesy of HMRC and you’ll still have plenty of change from that corporate entertainment allowance for drinks and meals.
Wouldn't now be a good time to have a word with your colleagues in Finance to encourage them to have a close look at www.hmrc.gov.uk so that you don't miss out?
A range of Mystery Tours with a St Valentine's theme are now on sale.
Cupid's arrow will land in London, Dublin and Paris on the weekend of 13-14 February 2010 when many couples will be spending time together to celebrate St Valentine's Day.
Mystery Tours offer a fun challenge and at the same time capture the romance of London by the river, the beautiful south side of Dublin and the inimitable Paris.
The self-guided treasure hunt type tours take about 2-3 hours on foot and are designed for sharing with that special someone.
The Mystery Tours can't guarantee love, but who knows what you might discover?!
Click for more details of the St Valentine's Mystery Tours and to buy online.