The story
The company was founded in 2002 by Rebecca and Tristram Mayhew, after they were inspired by a tree-top adventure course in France, and has a contract with the Forestry Commission for courses on multiple sites. The first course opened in March 2002 in Thetford Forest, on the borders of Norfolk and Suffolk; it was the first self-belay tree top ropes course in Britain. In 2003, the company won a Best Tourist Attraction award and has also won other awards. In 2007, it was shortlisted for the Best Norfolk Attraction award at the Tourism In Norfolk Awards.
In 2008 the company opened new courses in Kent, Cumbria, Devon, Buckinghamshire and Staffordshire. On 8 May 2010 Go Ape opened their first course in the United States at the Lake Needwood section of Rock Creek Regional Park in Rockville, Maryland. In March 2015, a "Treetop adventure course" was opened in Wake County.
The courses are made up of zip wires, rope swings, ladders, walkways, bridges and tunnels made of wood. There are "Adventure" courses at a number of sites around the country designed for 6–12 year olds. There are also Segway scooters and mountain bikes.
In 2014 Go Ape opened trampoline parks in East Kilbride, Wolverhampton and Stevenage under the name Air Space. This part of the business was sold in 2017 to Oxygen Freejumping. On 29 September 2019, Verity Bailes, from Peterborough, became the first person to complete Go Ape's Treetop Challenge at all 34 locations across the UK. In 2021 Go Ape became employee owned.
From Wikipedia’s article on Go Ape, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3
