London Waterball Centre

The Waterball Centre sits just outside Maidenhead and is essentially a sports facility built around an inflatable ball court - think of it as indoor football meets a giant bouncy castle. You're inside a massive air-filled dome playing five-a-side on a synthetic pitch, which sounds gimmicky but actually works. The ball itself doesn't behave like a normal football, so it forces a different style of play. Fast, tactical, a bit silly.

Kids absolutely love it. Adults doing it ironically also seem to have a laugh. You'll need to book ahead - it's not a drop-in situation - and you're paying per pitch rental rather than per person, so a group of eight or ten makes the cost reasonable. Allow about an hour plus a bit of buffer time for getting suited up.

If you're camped nearby at Amerden Caravan Park or Queens Acre, it's close enough for a rainy afternoon activity without a car journey becoming the main event. The Maidenhead area isn't exactly flush with all-weather options, so this fills a genuine gap. It's not profound - you're not going home talking about the innovation of it all - but for a family with bored teenagers or a group of mates after something different, it does the job. Worth checking their website for current pricing and session times, as these places change their schedules seasonally.