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The Lee Valley White Water Centre sits just outside London, a proper engineering feat that turns an ordinary stretch of Hertfordshire into an Olympic-standard kayaking and rafting playground. Built for the 2012 Games, it's still one of Europe's best artificial whitewater courses - a 300-metre channel where the water actually moves at competition pace.

You can either watch from the spectator areas or get in the boat yourself. The rafting trips suit families and groups who fancy a laugh and a soaking; the kayaking courses are for people who know what they're doing or fancy learning properly. Most sessions run a couple of hours. It's not cheap, but you're paying for Olympic-standard facilities and qualified instructors.

The surrounding Lee Valley parks make this a natural fit for a longer stay. Lee Valley Camping and Caravan Park in Edmonton sits just 2.4 miles away and offers decent pitches if you're car-based; Theobalds Park, five-and-a-half miles south, has a better user rating and feels less urban. Either way, you've got the water centre as your headline activity, plus the valley's other attractions - walking trails, fishing lakes, a few modest museums - filling out a week.

Summer weekends get rammed with school groups. Go midweek or in shoulder season if you want to actually hear the instructor. Weather doesn't stop play, but rain makes the rapids chunkier. Bring a towel and realistic expectations about how dry you'll stay.