Explore Indie Cambridge - Bourn Golf & Leisure

With the help of the recently rebranded Indie Cambridge - the community of ‘real’ Cambridge - Cambridge Network continues its weekly exploration of the best independent shops, cafés, restaurants, people, businesses, venues and events in Cambridge and the surrounding area. This week: Bourn Golf & Leisure.

It’s renowned amongst golfers for its challenging 18-hole course, complete with undulating hills and idyllic countryside views. But there’s so much more to Bourn Golf & Leisure than its pristine fairways, putting greens and driving range. It’s a versatile conferencing venue, offering corporate team building days (anything from bushcraft to laser clays), a wellbeing retreat, with a beauty salon, pool and a host of Scandi-style wood-fired hot tubs and saunas for alfresco bathing, a wedding location, a fitness hub, to train one-to-one, try out a barre class or combat an outdoor boot camp assault course. And for foodies, it’s a friendly spot for breakfast, brunch, lunch or a traditional afternoon tea, courtesy of its top-class chefs. In a nutshell, thanks to continual growth and expansion over the past three decades, Bourn Golf & Leisure has become something of a destination.

Coaching and pro-shop
Family-owned, the business launched in 1991 with the Par 72 golf course. Measuring 6,530 yards from the white tees, and stretching out over lush hills, dotted with mature trees, it’s a great course for golfers of all abilities. With a strong membership, there are regular competitions, plus PGA professionals Mark Sturgess and Ian Green are on hand to offer coaching both for newcomers and for those who want to improve their swing. Bourn also boasts a family-friendly nine-hole Par 3 course, perfect for beginners, and there’s a Junior Stags Academy on a Saturday morning, for youngsters aged five and up. The on-site pro shop is well-stocked with leading brands such as Titleist and Lynx, with golfing attire from Glenmuir and FootJoy. The PGA Professionals specialise in custom-fitting clubs and are able to offer Motocaddy repairs.

Health and fitness
A decade on from the golf offering came the health club, which has continually evolved to embrace the latest fitness trends. It features a 15-metre level deck swimming pool, sauna, steam room and spa pool, plus a state-of-the-art gym, fitted with LifeFitness equipment, which tracks your performance (so you can ‘virtually’ run up parts of Mount Kilimanjaro and jog around the Piazza in Rome!). There’s also a fitness studio, with over 30 classes per week, from Pilates, fit ball and Zumba to circuits, boxercise and spin cycling. Coupled with its team of fully-qualified gym instructors and personal trainers, there to encourage and inspire, it’s no wonder the health club has high membership retention.

With the rise in popularity of outdoor boot camps, Bourn’s fitness professionals looked to offer a twist on the craze, by building a static boot camp assault course. Putting members through their paces with a series of obstacles including cargo nets, A-frames and tyres, the course is open throughout the summer.

Therapies and treatments
Eight years ago, a spa was added to the site, which is run as family business, Brooke’s Beauty & Spa. Their main treatment room, stocked with a kaleidoscope of coloured nail polishes and two manicure stations, is a tranquil space overlooking the pool. There’s a further treatment room, and tanning room, and the team offers a comprehensive range of therapies from facials and massages to lash extensions and waxing.
Separate to this, there’s a sports therapy centre, focusing on treatments for rehabilitation, including kinesiology taping and strapping, medical acupuncture and biodynamic massage.

Conference centre
In recent years, Bourn Golf & Leisure has proved a popular choice for conferencing, hosting anything from informal breakfast meetings to full-blown product launches.

There’s a bright airy conference room, furnished with a variety of equipment for delegates, who can enjoy a breather between sessions on a balcony overlooking the grounds. The venue proves popular due to its rural setting, meaning no city centre traffic congestion, plus there’s free parking and Wi-Fi.

Dining
The restaurant and summer conservatory at Bourn provide panoramic views over the golf course, so you can tuck into a full English, enjoy a sumptuous Sunday roast, or treat yourself to a champagne cream tea while watching players tee off. Clients can hire a private dining room that can hold up to 24 people, or for bigger events, there’s the Garden Marquee, which can host 120. Typically the team caters for all kinds of functions including weddings, christenings, birthdays, anniversaries, engagements, staff parties and wakes.

Relaxation
The latest exciting addition has been PAUS, a relaxation experience inspired by the Scandinavian philosophy of balance brought by ‘bathing under the sky’. Located on a picturesque hill adjacent to the golf club, it features numerous outdoor wood-fired red cedar hot tubs and Finnish barrel saunas (one housed in a charming gypsy caravan), complete with changing facilities and shower pods stocked with Neal’s Yard products. Various packages are on offer at PAUS, which opens at weekends. Some are purely bathing-based, while others incorporate workshops (think pot plants, pencil drawing and yoga). You can see these at pauscambridge.com.

There’s so much on offer at Bourn Golf & Leisure, whether you’re a golf-lover or spa seeker, fitness fanatic or foodie, business delegate or bride and groom. It’s well worth a visit.

Bourn Golf & Leisure
Toft Road, Bourn, Cambridge CB23 2TT
Telephone 01954 718057
Email daniel@bourngolfandleisure.co.uk
www.bourngolfandleisure.co.uk

Discover unique boutiques and boutique hotels mingled with communities of artists and craftspeople. Sample an award-winning restaurant or thriving little café tucked away in a back street – all easy to locate via the comprehensive Indie Cambridge directory.  It features hundreds of local traders, artists, makers, producers, venues and events – all of which play a part in the real life of the city and local area. Run by long-term residents with a true passion for all things indie, the site is packed with valuable insider knowledge of the local scene. And whoever you are - resident or visitor; whatever you search for, read about and choose to visit, you can be sure it’s independent!

Look out for the latest edition of Independent Cambridge's magazine, The Indie, out now - or read it online here.



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