Tim and Sara​

A little bit about us; Tim and I both started our careers in events and outdoor adventure in the 1990’s, as teenagers in the Lake District, and have worked extensively throughout the UK and overseas in the service, outdoor pursuits, hotel, teambuilding, conference production and event management industry ever since. We both gained invaluable experience working for others but were destined to go it alone so in 2001 we each formed our own businesses; Tim concentrated on conference audio visual, event filming and technical exhibition support, me on venue finding, event management and teambuilding design.

Tim croupiered at one of my events, December 2001, which was when we first met. Tim returned from the 2005 Lions Tours in New Zealand and our business and personal collaboration began and we’ve loved the journey ever since.

We both share a passion for creating an experience for others to enjoy, from concept to delivery, demonstrating professionalism, creativity and drive, attention to detail and dedication to the success of each and every event, conference or adventure. It’s hard to say but we’ve probably been involved with over 10,000 events, combined, over the years of running our own businesses.

For the last 10 years or so I was keen to find the perfect place for us to run our own experiences from, and following a chance introduction to the Sandys family, of Grathwaite Estate, we were very excited at the prospect of what we could create.

Tim worked tirelessly on building the 4×4 course, working closely with the Estate foresters, professional course designers and digger drivers, whilst always making sure to look after the natural habitat and landscape. He then turned his attention to the shooting site which was purely a field with a track, of sorts. Behind the scenes, I began work on the business development, marketing and administration. We started welcoming our first guests in 2006 but CBA Events remained the priority.

In 2017 we were fortunate enough to reach the final of the Cumbria Tourism ‘New Tourism Business’ category in their annual awards which gave us a real boost. 2019 saw more success; Tim was deservedly one of the top 10 ‘Tourism Superstars’ in the UK in the Visit England Awards against some tough competition, CBA Events was a finalist in the UK Conference News Agency of the Year Awards, I was a finalist in the Customer Service category of The Enterprise Vision Awards, the largest women in business awards outside London, we were finalist in the Cumbria Family Business Awards and we won the Cumbria Tourism ‘Experience of the Years’ award – the first year for this category.

Proud of what we’ve achieved, and of each other, we feel now is the right time for us to concentrate on where we love most; the Lake District, what we love most; being outdoors, doing what we love most; creating experiences for others. Graythwaite Adventure is now, as of 2022, our primary focus – it just feels right for us a family.  Despite the challenges we all faced in 2020 and 2021, we were lucky to have some bumper months. Whilst there are going to be many aspects of what we’ve done over the last 20 years that we’ll miss; we can draw on all those experiences and use them to our advantage on the Estate.

We’re grateful to each and every one of our guests, for choosing to spend time with us. Believe us when we say we enjoy the experience just as much as you do. I think what we love most about Graythwaite Adventure is that guests arrive in good spirits and leave in an even better mood. What’s not to love about that.