PGL Travel facts for kids
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| Traded as | PGL |
|---|---|
| Industry | Educational Travel, Holidays |
| Founded | 1957 |
| Founder | Peter Gordon Lawrence |
| Headquarters |
United Kingdom
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Area served
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United Kingdom |
| Services | Holiday camps and activities |
| Owner | Midlothian Capital Partners |
PGL Travel Ltd, often just called PGL, is a company that organizes fun activity courses and summer camps for kids and schools in the United Kingdom. It's part of a bigger group called HB Education, which is owned by Midlothian Capital Partners. PGL is known for providing exciting outdoor adventures and educational trips for young people.
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PGL's Journey Through Time
PGL started way back in 1957! It was founded by Peter Gordon Lawrence and was first called PGL Voyages. In its early days, in the 1960s and 70s, PGL focused on adventures for young adults. They offered exciting activities like canoeing, sailing, and pony trekking, with people staying in tents.
Later, PGL began organizing trips for schools and other groups. In the 1980s, the company grew a lot, buying more places for adventures, from a large house in Scotland to a renovated farm in England. PGL even opened an office in the South of France. It became one of the first UK companies to offer canoeing holidays in the amazing Ardèche Gorge.
In the early 1990s, PGL expanded even more by taking over other adventure programs and centres. This helped them offer many more school adventure trips in the UK and France. In 1993, PGL also started offering school ski trips.
In 2000, PGL bought Château de Grande Romaine, a large former hotel with lots of space near Paris. This became another big centre for their trips.
In July 2004, PGL acquired 3D Education and Adventure, which was another big company in the same field. This added three more centres to PGL's locations in England and on the Isle of Wight.
In 2007, PGL was sold to a company called Holidaybreak Plc. This was the start of Holidaybreak's Education Division. PGL continued to add new centres in the UK, including Caythorpe Court in 2004 and a facility near Liddington in Wiltshire in 2009.
In July 2011, Holidaybreak was bought by Cox & Kings Limited, a company from India. PGL continued to grow internationally. In 2014, PGL opened an office in Melbourne, Australia. They also acquired three centres there: Campaspe Downs, Camp Rumbug, and Kindilan.
In 2017, PGL looked to add two more new centres: Newby Wiske Hall and Bawdsey Manor on the Suffolk Heritage Coast.
PGL's main focus today is still school trips and educational travel. These trips include adventure activities, as well as special courses in subjects like science, math, and French language. During school terms, PGL mainly hosts school and youth groups. They also offer birthday parties and day trips. When school is out, PGL offers adventure holidays for families and for children only, like summer camps.
In January 2025, PGL acquired three new centres: Grosvenor Hall in Ashford, Dearne Valley in Doncaster, and Overstrand Hall in Cromer. These centres were previously run by Kingswood, another big adventure company. PGL took them over to make sure that planned trips for over 50,000 young people could still happen. The acquired centres will operate under the PGL name. PGL also announced that they would accept new bookings from Kingswood customers at the price they had already agreed upon.
PGL Around the World
PGL has centres in France for school groups and other youth groups. These centres offer both activity and educational holidays. They also have three centres in Australia for school groups, youth groups, and school holiday camps.
PGL in France
- Château de Grande Romaine, Île-de-France
- Domaine de Segries, Ardèches
PGL in Australia
- PGL Camp Rumbug (South Gippsland, Victoria)
- PGL Campaspe Downs (Kyneton, Victoria)
- PGL Kindilan (Redland Bay, Queensland)
Images for kids
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PGL's company logo
