Land Rover Experience Eastnor review

The SoGlos.com team take a hop, skip and jump across the Gloucestershire border in a bid to discover whether the Land Rover Experience Eastnor is worth going that extra mile for.

Okay, so strictly speaking it is across the North West Gloucestershire border, but since the county doesn’t have its own dedicated venue we were willing to make a stone’s throw exception for the Herefordshire-based Land Rover Experience Eastnor.

Situated, as the name suggests, in the grounds of the stunning Eastnor Castle, the venue is one of only a handful in the UK where budding and experienced off-roaders alike are given the chance to put Land Rover’s brand spanking new models through their paces as part of structured experiences and courses, under the supervision of the British car company’s expert instructors.

Given the choice of getting behind the wheel of a Defender, Discovery 4, Freelander 2, Range Rover or Range Rover Sport, SoGlos.com’s editor and I opted to keep it real with the iconic Defender – booking in for the half-day adventure course promising to cover the basics of off-road driving across various terrains.

Following a base briefing by our lifelong Land Rover-loving instructor Martin, we put pedal to the metal and set out onto an exclusive 30 miles of carefully managed trails situated in Eastnor Castle’s 5,000-acre Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Being our very first taste of off-roading, we were instantly in awe of the Defender’s dexterity, trying to fight a natural wince reaction as the mighty beast approached seemingly huge holes and big bumps in the rugged, muddy track.

Delving deep into the forest we only occasionally needed to switch between first and second gears, with a secondary differential gearbox set to lower the torque, and we let the car do the hard work in gripping its way up sharply ascending slopes, staying steady down quickly descending drops and keeping upright as we took on an array of unbelievable angles – giving the car and its occupants a gentle shake along the way.

At times I have to admit it felt like autopilot as the Defender cantered along well-worn tracks with only the need for minimal steering, but after a good hour at the helm (you can expect around two hours behind the wheel during a half-day experience, or less if shared between up to three people enjoying an experience together) we felt like a whole new world of Land Rover life, usually the reserve of owners, had been unveiled to us.

En-route back to the corporate-centred basecamp, with majestic deer to be spotted along the way for those with a keen eye, it was a pleasure to see more of the Eastnor grounds which have been used as a secret Land Rover test facility in recent decades. We were also fascinated to hear Martin reveal how Eastnor’s tracks were regularly used to train everything from British police and ambulance forces, rescue teams and military regiments to farmers – not to mention mums that do lunch and dads who have never grown up, judging by the participants in attendance on our visit.

While more of an educational, insightful and carefully controlled morning of driving tuition than the all-out extreme sports experience we were expecting, our half-day experience was nonetheless a fascinating insight into the world of Land Rovers and 4×4 driving. A must for anyone looking into buying one of the miraculous machines, for those hoping to improve their 4×4 prowess in a controlled environment or as a pricier present for that special someone, the Land Rover Experience Eastnor provided just cause to cross the Gloucestershire border on the hunt for a fun way to spend a Saturday morning.

Don’t be surprised if you see the newly converted SoGlos.com team navigating the county in their own Defender. The bad weather created some nasty potholes in Cheltenham’s roads, after all…

The half-day Land Rover Experience costs £175 per person. For more information call 0870 26 4444 69. The address for the centre is Land Rover Experience Eastnor, The Bothy, Eastnor Castle, Ledbury, Herefordshire, HR8 1RL.

James Fryer
7 May 2010