Welcome to the Taunton Leisure Blog

Fill up their Christmas stockings with great gift ideas If you’re looking for some great outdoor kit as a Christmas present for the keen hiker, climber, walker or camper in your life, then visit our online Gift Ideas or see us in-store at Bristol, Exeter or Taunton for a whole host of gift ideas (2018). [...]

We’d love it if you could help us keep Bristol’s homeless warm this Christmas through donations this month (December 2018) of nearly new sleeping bags and clothing. Our Bedminster-based Taunton Leisure – Bristol is inviting you to bring in any items you no longer need to help with a collection it is making for the [...]

  With your assistance, we’ll be helping keep Exeter’s homeless warm this Christmas and New Year through donations of nearly new rucksacks, sleeping bags and outdoor clothing. Our store on Fore Street is inviting you, if you live locally, to bring in any items you no longer need to help with a collection it is [...]

Arc'Teryx Overview Arc’teryx are a premium Canadian based outdoors manufacture who where founded in 1989. They are built on the principle of obsessive, precise design and production. They have unique in-house manufacturing and they have worked closely with companies such as Gore-Tex, YKK, Coreloft and many more to push the boundaries of outdoor innovation. One [...]

Just add sun! Making a difference When we talk about well performing outdoor equipment and lightweight technical gear, one sadly doesn’t think of solar powered lighting. It is too often thought of as being a permanent garden light on a stake or a poorly designed device which can be left for days in full sunshine [...]

Petzl Bindi Headtorch Review How can something so small be so bright?  This is the question I'm still asking having now used the new Petzl Bindi headtorch for the past month. The Bindi has 3 white light settings, 200 Lumen max power, 100 lumen standard and 5 Lumen max autonomy, it also has 2 red [...]

Socks, pants, slippers & gloves they’ll want this Christmas IT’S NOT naff to get socks, pants, gloves or slippers for Christmas if you’re a hiker, climber, walker or camper – they need them. Here’s a selection of some of the best available this year (2018) from us online and, also, from our stores in Taunton, [...]

Planning your wilderness adventure? This brief guide will run through a few of the considerations when choosing what to pack. Cooking equipment and food Lightweight cookware, cooking equipment and food provides your fuel for the trip. Carefully chosen cookware will save on space, weight and last a life time. Most of the Snow Peak range [...]

As the wet weather is upon us, we have selected our picks of the latest waterproof jackets Whether you are looking for a jacket for climbing mountains, hiking the hills, wearing through town or watching winter sports we have selected some of our favourites below. Arc'Teryx Beta LT Jacket No matter what your adventure. A [...]

A well fitting back pack is one of the most important pieces of kit on any hiking trip or expedition. The packs we carry range in capacity, from tiny 11 litre day packs to huge 80 litre rucksacks, but the fitting procedure will always be the same. If you are going to be spending hours, […]

Meet author and walker at Bristol Evening talk Author and walker Robin Tetlow will be giving a free talk about his book ‘Beyond Bristol: 24 Country Walks’ at our Bristol store in November. Robin, who will be at our store in Bedminster on Thursday, November 22 at 6.30pm, told us: “I have had an interest in walking, travel and [...]

The Hilleberg training tour Vålådalen Naturreservat in Sweden Stuart (from our Exeter store) and Pablo (from our Bristol store) were the lucky ones selected to go on the Hilleberg training trip to the Vålådalen Naturreservat, Sweden in September. The team camped in a range of Hilleberg tents for 5 nights and hiked 10km across the [...]