Swap the boardroom for a paddock. Guided corporate alpaca walks near Southampton that get teams talking, laughing and working together — no icebreakers required.
When a team spends its days behind screens and back-to-back calls, a genuinely different away-day does more than a hotel meeting room ever could. Our corporate alpaca experiences at Itchen Valley Country Park hand each colleague the lead rope of a halter-trained alpaca and send the group out along shaded woodland trails together. It is calm, a little bit silly, and surprisingly effective at breaking down the hierarchy that usually shapes how a team behaves.
There is no scoreboard and nothing to win, which is precisely the point. Alpacas are gentle, curious and completely indifferent to job titles, so the quietest member of the team often turns out to be the natural handler while the loudest learns to slow down. Colleagues who normally only meet over Teams end up comparing notes on their animals, swapping leads at the halfway point and laughing at the inevitable moment an alpaca decides the grass on the other side really is greener. Those shared, low-stakes moments are what people remember long after the flip-chart exercises are forgotten.
Sessions last around two hours and are led by an experienced handler who briefs everyone, matches people to alpacas and keeps the group moving at an easy pace. We can take teams of all sizes and will happily split larger groups across the morning and afternoon. The walk is entirely on foot along level, well-maintained park paths, so no special fitness is needed and everyone finishes together. It suits staff away-days, department socials, client hospitality, onboarding groups welcoming new starters, and reward days for teams that have hit a target.
Itchen Valley Country Park sits on Allington Lane in West End, roughly fifteen minutes from central Southampton, Eastleigh and Winchester, and an easy drive from Fareham, Portsmouth and Basingstoke. There is ample free parking on site, so a coach or a convoy of cars is no problem. Many companies pair the walk with lunch at a nearby pub or a working session beforehand, using the alpacas as the reward that gets everyone out from behind their desks.
Walks start from £32 per person, with an extra walker on the same alpaca just £18, and we can tailor timings, group splits and optional gift vouchers for prizes or leaving gifts. We are a family-run, BAS-registered farm with sixteen years of experience and more than forty alpacas, so your team is in safe, knowledgeable hands from arrival to the final photograph. To arrange a date or ask about larger bookings, call us on 0333 050 4012 and we will build the day around your team.