The idea for Go Ape began in France in 2001 when husband and wife Tristram and Rebecca Mayhew were on holiday in France with their six-month old baby. “While staying in the Auvergne,” Tristram told Money Week in 2009, “we came across this tree-top adventure course.” He describes seeing a family of four were running through the trees, using ladders, walkways and tunnels made of wood and rope. The ten-year-old was having a great time, the 15-year-old was, too, but trying not to show it, but it was the parents who made the biggest impression on Mayhew they “were like 15-year-olds on a first date”. It was obvious, he says, that they were having the time of their lives.

From those early days, Tristan and Rebecca wanted to build a company everyone could be proud of, with a clear vision, mission and values with adventure at its heart. These values are keeping the “adventure” in adventure, be socially and environmentally responsible and to do the right thing.

Now, 20 years later, they’ve built one of the fastest growing companies in the country. There are 35 sites in the UK and Go Ape is in 16 states in the USA. As Tristan says: “My military training was ‘fortune favours the bold’ so we decided to push hard and see how much we could achieve. We now have 35 locations across Britain and are in 16 states in America. It’s been a huge team effort, driven by a shared passion for adventure, and shared values.”