Posh hobbies for children - Skiing/ Sailing/ horse riding

[MamaLlama123]

wondering how common these posh hobbies are?? do your children do any?!

how much would it cost for children to learn

Why do you describe them as 'posh' hobbies?

I live by the sea in the South East and it is quite affordable for kids around here to do things like sailing clubs, rugby clubs and so on.

Same with horse riding: lessons for kids are more affordable than for adults. My adult private riding lessons are £27 at the local stables. Much less for kids.

If you are really posh you will own your own horse(s) by the way.

Skiing is a bit more pricey as obviously most people have to travel and pay accommodation to it.

I was in one last year and felt very much the norm at 50+! I am sure the working/brexit thing impacted it for sure

Must have been a different time of year then, the week before Xmas I was literally surrounded by 20y olds.

My point being it may seem a middle aged hobby now for Brits, because it's v hard for us to do it cheaply now, but it certainly isn't amongst European countries. I think skiing must be one of the few hobbies where you truly see all ages doing it.

Ah that’s when the unis go isn’t it? I don’t tend to go before Xmas as too much on.

My kids are horse mad, they work 9-3 at the stables Saturday and Sunday in exchange for rides and I pay £20 each a week for a lesson. It is NOT posh. They shovel shit, my washing machine is always full of hay and the coat rack smells of horse wee.

I did lacrosse at my state school. They just chose it over hockey.

There was a a thread a couple of months ago complaining that Scouts was too posh.

My kids do fencing and archery. May sound posh but not expensive, they love it. They do it because they asked to and there were good clubs locally.

Both my kids (girl and boy, now adult) ride, as I do and we got them a pony. Both also ski as me and my exH do so we went as a family and they also went for a week with their (state) junior school. They also learnt to sail in their summer holidays through a subsidised local council organisation. Outer London on a lake. I don't sail though as I can't stand boats after being on a catamaran in India in monsoon season!
We are by no means posh! Oh and my son also plays chess as his dad taught him and there was a club at his junior school. Both also can play instruments as they had free lessons in primary school and then paid for lessons. Neither play anymore though. Son also played cricket and daughter hockey with local clubs. We are not posh or wealthy!

I'd never come across lacrosse outside of Enid Blyton until I went to Durham.

I wouldn't consider us posh (state educated kids) but we have been fortunate to ski every year and they all learnt to sail on holiday where I grew up. I had a little boat that I trundled down to the beach and set off in. (Very swallows and amazons!) My eldest saved and bought her own dinghy and is now a senior instructor leading the dinghy sailing provision in a boarding school.
My brother's have had opportunity to the same as well as orienteering which is I think a niche posh sport!

I definitely didn't come form a posh background but had horse riding lessons as a kid. I was terrified though and stopped when we got to the jumping stage.

Oh grow up.

Orienteering posh? Running around in woods or countryside, which requires no equipment other than a pair of runners, a map and compass, and no skills other than map-reading and speed?

I don't think riding schools are allowed to do it any more anyway. And I was experienced, I used to help break in the youngstock, and teach some of the beginners classes (once I was old enough to do that). When I left school I went to work on a stud farm.

My not-posh DC learnt to sail with the Scouts. £100 each for 4 days tuition, kit hire and sailing fur the rest of the season - we deliberately chose the course the first week of the summer holidays to maximise the rest if the season.

DD plays chess, plays in a club at school (state school). She loves the game. The club is supported by a maths teacher.

The DC's school used to run a ski trip, but havn't for the last few years due to CoL. DH and I were both super keen skiers hire we had dc, but it's been pretty cost restrictive since we had the second child. I'd love to ski again, and it is looking more like will we could afford it, although not sure about the reliability of snow anymore!

Rugby - we live in the home of Rugby League! Pretty much every child I know locally, from all walks of life has played rugby at some point. A few of ds's Y10/11 peers have got scholarships etc with the local professional club. But I suspect the purists will tell me that League is anything but posh.

Riding - I did a bit as a child, I was never that into it. DS has a friend who has ponies, has ridden all their life etc, but neither of my dc has ever expressed any interest.

DS has a friend who is learning to fly. Lifelong dream. Sounds posh, but he id waitering in a food pub at weekends to pay for lessons. He can afford about one lesson a month, his family can't afford to support this passion.

@YouTulip orienteering posh like chess. I was discussing it with my brother. The races are often quite a drive away and might require camping overnight. It appeals to quite a niche group of people - mathematically, sciencey academic type folks. That's not my impression but the observations from my brother whose whole family are invested in it.

Two of mine did fencing. The club isn't expensive, but when they got good enough to need their own kit for competitions then the full set of kit was £500+. There we're definitely more private school kids than state school there.

@StiffyByngsDogBartholomew @PuttingDownRoots There is a not very posh at all fives club under the Westway flyover in Shepherds Bush. There used to be riding school under the flyover too. I don’t think that was very fancy either!

Cricket - state schools tend not to play it and kit costs ££

Depends where you live surely. We live 10 mins from nearest ski resort . Therefore everyone skis. From toddlers up. It’s included in curriculum at nursery and school.
Equipment is passed around secondhand, and most councils off free ski passes for children who live there

I think it depends what you are imagining "sailing" to be. Leisure yachting, cruising the Carribbean, campaigning to win the Olympics sure that can be pretty posh. But there are parts of the world where fishing is done in sailing boats (fishing for livelihood not leisure) - not so posh. And there are areas of the UK - central London and parts of the south coast - where clubs reach sailing pretty cheaply and aim to train kids up because there are careers in everything from dinghy teaching to becoming super yacht crew or having water based experience that can transfer into careers on cruise ships etc (even though they aren't wind powered vessels).

My DC's schools (state) do!
Both have played club cricket since they were 7 or 8, and at school. Every village round here has a club. Until last summer the club has provided all equipment'- but dd wanted a better bat for her birthday. Maybe it's a Yorkshire thing. Club fees are £40 a season!

@IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads as I started reading your post I thought "I bet they are in Yorkshire!" And then realised you said it at the end. We are in Yorkshire too- definitely a Yorkshire thing!

Real tennis.

My daughter rides and the group lessons are now £57 an hour. £40 for pony club. International stables, riding school in Hampshire. It's very costly I think but I wouldn't say it's posh.