Meet the Cotswold Lakes Venue Putting a New Spin on Clay Shooting

Laser Clay Cotswolds is taking clay shooting and turning it on its head - making it fun, fast-paced and open to absolutely everyone.

Laser Clay Cotswolds has found a way to make clay shooting accessible to pretty much anyone - by taking out everything that puts people off. No recoil, no live ammunition, no experience needed. The whole setup - infrared guns, automatic launchers, a scoreboard full of surprises - is designed to make clay shooting genuinely competitive for everyone, whether they've held a gun before or not. Just moving targets, quick reactions, and a scoreboard that tends to humble people very quickly.

Sitting at the Cotswold Lakes near Somerford Keynes, they run instructor-led sessions from their purpose-built venue from £25 per person, and will also bring the kit to you for weddings, corporate events and private parties. The guns are deactivated 12-bore shotguns firing infrared beams at reflective, reusable clays - so no ammunition, no broken clay debris, and no shoulder bruise the next morning. It still feels like the real thing. Just without the consequences.

The format has a few inventive twists. The Wheel of Misfortune drops challenge modes mid-round - hip shots, 360-degree turns - that flatten whatever advantage anyone had quietly built up. The Secret Sniper board withholds everyone's scores until the end, which tends to produce at least one surprise.

Sessions run 60 to 120 minutes depending on group size, with six daily slots from 9.30am. Groups of up to 25 shoot together; bigger parties can be split across multiple sessions. Suitable from age 12 up. Dogs welcome on leads, plenty of parking, and a drinking water station on site - though no café yet, so bring snacks if you're making a morning of it.

It holds a 5.0 on TripAdvisor with a Travellers' Choice award. What reviewers mention most is the instruction - knowledgeable, good-humoured, and genuinely effective.

laserclaycotswolds.co.uk