THE site of the old Wannon Primary School is once again welcoming students on its grounds, this time as a recreational activity camp, with co-owner, Josh Bell, planning to improve the facilities with an impressive list of ideas that he hopes will make it a popular destination for years to come.

Not that he hasn’t finished some substantial upgrades already - there’s a giant swing, frisbee golf, climbing tower, and outdoor cinema, with major earthworks delivering underground power and several tanks installed to recycle wastewater as well.

Josh has also already expanded the accommodation and said the idea to run the camp had a long history that goes back to his own childhood; he grew up in one of the nearby houses and even when he moved away to Western Australia his thoughts often harkened back to the location and, in conversations with his wife, Madeleine, their dream was birthed.

“We flippantly said that we would one day return, buy my parents’ house and buy this and run school camps,” he said.

“But that was an eternity ago - we were in WA for 20 years.”

The school closed in 1976 only months after celebrating its 100th anniversary and with new buildings it became a tourist park, and on their return to his family home, Josh and his wife discovered the site was for sale - and the rest, they say, is history.

“We came home and … speaking to the owners, they were ready to sell, and I said I was ready to buy, and that was it,” Josh said.

“Then we’ve just been jumping through hoops since.”

Compliance for providing a site to “predominantly schools” has kept him busy and he’s looking forward to transforming the park to something that will be a welcome local recreational asset for many years to come.

Josh said although the market for school camps, especially in regional areas, wasn’t particularly strong at the moment - “schools seem to be looking for more local options and trying to cut costs a bit” - coordinating and running them is more in keeping with their own teaching backgrounds.

“It’s been Platypus Park and that was a function centre - people had weddings and they did tours between the Grampians and the Coonawarra wine region,” he said.

“Then the owners after them (also) opened it as a function centre and a little caravan park - so there’s some caravan sites in the back there.

“But for us, both involved in education - Madeleine my wife as well - schools are open 40 weeks a year.

“It’s lots of kids, it’s one invoice, it’s one set of instructions. There’s so much for us, it ticked so many boxes and you can keep your creativity with activities. So, that’s how it started.”

Not that non-school groups wouldn’t be welcome - with plans to revert the ‘restaurant’ back to its original function (it was modified to be the residence), extend the outdoor catering area and even install a maze on the grounds, the location is also handy, next to the Hamilton-Coleraine cycling track and in close proximity to the Wannon River and the Falls.

Josh said he also hoped to run alternate gatherings such as art workshops or special interest camps.

“I’d like to do things like a Lego Masters camp and … have a certain number - (maybe) eight kids - come from different schools,” he said.

But for now, he said the ideas and upgrades had come to a point where the camp just needed to start running and let the market show them which way they would go.

“We had to keep saying, we need to get open before we define who we are,” Josh said.

“Because we don’t know, we’re just going to see.”