What Can I Expect

The brilliant Drive a Digger experience in Leicestershire! Get geared up for a bit of digging, dozing and earth moving on these digger experience days. This is your chance to drive an actual digger in a former gravel quarry. 

Digger days take place at Sibbertoft near Market Harborough, on the Leicestershire/Northamptonshire border. Before becoming a top-notch off road driving and outdoor activity centre, gravel was quarried here. That means the ground is very undulating, gets water-logged rather easily and can be very muddy. The perfect terrain for a drive in a digger.

This Volvo excavator is just as you'd imagine. The driver's cab sits on the rotating platform (or house) with twin rubber tracks. The boom moves up and down, whilst the 1.8m long dipper is the bit attached to it that has the force to dig into the ground. On the end of that you'll find a bucket, used to scoop up the earth. All of these are controlled with levers inside the cab - and that's your job.

What's great about driving a digger is experiencing for yourself how manoeuvrable they are. The tracks allow you to  trundle along quite happily on the uneven terrain. The fully rotating cab means you spin round on the spot, which is just cool. And of course, having that powerful digger arm at your disposition means you can have fun doing 'some serious damage' in the mud.

Dig a hole, make a few trenches, practice digging foundations - these are all the sorts of ground works these Volvos excel at. And we have to say, there's something infinitely satisfying about shifting earth from one side to another in order to make a big hole in the ground, before scooping it all back up to fill it up again. 

The excavator will be right at home because it's working in its natural environment. You'll be deliriously happy too and that's what this drive a digger experience is all about. Let's see if you're cut out for handling some heavy plant machinery in this former quarry work site!

When Is It Available

• Selected weekdays and weekends throughout the year
• Dates and session times are subject to availability and weather conditions

Suitable For

• Minimum age 17
• You will need a full valid driving licence to take part (or know how to drive a manual vehicle)
• Under 18s must be accompanied on site by an adult
• Maximum weight 18 stone (114kgs)

Spectators

• Spectators are welcome to come and watch