Best fun you'll have all year - ranch style!

The summer camp is a familiar concept to anyone who has grown up a teenager in the United States or Canada. No surprise then that tourists and foreigners living in Beijing feel right at home when they arrive at the 2,000-acre (809 hectare) Goose and Duck Ranch in Huairou, normally just over one-hour's drive from Central Beijing.

The Goose and Duck Pub, as long-time residents of Beijing will tell you, is also a popular watering hole at the West Gate of Chaoyang Park.

Travelling northeast from the city centre, along one of the most scenic routes the city outskirts have to offer, the Goose and Duck Ranch is set in wide-open lush countryside amid a thick cover of a forest.

The road there winds through hairpin-bends and mountain scenery along tree-lined riverside avenues reminiscent of France or Italy.

The verdant green fields of local pre-harvest farmland and red-brick storage buildings and outhouses that dot the landscape create an atmosphere of rural calm in perfect juxtaposition to the hustle and bustle of one of the world's busiest cities.

Offering day outings and weekend getaways, the Goose and Duck Ranch lays on a shuttle bus that departs early morning from the Goose and Duck Pub and returns during early evening.

A setting for corporate entertaining, private hideaway weekends and large-scale party fun, the ranch caters to all tastes with sports and leisure activities ranging from the gentle to the more arduous. Go-kart racing and horseback riding, archery and paintball are certainly some of the more exciting options on offer.

An outdoor swimming pool, with optional poolside accommodations, provides leisure activities for the more restfully inclined.

Indoors, bowling, table tennis, pool and party games attract ranch revellers after dark.

With group rates available, a day out at the ranch is an incredibly good value, all in, at 200 yuan per person. A weekend, including accommodations for one night, costs 500 yuan per person, also all in.

Buffet food, barbecued alfresco, is a tasty combination of western and Chinese cuisine. There are also bonfire parties and forest picnics, adding to the fun and variety to be had at the ranch.

Drop into the Goose and Duck Pub downtown and pick up a ranch magazine.

Book now!

Goose and Duck Ranch

Huairou, Beijing.

Tel: +86 10 65381691

Fax: +86 10 65381827

Call the Chinese language hotline: +86 13601388898

Call the English language hotline: +86 13911875741

Visit the Goose and Duck Ranch online: http://www.gdclub.net.cn