Mountain Trails Adventure School looks like something out of an American movie but in reality, this holiday camp sees young Canberrans spend their days riding horses and canoeing in regional New South Wales.

The holiday camp runs various themed programs every school holidays on its 9500-acre property outside of Wee Jasper, catering for grades four to 12. It also provides programs for schooling and community groups during the term.

Every week during the school holidays, campers are picked up at various points around Canberra and the region, before being taken to the week-long camp.

While some of the participants only attend one week out of the holidays, operations manager Andrea Wishart said it was not unheard of for campers to return for multiple weeks - particularly in the January school holidays - as it is a good alternative to holiday care.

"Some of our campers have been coming for nearly 10 years now, they just keep coming back every school holidays, which is amazing to see," she said.

"But we have a lot of campers whose parents are working during these weeks and they drop them off at the bus [in Canberra] on Monday morning and pick them up at the end of the week."

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The camp began 35 years ago as a horseback riding camp, with the original owners aiming to create a Christian-focused camp for disadvantaged youth.

It proved popular enough that they outgrew its original location, and needed to relocate to the camp's current property in Wee Jasper.

In the years since, it has expanded to include programs dedicated to dirt bike riding - which like the horse riding, sees participants ride around the property for the entire week - and an adventure camp that features abseiling, canoeing, archery and caving, all of which is on-site.

And to get the full American-style summer camp experience, the evenings see campers stay in dorm-style cabins, with activities such as campfires, movie nights, night walks with stargazing and games such as hide and seek.

While Ms Wishart said there are still Christian teachings as part of a daily focus session, campers do not need to have religious beliefs to attend the camp.

"We also do a refresh session for each camp every day, which has its focus around mental health and some of the issues that these campers might be facing at school or just generally," Ms Wishart said.

While the concept of a holiday camp is the norm in countries such as the United States and parts of Europe, it is more unusual in Australia.

But, a 2020 study found that summer programming, including holiday camps, resulted in more active kids, who ate healthier than those who didn't attend.

Furthermore, a 2019 University of South Australia study found that a lack of structure during the holidays led to less physical activity, an increase in screen time and more junk food.

When it came to trying to combat this, the researchers specifically suggested structured holiday programs, and in particular summer camps.

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