In a work-driven world, it's hard to admit that an activity's purpose is purely fun. But the West Country - which gave us Glastonbury, New Age travellers and scrumpy - is surely a place where you can own up to simply doing something for a laugh?

And yet here I am listening as John Grainger, from the Castle Combe Skid Pan track, tries to claim with a straight face that what I'm doing - accelerating a BMW through out-of-control, enormous spins, and whacking into the cones just because I can - is all about road safety.

When we arrive, George, his assistant, is "testing" the slippiness of the surface (oiled and hosed to make cars do screaming 360s) by hurtling backwards in a Rover round a figure of 8 track. "Now," says John, "I want you to go out there and spin." Not, you understand, because it's a total hoot and every boy racers' dream; oh no. This is to be prepared for what could happen on an icy day.

To underpin it, John occasionally shares his dark, haunted visions. "A little old lady on the pavement. You're skidding towards her. But you have to ignore her and focus on the line of safety. Do you swing out? No. Because there's a 40-foot artic truck. Little old lady or the artic? That's a decision you have to make."

There's no time to dwell on ethics, because we're straight on to the 4x4s. In a Land Rover Discovery, we head around the corner to an artificial hill: near-vertical slopes, rocky surfaces and some enormous toxic-looking puddles. Course objective: to learn how to control and manage the capabilities of the 4WD. Our objective: drive down mad steep hills and land with a splash.

"We're always looking for the safest way," cautions John. "You could be on safari miles off the beaten track in 30 grand's worth of vehicle, fall down a ravine and no one's ever going to find you." Until that moment, we can only urge John to drive us up and over that really impossible drop one more time.

The third activity here is karting, which is a blast, and makes no pretence at teaching you anything. We have a quick few laps. Well, they feel quick to me, though apparently a local kid can do the whole circuit in 23 seconds, approximately the time it takes me to get my fingers in the right bit of the gloves.

And yet all this motoring joy, revelation of fun though it has been, is a mere sideshow compared to the main event next door: learning to drive a racing car on the Castle Combe circuit.

In the reception room, about a dozen of us wannabe-Schumachers are shuffling in our seats through a mildly excruciating intro from the warm-up man. Then it's over to some quick fire instruction. The main thing you need to know, according to Alan Cooper, senior racing instructor, is the Racing Line. Follow the Racing Line, and you won't go far wrong. It's all about turning at the right moment - demonstrated on an old wall chart behind him and helpfully plotted out on the course with a selection of coloured cones.

An instructor takes each student for a few laps round in a Ford Focus, in which I fail miserably to get my racing line in order, before transferring us - alone - to an actual racing car: a Formula Ford 1600. These don't have a speedometer, but we're assured that even those of us who can't quite get to grips with the unusual gearbox are doing a good 100mph. The trouble is, without pedestrians to swerve around, you don't really get a sense of how fast you're going. Perhaps I didn't push the accelerator enough - I'm relieved to emerge unscathed but confess to not having felt the promised adrenaline rush.

But a better, faster driver than me is Peter O'Keefe, 39, from Cardiff, here today as a belated Christmas present, having done a similar course at Brands Hatch. "It was a lot busier there. This is great: a quicker circuit, the cars are quicker, there's a better atmosphere. For some people it can be a little intimidating but there's none of that here - this is really good fun."

In truth, I'd already discovered a new vehicle in Castle Combe that had stolen my heart: the golf buggy. A couple of minutes drive away is the Manor House Hotel, a classic country retreat in 365 acres of beautiful parkland, and endowed with a magnificent, championship standard golf course. The course is a long, undulating tour through woods and rivers. I loved it, but as a beginner was clearly out of my depth, despite an hour or so on the practice range. Consolingly, I wasn't the only one: in the river before the eighth green, the balls were stacking up like frogspawn.

With the leaves turning red and gold around the fairways, it felt a perfect autumnal activity - topped off by returning to the Manor House where a log fire was crackling alluringly in the reception. It's the sort of welcoming country house where you can just sink into the sofas with a glass or two of something after an excellent dinner and not really want to stir, before trying to hazily discover which bit of the wood-panelled walls is actually the door.

Castle Combe village is a pristine, ad-free time warp, delighting the Japanese tourists snapping away at the stone cottages. One row of these 18th century houses forms a wing of the hotel, undergoing a luxurious refit for next summer. Even now, had the visitors peeked through the windows they might have been surprised to find some very plush and modern bathrooms and fittings in among the four posters and wooden floorboards. Not to mention one contented, snoring, would-be golfer, dreaming of skidding his buggy at speed around a slippery par-three green.

Way to go:

· Bed and breakfast accommodation at the Manor House Hotel and Golf Club (see below) starts at £195 based on two sharing. A package including dinner, bed and breakfast and golf costs £345 for two. Manor House Hotel, Castle Combe, near Chippenham, Wiltshire. +44 (0)1249 782 206. Exclusive Hotels

Gwyn did the Castle Combe Racing's Race Car Standard course, which costs £155. castlecomberacingschool.co.uk, 0870 2408385 or 01249 782417

Drive Tech run the skidpan, kart track and 4x4. Skid control course costs £75, kart racing £40, 4x4 training £99. combe-events.co.uk, 01249 783010