ABOUT THE OWNER
Hi! My name is Nick Baines and I am the owner of In-Range Archery. On and off I have been an archer for 30 years but I can still pinpoint the exact moment all that time ago when I fell in love with the sport. It was at a Sunday morning boot sale, Kingsmead greyhound racetrack in Canterbury (now long since demolished), where I picked up a Slazenger, wooden flat bow and a box of three dog-eared wooden arrows for the princely sum of 50 pence (all my pocket money I seem to recall). When I held the bow it just felt right. I don’t know if those around me saw the celestial lightning bolt that came down and struck me right there…but I felt it and I still do whenever I shoot if I’m completely honest. What I also know is that I’m not alone in my passion for Archery.
My passion for the sport runs deep, but not to an obsessive “I must know everything” degree. I shoot for pleasure, for fun, for pure enjoyment. Whilst I am a target recurve shooter you won’t find me on the shooting line with the latest equipment, the most expensive arrows or adorned with sponsorship logos. The riser and limbs I use are 15 years old, the arrows are 6 years old and I’m still using the finger tab I bought 20 years ago…why? Because they work! I can shoot Bowman scores with them so I don’t see the need to spend a fortune on the latest kit because I’m not chasing those extra points.
But, I hear you cry, why would you make such an admission on your website when you are trying to sell archery equipment!? Well that’s an easy one to answer! When my father bought me my first “proper” bow it was from a local Archery shop in Kent and the gentleman that sold it to me made sure that it was what I needed and not the one that made the most profit. His service, time, honesty and passion has lasted in my memory and for years now, since his shop closed and sadly since his own passing, myself and so many other archers I have been lucky enough to call friends have always said that mid Kent needs an archery shop. So here it is! I have invested my own money into creating this for you. I’m not out to become a retail mogul, there won’t be reality TV shows made about me in years to come. My end game is to earn enough to keep the roof over the heads of my amazing family and to be able to go to “work” and do the thing I love. Along the way I hope that I can help other archers in the way I was helped all those years ago. Then I will have done my best.
ABOUT OUR BUILDING
In-Range Archery is a small archery store in the heart of Kent, situated just outside the beautiful, historic village of Wrotham.
The building is on 2 levels: upstairs is the shop selling a range of equipment to suit Recurve, Compound and Traditional archers as well as a small seating area with hot drinks facilities; downstairs is the (11m) indoor range which is well lit and heated with toilet facilities.
If there’s something I don’t have in stock, just ask and I will do my very best to find it for you.
The 100-year-old granary building we call home was not designed for disabled access and with that in mind, I am trying to source funding to provide disabled access to the upstairs level but the range is accessible via ramp access to the main door and in the event that access is needed for wider wheelchairs, the emergency exit on the range can be used with the assistance of the staff. I would ask that anyone requiring disabled access to In-Range Archery should phone ahead and let us know you’re coming so we can make arrangements in order to best accommodate your needs.
On the first day the shop opened I gained a list of amazing people that are willing to lend their support with coaching or just helping out. In time as the business grows I hope to expand the team but at the moment it’s just me!
So please, come and find us. Browse, shoot, tell me what you think and let me know what you need me to stock. As much as this shop has been a dream for a long time for me, I have built it for you too, so come and talk to me and help me make it the archery shop you need it to be.