Highly recommend the White Water Adventures team! Our group of 3 booked our trip with them for the Lower Yough for Labor Day weekend and were thrilled with every aspect of the adventure. First and foremost, our guide, Ben was THE BEST. Ben was competent, safe, kind, fun, and was great at keeping a pulse on the abilities and needs of the team. We shared the boat with another group of three and he had us all working as a team and getting to know each other in no time. For those new to rafting, the guide will basically steer the boat and give the team paddling direction to help keep the line he's determined to get the raft safely through the rapid. Ben was great at explaining what we needed to do and checking in with us once we got used to things as to what kind of experience we'd like to have on the next rapid. Ben was patient, clear, and mixed things up--- sometimes giving us time to just quietly enjoy the beauty of the river, and sometimes chatting about the river's features or giving us area recommendations.
Everyone's idea of adventure is different, so it's hard to recommend which rafting trip might be a good fit, but for us, the Lower Yough was the perfect choice (we were first time rafters, but wanted a bit of a thrill). There was a great mix of excitement and also time to take in the river at a chill pace--- and even a stop for those who wanted to swim and/or climb/jump from a 20? ft boulder. For us, I think anything less challenging would have been a bit boring, and anything for intense might have been a bit much for the first time out.
The whole staff at White Water Adventures was great and did a great job at keeping us safe and ensuring we had a blast.