FAQs

For non-school bookings, you can fill in our enquiry form here or get in touch at gowanbank@suscotland.org.uk or 01560 323 370.

For school bookings, you can visit our Classroom Outdoors website to make an enquiry or contact us at gowanbank@suscotland.org.uk or 01560 323 370.

If you've made a booking with us, you can manage your booking on our online portal, Group Self Service.

Manage your booking with us here.

Of course! We would love to meet you and show you around. Get in touch to arrange a visit.

In the event of a cancellation by a group, any deposits paid are non-refundable. Further details of cancellation charges can be found on your booking form.

In the unlikely event that an event is cancelled by the centre, we will seek to reschedule the event for another mutually agreed date. If this cannot be organised, any payment made will be refunded.

We run SU Holidays for 8-18 year olds at Gowanbank throughout the school holidays. You can find out about the SU Holidays happening throughout the year and book on the SU Holidays website.

For weekend groups, we welcome guests after 5:00pm on Friday and ask that the premises are vacated no later than 4:00pm on Sunday. We can sometimes be flexible with these timings depending on other bookings - please ask.

For non-weekend groups, times often vary. Get in touch with the centre to discuss arrival and departure timings for your booking.

Gowanbank has great transport links. The nearest train station is in Kilmarnock, which as regular connections from Glasgow and Carlisle. From Kilmarnock, you can catch Bus 1 (Priestland) through to Newmilns or Darvel which will drop you a few minutes' walk from the centre.

We hope you have a great stay with us. After your stay, you will be provided with a link to our feedback form. We take all feedback into consideration and review regularly, implementing any changes to ensure that our guests have the best experience with us.

You can also leave us a review on Google here.

We have lounge areas, a large meeting room, games room, dining room, kitchen and a wheelchair accessible bedroom downstairs, with an accessible wet-room bathroom. Upstairs has nine en-suite bedrooms with between two and seven beds.

Our large meeting room is flexible enough to be used for activities, conferences or seminars and has a projector, screens and a sound system.

We have a wood burning stove and plenty of comfy sofas, ideal for a bit of chill time.

Our games room has a pool table, table football and other activities. There's also plenty of outdoor space to explore, too!

We have a floor plan and a bedroom plan so you can see get a feel for how the building is arranged.

If you would like to arrange to come and have a look round the building and grounds, please get in touch.

Food is a key part of your event and the kitchen is well equipped and will be fully checked and cleaned prior to your arrival. We ask that you nominate a chief cook who will be responsible for the catering arrangements. We recommend that they have completed food hygiene training. If you order food deliveries online, please book a slot after your arrival time.

Here is some key information you can pass on to your chief cook: Gowanbank Catering Information

We offer catered and self-catered options at the centre. Get in touch to discuss your needs.

Please leave the centre clean and tidy - it makes all the difference. While at the centre and particularly on your day of departure, please vacuum all carpeted areas, sweep/ mop non-carpeted areas and empty bins. We'll provide a quick guide to what needs done. Centre staff will service toilets and shower areas during your stay.

Yes, we provide your duvet, duvet cover, pillow, pillowcase and fitted sheet.

For weekend groups, we welcome guests after 5:00pm on Friday and ask that the premises are vacated no later than 4:00pm on Sunday. We can sometimes be flexible with these timings depending on other bookings - please ask.

Yes, we offer free WiFi to guests. The group leader will be given the password for this on arrival. Unsupervised access should not be given to anyone under the age of 18.

We have 50 beds in the centre across 10 en-suite bedrooms.

For weekend groups, we have a minimum occupancy of 34. We can sometimes be flexible with this number, so if your group is smaller, please get in touch.

We have a good-sized car park out of the front of the building for parking cars. There is also space for coaches to come up the drive and turn.

There is space for coaches to come up the drive and turn. You may find it useful to pass these coach instructions onto your coach driver.

We do not have EV charging onsite. However, there is a rapid charger located in a carpark on Randalcoup Road in Darvel and some 22kW chargers at Browns Road Car Park in Newmilns. There are also multiple 300kW rapid chargers along in Galston near Tesco.

A limited number of travel cots are available and a couple of high chairs. Please let us know ahead of your stay if you require a travel cot and we can make sure this is ready for you.

In our main meeting space, we have:

• two wall-mounted screens which can be connected to via HDMI (either directly by cable,
• or through a wireless HDMI device)
• projector screen (please bring your own projector if you would like to use this screen, or get
• in touch ahead of your stay if you would like to borrow one.)
• wall mounted speakers which can be connected to through audio jack or bluetooth
• 2 radio handheld microphones , 1 radio lapel microphone and 1 wired microphone
• Rechargable batteries for microphones
• XLR leads
• 2 mic stands
• 3 music stands
• Sound desk to plug microphones and instruments into the sound system
• Roland full-length keyboard
• Silent Disco equipment
• Flipchart stand

In our lounge, we have:

• a large, wall-mounted TV with HDMI cable
• a DVD player with a selection of DVDs

Gowanbank has a TV Licence to cover guests watching live television during their stay.

Yes, Gowanbank has accessible building entrances with ramps and an accessible ground floor bedroom with wet room accessible bathroom and a portable adult changing table.

Our team do not stay on-site at the centre.

A member of the Gowanbank team will be on-call throughout your stay and can be contacted to assist with any queries or concerns. The duty staff member is within 5 minutes drive of the centre, and can attend the centre to assist with any requests or incidents.

Yes! Venue hire includes access to self-led activities at Gowanbank and we are happy to provide an induction if you would like to try these. However, you can make your stay what you would like it to be - the site also works well for conferences, church weekends and training events and if you do not require an instructor, that's not a problem. If you are interested in booking instructed activity sessions, these can be added to your booking in advance of your stay. Find out more about our activities here.

We offer a range of onsite and offsite activities including archery, bushcraft, abseiling and watersports. You can find a full list of our activities here.

Yes, our instructors and experienced in adapting our activities for a range of Additional Support Needs and disabilities. Please get in touch with our team to discuss in more detail.

Yes! We offer school residential trips for primary schools and secondary schools throughout the year. Please visit our dedicated schools website to find out more.

Head over to our dedicated schools website, Classroom Outdoors, where you can find lots of useful information about our school trips and some more specific FAQs related to our school residential trips!

Absolutely! Gowanbank is perfect for multi-activity trips, leadership and prefect training, music rehearsals and study weekends. Head to our Classroom Outdoors website for more information.

Yes, we offer a priority discount to schools with a high proportion of pupils from SIMD 1-2 deciles and we also have a School Bursary Fund which can be used to help individual pupils with the cost of a residential with us.

You can find out more about this and our school residential and activity day programmes on our dedicated schools website, Classroom Outdoors.

Gowanbank is a great place to bring your young people, whether you’re looking for a day trip or an overnight stay like a youth weekend away or midweek residential trip. We offer a range of outdoor activities that can help your young people build relationships and grow in confidence and resilience.

Read more about what we offer youth groups here and get in touch to start planning your event.

Yes, we run activity days for youthwork groups. These can be based at Gowanbank using our onsite activities or we can offer one of our offsite activities such as rock climbing, watersports or abseiling.

Some groups opt to bring their young people for a series of activity days over a number of weeks. These programmes can be helpful if you're working towards specific goals in your group, such as building relationships, or growing resilience.

We are open all year round! Our weekends tend to book up around 6-12 months in advance, especially for busier periods of the year like spring/summer so get in touch as soon as you have dates in mind to book your weekend.

We also offer midweek stays.

Gowanbank is a great venue for conferences. Many churches and Christian organisations use us for conferences, training events and retreats.

We have a well-equipped meeting room with AV equipment, breakout spaces and comfortable en-suite accommodation.

We’d love to host your next event. For availability and pricing, enquire online here or contact us at gowanbank@suscotland.org.uk or 01560 323 370.

Yes, we’d love to welcome you and your team. Get in touch to enquire about availability.

Gowanbank can be booked for meetings, either in a meeting space within the centre, or in our multi-purpose meeting space in our outer building. We have limited availability at busier times of year so get in touch to check availability and prices for venue hire. We can also provide refreshments and/or lunch for your meeting.

We are open all year round! Our weekends tend to book up around 6-12 months in advance, especially for busier periods of the year like spring/summer so get in touch as soon as you have dates in mind to book your church retreat weekend.

We have 10 en-suite bedrooms in the centre, sleeping between 2-7 in each room, with a mix of single beds and bunk beds. You can see our full bedroom layout here.

Groups staying at the centre will have exclusive use of the building for the duration of your stay.

Sometimes, we will have an activity day happening alongside a residential event and so there may be other groups on-site taking part in activities outside. Our team will let you know if we're expecting any other groups on-site at the same time as you.

Yes, our instructors are fully qualified and experienced to run our adventurous activities and undergo regular training.

Gowanbank has been granted a licence by the Adventure Activities Licensing Authority (AALA) to provide adventurous activities for young people. Our centre is managed by a member of the Association of Heads of Outdoor Education Centres and registered with a number of local authorities as accredited providers. Confirmation of the licence contents can be checked online at AALA.

All of our activity instructors and other relevant staff hold Outdoor first aid qualifications. If illness or injury requires medical attention, there is a local GP surgery in Darvel, a local out of hours service and a hospital in Kilmarnock.

All our staff and volunteers are members of the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme.

SU Scotland is committed to the safeguarding of children, young people and adults at risk, ensuring their well-being. We believe in the necessity of creating a healthy culture in our organisation where the value of all people is recognised and where we respond appropriately when this value is undermined. If you would like a copy of our safeguarding policy, please get in touch with the centre staff by emailing gowanbank@suscotland.org.uk.

We run a range of Duke of Edinburgh Gold residential weeks throughout the year including a multi-activity week, a watersports week and a cooking skills week. You can find the dates for our upcoming weeks here.

Our Duke of Edinburgh Gold Residential courses can be booked on our SUHolidays website. You can find the booking links on our DofE page.