Activities at Wiston Lodge

Activities

Wiston Lodge specialises in experiential learning. We believe in simple learning processes, and what could be simpler than learning through doing? We also believe in creating a safe and friendly environment - our guests tend to learn more when there's a smile on their faces.

Organisations use our activities to enhance their own learning programmes, and they generally fall into the following three categories: Outdoor Adventure, Environmental Education and Music & Arts.

Outdoor Adventure

We deliver personal and social development in an outdoor setting. Every group gets a bespoke programme based on their unique objectives (such as trust, communication, or self-esteem). The length of these courses is flexible, from a half-day to a full week. We design our courses so as to increase the participants' level of involvement in a progressive and non-threatening manner. Starting from simple games laid out on the lawn, everyone within the group advances to more challenging activities such as the high ropes course. We set a pace that remains challenging yet achievable by the whole group.

Our main focus within this category is young adults between 16 and 24 years. However, we have found that our experience in this field transfers well to both staff and corporate groups, who are looking to improve their team skills within their working environment.

Our activities are governed by the Adventure Activities Licensing Authority (AALA) where appropriate. All other activities outside this remit are conducted using AALA as a minimum benchmark, with instructors receiving site-specific training. All activities are covered by public liability insurance and we only used trained and qualified instructors. Please see our Info & FAQ page for more information on safety.

Environmental Education

Wiston Lodge has an impressive variety of habitats within its 53 acres of grounds. We have set up many different types of environmental courses for visiting groups. Examples range from constructing bird boxes to building new pathways. These projects can lead to a John Muir Award for the participants. The remoteness of Wiston Lodge allows visiting groups to immerse themselves in a variety of nature-related topics that can potentially open new ideas concerning our environment and some of the topical questions surrounding our relationship with nature.

Courses are designed to be experiential, rather than scientific, preferring to foster an appreciation of the great outdoors and a recognition of our effect on the natural world.

Music and Arts

Wiston Lodge has had a strong connection with music and arts for many years - The Tinto Folk Festival was held here from 1995-2001. This helped us appreciate the value of the arts as a developmental tool in education. We have hosted the Tinto Summer School which is designed to encourage young people into the Scottish music scene - young adults have developed from students to tutors over the years. Other programmes have included furniture making, using wood harvested within the grounds, and a variety of natural arts days that have tied into the environmental programmes on offer.

Other groups

The programmes mentioned above are examples of the three main roles of Wiston Lodge. However, we specialise in designing programmes that are right for our guests. This means that we have never just limited our programmes to these three main categories, and have tackled many other topics. Healthy eating, drugs & alcohol, first aid, cooking, gardening, anger management, drama, story telling and dance are just some of the programmes that we have run in the past. If you are thinking of running an educational programme on either a daily or residential basis and are not sure exactly what you would like to do we would love to discuss your ideas with you. Please contact our Programmes Manager Jonny Sutherland.