





Weekend Retreats
from £89.50
/head
Activities
Thinking of taking your youth away on a group residential? Looking for an affordable activity centre venue? Gaines Manor has much to offer.
Across our five acres of grounds you'll find a lake (perfect for kayaking or raft-building!), a volleyball court, football pitch, tennis court, archery and rifle range, and lots of open ground that is ideal for sporty games, wide games, and silly games - more than enough to keep your group entertained all weekend! So many in fact, that you'll not need to incur the hassle or expense of heading off-site.
However, if the weather turns there is still plenty to do inside. In addition to a number of organised indoor activities, 'The Dive' is a great chill out zone with sofas, a pool table, table tennis table, card games, and tuck shop.
In the lounge we have more board and card games as well as tea, coffee, hot chocolate, and squash.
For the more artistically inclined we have the art studio and graffiti room. Decorate a mug, create a window design, or make an original piece of stencil artwork
Off-site there are the options of laser quest, hunt the leader, ice skating, bowling and long country walks.
View a typical weekend programme
Accommodation & Catering
Gaines Manor provides the ideal venue for youth group retreats. On arrival you will find bunks beds made up for you in our dorms, so no need to bring your own bedding! There are a few smaller separate rooms prioritized for leaders and their children. The venue currently sleeps up to 48. Girls typically take the top floor, and boys on the second/middle floor.
When it comes to food, you are in for a treat. All our food is ‘home cooked’ fresh on site. We cater to all dietary requirements. There is near universal agreement that the food at Gaines is excellent!
The meeting room (complete with theatrical lighting, band PA and projection) offers conference space for talks, group discussions, film showings and musical performances. The teaching sessions typically involve breaking down into smaller groups to and we have a number of great spaces for this.
The manor also boast a number of other spaces suitable for smaller group sessions and breakout rooms.
Exploring The Bible's Claims
At Gaines Manor we'll work with you to deliver a package tailor-made for your group. Not ony will we provide you with some great activities, food and accommodation, but in partnership with your own leaders we will help your young people discover for themselves more of the claims made by Christians. For many that may mean learning for the very first time what it is that Christians believe. We'll encourage them to think through matters so fo faith for themselves, to question their own thinking, and to grow in understanding of others. We'll do all this in partnership with you, but leaving you free during your visit get alongside your young people and meet their immediate needs. In short, we'l plan it with you but run it for you!
Leaving the workload to us leaves you free to concentrate on forging and strengthening the vital relationships that you enjoy with your young people. In turn, this will allow you to teach them and serve them the more effectively thoughout the year.
Whilst you can of course choose to leave the programme entirely to us, most groups prefer to talk to us ahead of time so that we can work with you to focus the teaching (and activities) and so ensure that we jointly 'scratch where your young people are itching'!