Description
Bowles Rocks is an outdoor education charity and adventure centre set in a stunning sandstone valley near Tunbridge Wells. Established in 1964, it has supported thousands of young people in building confidence, resilience, and teamwork. The site offers a safe and exciting environment for schools, youth groups, and families to enjoy outdoor challenges and learning experiences.
The venue features two ski slopes for skiing, snowboarding, and sledging, and a heated indoor pool for kayaking, raft building, and swimming. Its unique sandstone crag with over 230 climbs makes it one of the best rock-climbing spots in the South East. Other highlights include high and low ropes courses, archery, orienteering, and problem-solving activities.
Open skiing and snowboarding sessions cost £14 per hour, while Race Club sessions are £15. Rock climbing is £6 per adult or £3 for under-16s, with specific birthday experiences ranging from £150 to £260 depending on the activity.
Bowles Rocks offers unforgettable birthday parties such as sledging, kayaking, bushcraft, and climbing, complete with a room for your party tea at no extra charge. With its dedicated staff, quality facilities, and breathtaking setting, it’s a perfect place to learn new skills, enjoy outdoor adventures, and create lasting memories. Whether for family fun, school trips, or group events, Bowles Rocks is a must-visit for outdoor enthusiasts.
Features
- Paid
- Host birthday parties: Yes
Features
Bowles is a unique and beautiful place on the Kent/ Sussex border. We have our own onsite majestic sandstone outcrop, Bowles Rocks plus some lovely facilities and amazing activities. Bowles provides high quality outdoor education. We do this through passionate, well qualified staff, fantastic activities, amazing facilities, home cooked food and an ethos of learning and development throughout everything we do.
- Accommodation: We have two accommodation blocks, the Chalet-Dorm and the Lodge. The Chalet-Dorm sleeps up to 122. It has 16x 7-bedded rooms, four singles, two doubles and a four. Rebuilt in 2004 this is our main accommodation for school groups. The Lodge has 16 bedrooms which can be arranged to suit the client. The Lodge accommodation is all en-suite, it is often used for adult Learning and Development programmes or ‘luxury’ schools accommodation. The Lodge is fully accessible with two wet rooms and a lift.
- Winter snowsports: Learn to ski or snowboard at Bowles. We have a packed programme of courses, private lessons and open sessions for all ages, from beginners to advanced, throughout the winter. With two slopes and a team of experienced instructors Bowles is the perfect place to prepare for a trip away, or to try a new sport. Bowles offers private skiing and snowboarding lessons all year round for one to one or small group tuition. In the winter these lessons can get booked up quickly, so please plan ahead.
- Rock climbing: Bowles is one of the best rock climbing venues in the South East, with its south-facing, quick drying sandstone and excellent access. Bowles is one of the best rock climbing venues in the South East, with its south-facing, quick drying sandstone and excellent access. Bowles is the only UK outdoor centre with its own natural sandstone outcrop suitable for climbing – there are more than 230 climbs up to 10m in height with grades from 1a to 6c. Bowles is soft sandstone so our guidelines should be followed to look after the rock.
- Kayaking & canoeing: Learn in the Bowles pool or on one of the rivers and lakes in the area. We run Pool kayaking session as a birthday party or as a private lesson if you have a group who’d like to learn some skills in our heated indoor pool. We have a range of boats for all ages and abilities. We also run Pool Raft sessions as birthday parties – the ultimate test of ingenuity and teamwork. Build it well, or get wet!l.
Activities:
- 2 ski slopes for skiing, snowboarding and sledging
- An indoor heated pool for kayaking, kayak rolling, raftbuilding and swimming
- A stunning natural sandstone crag for rock climbing and abseiling
- High and Low Ropes courses
- Leap of Faith and Jacob’s ladder activities
- A wealth of problem solving activities to challenge and develop teams
- Orienteering
- Archery
5.41 miles
