Wendy Brown is one of the staff at St Mungos, a large and lively church on the outskirts of Edinburgh. Every year they join forces with Holy Trinity in Wester Hailes and bring a humongous group of young people away for a long weekend of activities, fun, craziness, worship, Bible teaching and more.

It’s always February, it’s often snowing, it’s sometimes Valentine’s Day, and they always have a great time.  As one of the organisers, we asked Wendy a few questions about how it works, why it works and why they come. Here’s what she said.

Why do you keep going back?
Quite simply, Lendrick Muir fits our numbers! We can have anywhere from 120 to 140 people on our weekends and there are not many places in Scotland (and particularly nearby) that can accommodate a weekend of this size.  And it’s great value for money too!

What’s good about it?
There’s plenty to say about why it’s great. Here are a few winners for me….great LOCATION; our young people are familiar with it; they have so many good memories of other events being hosted here.  The staff are friendly and helpful and ready to support us.  There is lots of space to have small breakout groups; plenty of rooms to accommodate the different ACTIVITIES that we run ourselves; the Kilpatrick Room is a perfect size for our main meetings and with this dedicated space it allows us to leave our tech set up and means we can use outdoor space and games hall for other things.  New tech installation has been a great feature and this year we particularly liked the new digital displays –  great thinking from the guys at the centre.

What’s the booking process like?
Easy!  Having used LM since 2008, it works like a dream and we have a good relationship with the staff and questions are answered promptly and helpfully.

What were the activities like?
February can be hit and miss weather-wise (as we found out this year with the snowfall on the Saturday which was our instructor-led activity day!).  But with the size of venue, it means you can do other things if you have come planned and prepared!

How about the accommodation?
Overall accommodation is good and recent renovations have helped; shower functionality has improved; kitchens are well kitted out and have everything we need for our cooking team.

And what about the people?
I’d like a special shout out to Sylvia in the office – super-helpful and always smiling – as well as Fraser on the instructor staff who is brilliant, always available, good natured and friendly.

Will you be back next year?

Yes, of course – it’s already booked!