Bid to save run-down Towford Outdoor Centre in Borders

A fresh bid is being made to save a dilapidated outdoor centre in the Scottish Borders.

The former Towford Outdoor Centre, near Morebattle village, has been hosting youth groups for almost 50 years.

But neglect, along with Storm Arwen damage, has left the former schoolhouse in need of a £250,000 refurbishment.

Paul Brown from Gosford Bay Outdoors said: "These type of centres are being sold off for Airbnb and the likes, so it is definitely worth saving."

Several attempts have been made to turn Towford into a sustainable outdoor centre since 1996, when the Borders local authority closed its doors.

But with fewer rural centres now operating across the country a group of volunteers connected to Longniddry Scouts is building a business case to give the former schoolhouse a future.

Mr Brown, who is a Scout leader as well as chairman of the charity Gosford Bay Outdoors, said: "We used this centre more than 20 years ago, when I was much younger Scout leader, and it was a fantastic place to come throughout the summer.

"With its wildlife, its history and its surrounding forestation, it is a special place.

"It is such a shame that it has been allowed to almost fall to pieces - we are determined to save Towford and give young people many more summers enjoying their time here."

Towford was built by the then Duke of Roxburghe in the 1870s as a school for children from the surrounding tenant farms.

At its height, about 40 pupils from the upper Kale Valley attended classes at the two-storey schoolhouse.

Changes in farming led to a slow exodus of workers from the Cheviot farms, with the dropping role leading to the school's closure on 30 June, 1964.

The building was gifted to the local authority for use as an outdoor education centre - with a surrounding 11 acres added to create the Towford conservation area.

Within a year of council cutbacks forcing Towford's closure in 1996, it was reopened as the Craigvinian Outdoor Centre by a youth trust.

The facility operated for about seven years before its closure.

Despite other attempts by educational organisations in Edinburgh to reopen Towford it has fallen into a poor condition.

Mr Brown said: "We are finalising the administration stuff just now regarding the lease and then we can get started on the fundraising.

"This is something that has to happen, as there are so few places now like this for youth groups to go.

"We got permission to use the grounds and have made a start on clearing the fallen trees and cutting back the bracken, but the building itself will need roof repairs, rewiring and replumbing.

"Now the grounds are taking shape, next on the list will be restoring the original outdoor toilets."

The centre, which is close to the English border, neighbours Pennymuir Roman Camps as well as Dere Street, and sits in the shadow of a Bronze Age hillfort on Woden Law.

During the first weekend in April, Scouts from Longniddry enjoyed a camp in the grounds, with other Scout packs from Galashiels and Jedburgh due to arrive at Towford later this month.

Twelve-year-old Jonah, from Longniddry Scouts, said: "I have been on two other camps but they were both near towns with lots of people walking by.

"This is my first time here and it's great - the wildlife is amazing and we are so far away from everything that you are free to just have fun.

"I hope we keep coming back."