The Ballantrae Trust

We have bought the King's Arms - the last pub in the village as a community hub / pub.

For more information on the project please visit the website:

Partnerships with The Ayrshire Rural Touring Network, Driftwood Community Cinema and the Girvan Traditional Folk Festival enable us to bring a programme of music, theatrical productions and films to the village. 

Our aim is to run one event a month throughout the year.

For a number of years now, a small group of villagers have been working hard to raise funds to improve the facilities in our Recreation Ground for our young people and for visitors.

The development involves a number of phases:

Replacement of the goal posts (completed)
Establishing a Multi Use Games Area (MUGA) (work starting April 2019)
Upgrading the picnic / seating area and installing “sensory panels”
Installing a Trampoline
Installing a multi purpose “Circuit” around the perimeter of the Recreation Ground
Replacing some of the existing play park equipment and installing some new ones

Our award-winning festival showcases great Scottish food and drink from Ayrshire, Dumfries and Galloway and further afield.  Ballantrae aspires to become a food and drink destination.

For more information please visit the website:

Ballantrae has a colourful 18th and 19th century history. We keep this alive through our Smugglers’ Festival. We took a break in 2019 but were planning to bring the festival back in August 2020. However Coronavirus restrictions may prevent this. In the meantime, you’ll find pictures and videos of previous festivals in the Gallery section of this website.

We stock and maintain information in Ballantrae’s Visitor Information Point in Craigiemains Home and Garden Centre. Leaflets provide information for locals and visitors on what to see and do on a day out from Ballantrae. We work closely with public and private sector tourism bodies including Ayrshire and Arran Tourism and VisitScotland (we are one of their Visitor Information Partners). 

We publish Ballantrae News quarterly and we are members of the Stinchar Valley Magazine Editorial Board. Our volunteers hand deliver both publications within the village and to Smyrton. We maintain the village diary of events and publish “What’s on in Ballantrae”.

We are looking for volunteers to help us with:

We are looking for people with all sorts of experience and skills to help us with the project.

Decide the music, theatrical productions and films we bring to the village and / or help us by working “front of house”

Upgrade the Play Park and Recreation Ground - decision making and fund raising

By volunteering to help at our Festival of Food & Drink

Ensure our Visitor Information Point at Craigiemains is stocked with leaflets and help us liaise with VisitScotland.

Keep the new village website up-to-date

Maintain and promote our local paths including the upgrading of Kilphin Glen.

Gather information and articles for Ballantrae News, Stinchar Valley Magazine and “What’s on in Ballantrae”

Raise funds for the Trust

If you can spare some time and would like to get involved with any of the Trust’s projects please email Fiona at ballantraetrust@gmail.com or call Andy McAlpine on 07920517700.