Tarbolton is 7 miles East North East from Ayr, 7 Miles to the South West of the town of Kilmarnock, 5 miles West of Mauchline and 1 and 1/4 miles from its own railway station (No longer used). It has a school, church, a gospel hall, a Post Office, 3 pubs, and is home to the Bachelors' Club, a frequent haunt of Robert Burns. The village used to be Kyle and Carrick but is now the only village in South Ayrshire to be part of the Cumnock and Doon valley
The monastery and later castle of Fail existed at the hamlet of that name near Fail Toll. Fail Loch once covered a significant area however it survives now only as an area liable to flooding.