Celebrations, birthday parties & anniversaries

Occasionally, the barn is available for a late, lazy lunch inside on Sunday and midweek - or a barbecue or lamb roast outside. We have all the tableware so you simply turn up with the food or your caterer.

You can get musicians in, borrow our piano, play croquet or go for a stroll around the farm nature trails or book a guided tour of the house and garden before settling down to a cup of tea, cake and scones before leaving in the late afternoon or early evening. For those who have to travel a distance, there is accommodation in the Tudor barn or Old Brooder.

We’ve hosted large tea parties for memorial gatherings, fund-raising efforts and wedding receptions. You can do it all yourselves and get your guests to bring the cakes or take the hassle out of it and get some caterers in. You can decorate the Tudor barn with bunting, memorabilia or flowers, sit down formally or mingle around the barn and garden, have speeches … just discuss what you would like.

Dress up Tudor - borrow our costumes and enjoy a Tudor feast. Lay up the banquet tables with our wooden platters, pewter spoons and glazed pottery.

Get a chef in to cook, deliver or serve and wash up – or do your own meal and we can suggest menus. Haunches of venison, pheasant pie, spinach flans, vegetable potage ... Pippin pie, gooseberry cake ... with cider and ale.

Dance with Tudor musicians and tutors or borrow our Tudor music and challenge different teams to create and lead on a dance.

This is a working arable farm so from late July to mid-September we may be harvesting and barns nearby are filled with produce! Whilst the barn is away from the main farmyard, there may be the dull hum of combine harvester or tractors at any time of year.

Winter months restrict what we can offer:

The barn is heated effectively but primitively with a giant woodburner one end and a large blower diesel heater the other end. The floor is carpeted with coir matting. Guests need to wear layers and be aware that this is not like being in a centrally heated hotel.

The modern loo block is a hop, skip and a jump from the barn which means braving the elements to access them. For small events, guests can use the three indoor loos.

We do not have pay-bar facilities, nor do we charge a corkage fee, but we do have strict rules regarding the serving of your own alcohol or getting a pay-bar in.

We want you to have a really happy celebration, but please understand that past experience has made us wary of really rowdy events. To that end we rarely host parties such as 30th (or younger) birthdays unless they are mixed age or we are completely reassured they will not be wild, damaging or noisy late into the night. To avoid upsetting us or our neighbours:

For large parties and events, we have a loud music/noise curfew of 11.30pm

Where parties involve extra non-resident guests invited for the evening, these guests must depart by midnight

We offer discounts for those who want to have a day-time event that finishes relatively early, and discretionary discounts for local residents.

To ensure we send you the most appropriate information and quote please email us with details of the following:

The date? eg specific date or flexible date in a month

The occasion & type of event? eg 50th birthday dinner & dance, diamond wedding anniversary lunch, memorial tea

Approximate numbers? Note that we rarely host occasions of over 80 guests unless it is a daytime, summer occasion

Guests approximate age range? eg Babies to grandparents, adults only, 35yrs+

Whether you would like to have live music, caterers etc.