Open Air Business February 2018

FUNCTION VENUES
Being fully outdoor, the weather
can obviously be a challenge but
we have put down hard standing
leading to the parking area and there
is a separate circular drive for all the
services and contractors to get in and
out of the field without churning up
the grass.
Our biggest challenge is at the
end of our season. We cut and bale
the field and nowadays, as farm
machinery is so large, we have
trouble finding contractors with small
enough machinery to get through our
gates.
What facilities for outdoor
functions do you offer?
We do not own our own marquee as
we only do six to eight weddings a
year and felt that it wasn’t practical.
Also every wedding has a different
feel and look so we have a short list
of recommended suppliers - one for
tipis, one for traditional rope and pole
etc. The same goes for caterers and
bands as everyone wants something
different so we let couples make
their own choices. We prefer them to
choose from our list as they are tried,
tested and trusted companies.
We have the Willow Meadow for the
camping and the two vans/huts for
more comfortable accommodation.
There is also a cottage on the farm to
rent, which most couples take from
the Wednesday or Thursday before
their wedding to use as a base, to get
changed in, and then finally usually
end up leaving their parents in on the
final clear up day on Sunday.
We have a deep freeze in the cow
byre for ice and also a very large
fridge for chilling the drinks ready
for the wedding day. We run the
bottles etc. down to the marquee on
the morning of the big event rather
than risk leaving them in a marquee
overnight in the middle of a field! We
now have three phase power in the
field which means we don’t need a
generator - much more cost effective
and quiet! We do have a back up
generator however for power cuts
although we haven’t had any to
date.
Living in a village we are very
conscious of disturbing our
neighbours so we now employ
a wonderful sound engineer to
set up some specialist speaker
equipment that not only limits
the level of sound but is also very
directional, so while the music is
loud on the dance floor you can still
hear yourself think (and speak) on
the surrounding tables. This keeps
the older generation, the council
environmental officer and our
neighbours happy!
What services do you offer?
Although we technically are just
providing the venue, so that
whoever hires it can pretty much
do whatever they like to it, we
do help with the logistics and
coordination of the various other
people providing services. We take
delivery of the booze, store props
and furniture, and run things back
and forth from the cottage or cow
byre to the field, marquee, copse or
camping area.
We have a number of garden
games and are adding larger, more
‘fair ground’ type games this year.
There are always two or more of
us on site during the set up, on the
day and during the breakdown and
clear up. We marshal the parking
and direct guests off the main road
into the private drive and down to
the parking. We provide, fill up and
light the fire pits and continue to
top them up throughout the event.
We also provide and put up signs to
loos, camping and parking etc.
“PEOPLE
COME TO US
BECAUSE
THEY CAN PUT
UP WHATEVER
THEY LIKE SO
WE’VE HAD
EVERYTHING
FROM TIPIS TO
BIG TOPS”
The Willow Meadow is ideal for
pitching tents and we have had up
to 35 in that one space. We help
drive the campers' luggage from the
car park across to the campsite in
our John Deere Gator, a sort of all
terrain vehicle with a brilliant tipping
load area in the back. It’s also used
to ferry the more elderly or infirm
from the car park to the copse for
blessings, and Kate uses it on the
Sunday morning to deliver and
serve her wonderful fresh coffee and
pastries to the hungover guests!
The complete service we offer is
so varied - whether the problem is
missing hairspray, toppling wedding
cakes, forgotten corkscrews,
migraines or flat batteries in
cameras, Kate and I will do our
utmost to solve it.
Describe how you researched and
sourced your structures
We started the business encouraged
by a friend who had a vintage
marquee company and wanted to
photograph her marquee in our
field. We used her marquees for
a few weddings but really people
come to us because they can put
up whatever they like so we’ve had
everything from tipis to big tops.
Having been doing this for six
years now we have a few suppliers
that we recommend as they do all
that they promise they will and are
good, reliable people to work with.
We have planted a wonderful
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