Issue 57

FUNCTION VENUES
CASE STUDY
Higher
Holcombe
A rustic barn and woodland
wedding venue in Devon
Managing the planting of
their 30 acre woodland from
Tanzania, Joanna Tomlins
and husband Gary returned
to their Devonshire plot to
start a “flexible and friendly”
outdoor venue for weekend
weddings. We talk to Joanna.
When did you start your venue
business?
In 2002, with no plans to open
a wedding business, we bought
a building plot with 30 acres of
redundant pasture, and three years
later moved in. With no interest in
fields of grass, we began planting
trees and had the idea in 2009 to
start a glamping business. Things
were put on hold in 2011 as Gary’s
work as an agronomist took us
to Tanzania, where I carried on
working as a primary school
teacher.
Whilst abroad we distancemanaged
the renovation of the
concrete milking parlour into an
elegantly rustic barn and expanded
the tree planting whenever we
were back on leave. The deciduous
woodland gradually matured and
we began refining our ideas for
using the venue. We started as a
business in 2019 and were fortunate
to host two weddings in our first
year and a had few glamping
holiday bookings through Airbnb.
We now focus our marketing to
“STRIKING
THE BALANCE
BETWEEN
WILD AND
TAME IN
TERMS
OF THE
WOODLAND,
WILDFLOWER
MEADOWS
AND
GARDENS IS
EVOLVING AS
WE GROW”
couples wanting a flexible and
friendly outdoor venue for weekend
weddings. We are open for six
months a year.
Tell us about your location
and site
Higher Holcombe enjoys a secluded
location near Ottery St Mary in
Devon and is easily accessible from
Exeter, the M5 and A30. We are
proud to have transformed more
than half the land into woodland.
We enjoy being described as ‘not
very corporate’ but making sure
that the facilities are ‘wedding
worthy’ is something we always
have an eye on.
Striking the balance between
wild and tame in terms of the
woodland, wildflower meadows
and gardens is evolving as we grow.
Managing what has become a 30
acre ‘woodland garden’ involves a
lot more than mowing!
With the accommodation
scattered over the site, turnarounds
are well managed (forgetting a
pillowcase wastes a lot of time
18 WWW.OPENAIRBUSINESS.COM