Hillside estate · spring to late autumn
Three settings, one unhurried day.
Linen Crest is a working flower estate that hosts one wedding at a time. You take the lawn, the long barn and the orchard terrace for a full day, with our planning team holding the timings while you stay in the middle of it.
The three settings
Where the ceremony, the dinner and the late hours happen.
Each setting works on its own, and most couples move through all three across the day. Capacities below are seated with a full top table.
Every setting is level or ramped from the courtyard, and the walk between the furthest two takes about four minutes at a gentle pace.
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01
The Crest Lawn
- Seated
- 160 guests
- Ceremony
- Outdoor, licensed
- Cover
- Open-sided canopy
The highest point on the estate, mown in wide aisles and backed by the old lime avenue. Chairs are set in a shallow arc so nobody sits behind a shoulder, and the canopy stays up from the week before regardless of forecast.
Best for midday ceremonies between May and September, when the light comes sideways through the limes.
Crest Lawn, ceremony arc -
02
The Long Barn
- Seated
- 140 guests
- Format
- Six trestles
- Heating
- Year round
A stone threshing barn with the original king posts and a slate floor that takes a dance floor without a platform. Trestles run the length rather than across, which keeps sightlines to the top table from every seat.
Best for dinner and speeches, and for the whole day when you want one room to hold everything.
Long Barn, laid for dinner -
03
The Orchard Terrace
- Standing
- 180 guests
- Bar
- Covered, fixed
- Curfew
- Music to 11.30pm
Brick paving under old cider trees, strung with festoons on fixed catenary wires. The fixed bar and a sheltered seating wall mean guests spill outside after dinner without anyone carrying furniture across grass.
Best for drinks receptions, cutting the cake outdoors and the quieter end of the night.
Orchard Terrace, late afternoon
A day on the estate
The shape of a Saturday, hour by hour.
This is the timetable we build most days around. Yours shifts with sunset and your ceremony time, and we send a final version ten days before.
Access runs 9am to 11pm, with supplier collection the following morning until 10am so nothing has to be cleared at midnight.
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Gates and dressing
Florists and caterers in first. Two dressing rooms open in the farmhouse with mirrors, hanging rails and a kettle that actually works.
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Walk-through
Your planner walks the lawn with the registrar and the band, confirms the wet-weather call, and sets the aisle width.
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Guests arrive
Parking stewarded at the top field, a five-minute level walk down to the courtyard where the first drinks are poured.
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Ceremony
Thirty to forty minutes on the Crest Lawn, or inside the Long Barn if the morning call goes that way.
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Reception and photographs
Drinks on the Orchard Terrace while we turn the barn. Group photographs against the lime avenue take about twenty minutes.
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Dinner and speeches
Seated in the Long Barn. We hold the running order so the kitchen and the speeches never collide.
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Golden hour
Fifteen minutes out on the crest with your photographer while the barn is reset for dancing.
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Last dance, then carriages
Music down at 11.30pm, terrace lights to low, and a quiet half hour on the terrace before the field empties.
Two collections
Pick the day you want, not a package you have to decode.
Both collections include the estate exclusively and a named planner. The difference is how long you hold the place and how much we set up for you.
Catering is separate and booked directly with one of four kitchens we work with, so you keep control of the menu and the bill.
| Included | Garden CeremonyOne day |
Full Estate WeekendFriday to Sunday |
|---|---|---|
| Exclusive use of all three settings No second wedding, no shared courtyard | Full day, 9am–11pm | Three days, 9am Friday |
| Named planner Same person from enquiry to last dance | From booking | From booking, plus rehearsal |
| Ceremony set-up Chairs, canopy, aisle, signing table | Included | Included |
| Trestles, benches and linen | Up to 140 seated | Up to 160 seated |
| Flowers cut from the estate beds Seasonal stems for the aisle and tables | Added by arrangement | Aisle and top table included |
| Rehearsal and welcome supper Friday evening in the Long Barn | Not included | Barn and staff included |
| Farmhouse rooms | Dressing rooms only | Six bedrooms, two nights |
| Sunday recovery lunch on the terrace | Not included | Terrace held until 3pm |
We send current availability and the full collection notes by email — no deposit is taken until you have walked the estate.
Choosing a season
What the estate is actually doing, month by month.
It is a flower farm before it is a venue, so the beds, the light and the wet-weather plan change through the year. This is how we advise couples.
Whatever the month, the Long Barn is heated and the ceremony can move indoors with ninety minutes' notice.
April – May
Blossom and long light
The orchard is in blossom and the tulip beds are at their peak, so very little extra flower work is needed. Evenings are cool, which means dinner sits indoors and the terrace comes alive earlier, around drinks.
SuitsCouples who want the estate to do the decorating, and a ceremony that finishes in bright afternoon light.
June – July
Late sunsets, full beds
Sunset after nine o'clock, so golden hour lands between dinner and dancing without pulling you away from guests. The cutting beds are deep enough for table flowers as well as the aisle.
SuitsLarge guest lists, outdoor dinners, and anyone who wants the whole day to happen outside.
August – September
Dahlias and warm stone
Our busiest and, we think, easiest season: warm paving into the evening, dahlias and grasses at their best, and dry ground underfoot for heels and wheels alike.
SuitsCouples weighing weather risk, and families travelling with small children or older guests.
October – November
Candles and a closed estate
Ceremonies move inside as standard and the day starts earlier — a one o'clock ceremony and a four o'clock dinner. Festoons and candlelight do the work the beds did in summer, and dates are easier to hold.
SuitsSmaller weddings under ninety guests, short notice, and anyone who prefers an indoor, candlelit evening.
Notes from the planning team
Three things we say in almost every first meeting.
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Decide the dinner shape before the guest list
Long trestles seat more people in the barn than round tables, and they change who talks to whom. Settle the shape first and the final numbers become a much smaller decision.
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Set the ceremony time from sunset, not from lunch
Work backwards: golden hour, then dinner, then the ceremony. A two o'clock ceremony in June and a one o'clock in October give you the same unhurried afternoon.
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Leave one empty hour in the middle
The days people remember have a gap in them — usually just after the ceremony. We protect it in the running order so you can stand still somewhere and look at everybody.
Questions
The things couples ask before they visit.
If your question is not here, put it in the enquiry note and we will answer it in the reply rather than on a call.
Can you hold a date while we decide?
Yes. After a planning visit we hold a date free of charge for fourteen days. Only one hold exists per date, and we tell you plainly if someone else is already holding the day you want.
How does the wet-weather plan work?
The decision is made with you at the 11.30am walk-through, never later. The Long Barn is already laid for the ceremony option, so moving inside takes about forty minutes and does not change your timings.
Do we have to use your suppliers?
Catering must come from one of four kitchens who know the barn and its service doors. Everything else — florist, photographer, band, celebrant — is open, provided they send us their own insurance and a set-up time.
What are the music and noise limits?
Amplified music runs in the Long Barn until 11.30pm with the doors closed after ten. Acoustic sets are fine on the terrace until nine. There is no decibel limiter, but we do ask bands to sound-check before guests arrive.
Is the estate accessible for guests with limited mobility?
The courtyard, barn, terrace and both ground-floor dressing rooms are level or ramped, with an accessible WC off the courtyard. Cars can drop guests at the barn door instead of the top field, and the lawn has a firm matted path laid to the ceremony arc.
How do dietary requirements get handled?
Your kitchen collects them directly through your seating plan, usually six weeks out. We keep an allergen sheet at the bar and brief the service team on the morning so nobody has to explain themselves twice.
Are children and dogs welcome?
Both, gladly. There is a shaded play corner behind the barn and a quiet room upstairs for naps. Dogs are welcome outside and for the ceremony, on a lead, and the cutting beds are the one place we ask you to keep them out of.
What happens the morning after?
Nothing urgent. Gifts and cards are locked in the farmhouse office overnight, and suppliers can collect until 10am. Weekend couples get the terrace for a recovery lunch until three o'clock.
Enquire
Start with a visit, in the season you are thinking about.
Tell us roughly when and how many, and we will reply with the dates still open, the collection that fits and two times to walk the estate.
- A reply within three working daysFrom your named planner, with availability attached.
- Visits run Tuesday to ThursdayUsually ninety minutes, including the lawn, the barn and the terrace.
- No deposit before you visitDates are held for fourteen days afterwards if you want thinking time.