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Weddings on Female First
Can you tell us a bit about what glamping is for those who don’t know.
You have got camping where you put your own tent up and rough with an air bed on the floor and freeze while you are sleeping. There are different types of glamping, you can stay in a yurt which is not the level we are at, me and my brother built four luxury camper’s lodges, which are like Safari tents. What we have done is fit it out with a sofa, a hot wood burning stove, which generates plenty of heat, so there is no chance of getting cold while you are glamping. There are also beds and a kitchen area, hot and cold running water a toilet and showers all in a big luxury safari tent or lodge.
Can you describe what Mill Farm has to offer in the way of glamping for a wedding?
Mill Farm has it’s own prove grounds, obviously it’s on a farm. What it can offer is a unique venue which can accommodate up to 32 people, which includes the Bride, groom and the family. We have a church juts down the road form us, just down the bottom of the lane, which Mill Farm glamping leads to. So they can get married at the church and then we can take them back to the reception which is on the farm, where the glamping area is, we have field there which is split into 2 areas. Half the field is for where the cows can graze, but there is lovely flat area for putting marquees up for the reception and the party and the other half of the field are where the luxury lodges are.
Why are people choosing to downsize their weddings so much now to something that is simple and in a rural setting?
I think that people want to have a different style wedding. In hotels it’s all very much the same, plus they are a fortune to hire out, whereas we don’t charge as much as hotels and you have a lot more freedom. You don’t have to downsize the wedding. You can still invite whoever you want to come along. We have plenty of parking for extra guests. If they wanted to they can pitch up their own tents as well, so we do offer the option.
What is it about the quintessential British wedding that is so appealing?
It’s traditional. We had a festival wedding here at the start of June. It was very old fashioned. It had a nice atmosphere, back to oldy-worldly times really, they had a lovely day it’s about tradition and not being modern like so many weddings.
Please can you tell us about the festival themed wedding that you hosted there recently.
The marquee company came and constructed four marquees. They had one marquee for speeches, having a dance and the band, another for the bar and the food area, a chilling our area and another marquee for when the kids could play and have creative place for face painting. They had an arch way where the ceremony took place. We are not registered to have weddings on the farm, which is why we have church just down the road. They did have a fake ceremony for all of their friends and family so they could tie the knot in front of everyone. It was lovely because they had hay bales for pews and it was back to farm style; very oldly- worldy.
What made you want to open your accommodation out to be a wedding function in the first place?
We like holding group events on the farm just not on a large scale so it opened our eyes to that. We have some friends in Scotland that have just opened glamping site and they started doing it which gave us the idea. We had someone approach us about it and asked us if we would do that sort of thing. It was not something that we had done before but we looked into it for them. We put some ideas together and worked out how we would do it and went ahead with it. We have only had the one wedding on the farm so far but we have one booked for next year.
The bride from the festival wedding commented that Mill Farm is a blank canvas for a wedding so why do you feel that is important for couples now to be able to use their imagination when it comes to their big day?
It’s good because when you go to some places it’s all prearranged and packaged and what you see is what you get. Couples want the freedom to do what they want to do, which is a rare thing. You don’t see very often couples getting the chance to do their wedding how they want it and because we have the space we can offer that.
For you what was the best part of that day?
It was extremely stressful leading up to it because it had never been don’t before but it got half way through to the middle of the day and the weather was lovely. I just looked around me and everyone was enjoying themselves, having a few glasses of wine. The nicest part was when the ceremony was because that was the first time we had had anything like that one the farm.
Please tell us a bit about your background and how you came to manage the farm?
I have lived on the farm my whole life and while I was at school I always helped out to doing bits and bobs, so I have always had an interest in it. When I left school I went to work at BMW for 6 years as an engineer. It got to the point where I got my qualifications with them and spent another two years with them. I wanted to do something a bit more outdoors. Every time I was stuck in the garage I could see harvesters and tractors going past and it made me realise that I wanted to be outside again. So I took the plunge and quit my job and decided to go back to the farm to try and make a go of it with my dad and it has gone from there. It became more and more productive, we have built our own tents and got the glamping thing going now and that is how it has come to be. I am in charge of all the bookings and the glamping side of things, as well as runnig a fair bit of the farm too.
What is the history of the building?
It’s been it the family for just over 100 years, I am the fourth generation. Before me and our family took it over, it was a big mill and it used to be home to a famous highwayman called Thomas Boutler. He used to go around the county pinching from horse and cart on the roads and eventually he got caught. They used to use the farm a hideout. You would go on a rampage or expedition and come back for a couple of months and do it all again. So that is a big part of the history. If the building was still here it would be huge tourist attraction. The farm used to be a bread mill but unfortunately it was all knocked down. The house has been refurbished to be holiday accommodation which is something we offer on the website. We offer it on the wedding day for the bride and the groom to get ready before the ceremony. It is also great for the older generation to go somewhere cosy away from the party.
Please tell us about your plans for next year’s wedding.
It is in August, I used to go to school with the bride; she approached us after seeing the website and enquired about it. She is going to arrange to put her own marquee up and it is going to more formal than the festival one. We will be using all the glamping lodges and the house and field for car parking and such.
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