The BarnYard, Upchurch

The BarnYard Nestled in the heart of the Kentish Countryside, in a natural valley surrounded by 150 acres of stunning landscape combining rolling hills, natural woodland and romantic orchards, lies The BarnYard – an enchanting setting to host the most memorable day of your life. Tranquil, charming and unique, licensed for Ceremonies and home to both a beautiful old barn conversion as well as a truly luxurious permanent grand marquee which can host lavish receptions for up to 300 guests. We are a totally unique wedding venue – offering something for every budget and every taste – whether it be large and extravagant with money no object or small and intimate. There is also now a stunning Dressing Room available for your use from the morning of your wedding day. At The BarnYard, we pride ourselves on attention to detail, ensuring an attentive service carried out by our highly experienced and very flexible wedding team. We understand that to make your wedding dreams become a reality, it is important to focus our efforts by dedicating our time to you allowing that personal touch for your special day. Our menus offer a fine dining experience and have been created for your every indulgence. Our talented Chefs will use fresh and locally sourced ingredients to prepare carefully selected dishes from 3 course menus to BBQ’s and Hog Roasts. And if there is nothing you see in our brochure that takes your fancy just talk to us and we will see if we can create your perfect menu from ideas you may have. Although we advertise a very appealing wedding package offering, we are fully flexible and happy to create bespoke packages to meet your expectations. We are happy to offer ideas and guidance on menus, entertainers, flowers, photographers and all your requirements for an unforgettable day or alternatively you can find and view our recommended suppliers via the ‘recommended suppliers’ link on our website. For those that want everything made as simple for them as possible – we offer a ‘bolt on’ package where we do the ‘nitty gritty’ with suppliers for you. Please note that we are a pet friendly wedding venue so on your big day you don’t have to leave your treasured pooch or puss at home ! The Arboretum The Arboretum’ – our elegant, brand new, all season permanent ‘glass’ Marquee is purposefully positioned at the bottom of a hill in a natural valley surrounded by woods, trees, apple and pear orchards. Unlike other venues with marquees which have them erected and dismantled seasonally, The BarnYard’s marquee is permanent in structure which has allowed us to equip it to the highest of standards. Although the roofline is a traditional marquee, there is nothing else that looks like a marquee as every single side panel all the way around the structure is now bi-folding glass doors which, when all open allows more natural light to flood in and gives a much greater circulation of air. A 6m long modern bar has been built right alongside the dance floor above which has been installed state of the art intelligent lighting (which can be programmed to match your colour scheme), beautiful fairylit ceiling with enormous crystal chandeliers, green foliage chandeliers and garlands, brand new (fully enclosed within the marquee structure) luxury toilets (with separate accessible toilet for disabled and baby changing), thermostatically controlled heating, stage and dance floor, fully integrated sound system with PA, speakers and wireless microphone for speeches. The dance floor is ‘cocooned’ with twinkly starlit black side and ceiling curtains and a gorgeous mirror ball hangs from the ceiling along with other DJ lighting. We can accommodate up to 200 guests for a wedding breakfast and up to 300 guests for the evening party. There are a number of room configurations and layouts depending on numbers but we are happy to be as flexible as possible to accommodate your requirements. Although The Arboretum is beautifully decorated already, it is still a blank canvas which you are welcome to decorate in any way you wish. You are welcome to get married on site in one of four wedding ceremony areas. For those wishing to be married outside, the first is our Lavender Walk Gazebo set at the end of a gorgeous long wedding aisle. The second is our tranquil Orchard Garden Gazebo situated behind the marquee which has breathtaking panoramic views of beautiful apple and pear orchards, rolling hills and bluebell woodland. For those liking the idea of an inside ceremony (or in case the weather is inclement on the wedding day) you can be married in either the inside ceremony area at the end of The Arboretum or you may decide that you like the idea of utilising our gorgeous Apple Barn for your wedding ceremony for a different ‘feel’ for part of your day. The BarnYard is magical also at night. As dusk falls the landscaped grounds around the marquee and the entranceway light up with thousands of fairy lights strung from the trees, the gazebos, the pergola and uplighters in the foliage, making a stunning impact for your evening guests as they arrive and for you to enjoy while having ‘al fresco’ drinks on the lawn. We believe that once you have had a showround you will be blown away with how gorgeous everything is. You’d need to see it all to believe it – it definitely has an incredible WOW factor and is totally stunning. The Apple Barn, Roost and Courtyard We would like to welcome you to The Apple Barn, Roost, and CourtYard, a separate wedding area within the grounds of The BarnYard – perfect for Twilight wedding ceremonies and party functions. Our recently renovated and converted Apple Barn & Roost with its own integral CourtYard is simply gorgeous – strung with thousands of fairy lights spanning the oak rafters inside the barn and festoon lights spanning the skyline above the Courtyard outside the barn – it will be love at first sight!For couples who wish to have a slightly less extravagant wedding day or are on a stricter budget or just simply prefer a rustic barn venue we offer ‘Twilight’ Weddings. With our Twilight weddings, you get married later in the day and go straight into an evening party. The timing of these is such that sit-down meals, formal speeches, table plan layouts, etc are not required and thus removes any headache these could potentially bring to the wedding couple. The Apple Barn can host Twilight wedding ceremonies for up to 90 guests with up to another 90 guests being invited in the evening (180 guests in total). You can have indoor wedding ceremonies within the barn itself or choose to have an outside wedding ceremony in our beautiful Courtyard Gazebo. Decoration is allowed earlier in the day. Our in-house DJ company, Apollo Funk Entertainments(www.apollofunk.com) has fitted the barn out with state-of-the-art DJ and lighting equipment which is available to those who have our DJ-inclusive package. The oak folding chairs match the very rustic wooden trestle tables in the barn which can be set out inside in a variety of ways as well as outside under the festoon-lit skyline for alfresco suppers! Within the fully enclosed CourtYard sits a pretty oak gazebo for those who do prefer (weather permitting) to have an outside ceremony. There are numerous olive trees planted in terracotta pots dotted around including our grand-daddy olive tree which takes pride of place in this Courtyard. Surrounded by these and the pale orange brickwork of the old barns – who needs Tuscany!