viewing
what is dodford manor
A stunning, multi-award winning country barn wedding venue.
Found down a sweeping field drive, with unruly blackfaced sheep and nestled amidst beautiful rolling countryside.
A collection of historic ironstone and new oak barns, which have been carefully restored and stylishly converted to provide an unrivalled and contemporary setting for weddings, civil ceremonies and receptions.
– Mortain Barn is a carefully restored Grade 2 listed, 1600s Threshing barn, with leaning ironstone walls, frameless glazing, oak trusses and whitewashed Siberian larch ceiling. A light airy, yet historic setting to get married within (and is fully licenced for weddings and ceremonies).
– Oak Barn is a an oak post and framed barn with a Skyframe glazed viewing wall providing guests uninterrupted countryside views for your wedding breakfast and early celebrations. Oak Barns’ unique space gives plenty of freedom to lay out your guest tables with great variety and with straight or round top tables to suit.
– The Dairy is a 1790s Grade 2 listed sloping ironstone barn built on a gradient and was functioning, non mechanised dairy until the early 1980s. A new level floor was established in 2011 and the Dairy provides an Entrance to the Oak Barn, cool LED lit Dairy Bar and big sofas chill out area for those who may to need more comfort and slighting less dancing during the evening celebrations!
– Night time transformation. Oak Barn and The Dairy completely transform at night, as the countryside views from the glass wall fade, wall plate lights are dimmed and Oak post up-lights casting a gentle glow. The L shaped Oak Barn and Dairy Bar create a really warm, inclusive, atmospheric evening vibe! Wow!
– The listed 1790s Cartshed provides a rustic, yet luxuriously appointed ‘loo barn’ throughout the day time reception and evening festivities.
– The Outer Yard carries guests via a lavender lined, flag stone pathway, past the Mortain Barn Gable to the Inner Yard. The established Olive Tree is centrepiece to generous turning circle should you have any whizzy arrival cars on display!
– The Inner Yard frames the long range countryside views and the broad flagging, with Lazy Susan outdoor furniture provides the perfect setting for guests to congregate before your wedding ceremony and thereafter for your drinks reception celebration!
– Being set in 19 acres you can also enjoy a stroll out into the West Field basking in the setting sun and the West Field Lawns just the other side of Inner Yard wall, which provide a great spot for outdoor games (or reindeer!) too.
FEAST
Our excellent caterers Jenkinsons, provide all your wedding day and evening feasts. They have cooked for Her Late Majesty The Queen on numerous occasions and can offer a broad range of delicious food; from wholesome home-cooked to gastro-pub style through to haute cuisine.
Whilst our Dodford Manor Wedding Menu packs provide you with ideas and useful pricing, you are not constrained to ‘fixed’ menus, indeed you design your wedding day feast with Jenkinsons! They relish working with you both to ensure your wedding day feast is as you wish; hopefully influenced or inspired by a wide range of scrumptious suggestions along the way. So on your wedding day, you could provide your guests with a Ploughman’s sharing starter, followed by a hearty roast, a table-centred Greek mezze and a barbeque platter, steak & ale pie and stacked gastro chips, through to a five-course meal with sorbet shots!
Wedding Breakfast Feasts start from £47.75 per guest for a wholesome three-course meal plus teas & coffees. Evening food starts from £9.75 for freshly carved pork or beef baps, bacon butties, spicy Mexican bean burgers or cheese boards! Please note all prices include VAT and there are no hidden costs.
You are also invited to a complimentary Wedding Feast Tasting Day at Dodford Manor, where couples enjoy fizz and bites in the Inner Yard and/or Mortain Barn, before being invited through to the Oak Barn for a full three-course meal each, where you will try the Jenkinsons’ latest and greatest food, sample some good wines, meet some of our local suppliers and most of all, experience the venue in all its bustling, lively glory!
FIZZ
Our no corkage policy enables us to offer you a range of three wedding day drinks options:
- Bring you own wedding day drinks.
- Order drinks from the Dodford Manor Cellar, wholesale priced wines, on a sale or return basis.
- Purchase a Dodford Manor drinks package per guest (£15.80 per guest upwards).
All these drinks options commence from after your wedding ceremony; throughout your wedding reception drinks and your wedding breakfast, the provision of toast drinks, until the end of the feast, concluding once teas and coffees are served.
At this stage the Dairy Bar provides a wide range of popular and niche drinks, all at local pub prices (from £4.25 per pint, £4.95 glass of wine, £16.75 for a great Malbec, Rioja, Pinot Grigio, Zinfandel Rose or Sauvignon Blanc)!
Under our no corkage policy, if you are bringing your own wedding day drinks, drop all your drinks off with us around 10am the day before your wedding day (with all your wedding decorations, favours, table plans etc), we then deep chill your wedding drinks overnight and on your wedding day our wedding service team mix, garnish and blend accordingly. Jenkinsons even provide the mint & lime for Mojitos or Fruit for your Pimms! There is no service charge and the team serve out your wedding day drinks on salvers to your guests! Wow!
ACCOMMODATION
We have a wide range of [extremely!] local accommodation.
Our most popular local accommodation provider is Staverton Park, a four star hotel with great views and 18 hole golf course and only 6-8 minutes drive. They offer Dodford Manor couples, an initial 20 double room allocation at a preferential room rate of £87-89 (depending on year) for a double room and breakfast and use of facilities. They are most likely to also increase your allocation for more rooms, so it may be possible to have everyone under one roof and a big breakfast the following day!
Mecure Daventry Court, is a 3* plus hotel, 8 minutes drive away and again offers a preferential advanced booking rate of £90-92 per double room and breakfast and will also allocate 20 doubles rooms for wedding couples’ guests to book up.
There are a range of good providers in the immediate vicinity of Dodford Manor too ranging from B&Bs within a few hundred yards, to the Heart of England pub and The Cross Roads (Good Night Inns) a mile away
A range of local taxi companies and KIS Coaches can be approached to offer short shuttle services.
There is also on-site accommodation coming soon (watch this space!)
TIMINGS
Your exclusive venue service commences from 11am until Midnight, with the Dairy Bar closing at midnight, however we do allow a more relaxed drink up and departure until 0030hrs .
We are often asked what time is best for your wedding day ceremony and what would we recommend for outline wedding timings, so we, your wedding event team put together some suggested timings, as ideas for how your wedding day could evolve! But as ever these are suggestions only and we will always work with you and advise and support as you wish.
Early Birds
For those more locally based and/or with lots of evening guests to consider, sometimes choose to go for an earlier wedding ceremony.
13:30 – Your Wedding Ceremony in Mortain Barn
14:00 – The Drinks Reception (Inner Yard and/or Mortain Barn)
15:30 – Guests are discreetly called through for Your Wedding Breakfast feast (via Dairy Barn)
16:00 – Wedding Breakfast commences in the Oak Barn
18:00 – Speeches
19:00 – Evening Guest arrive in Dairy Barn/Inner Yard
20:00 – Cake Cutting
20:05 – First Dance & Party (once we’ve carefully carried your cake to the kitchen! )
Super Sought After (Recommended)
We find this is the around the time the Registrars are most busy, so clearly there is something in the air! It enables a little more time for the Bridal Party to get ready on the day and guests to grab a light bite/drink locally before attending.
14:30 – Your Wedding Ceremony (in the Mortain Barn)
15:00 – The Drinks Reception and Celebrations begin!
16:30- Call Through for Wedding Breakfast
17:00- Wedding Breakfast
19:00 – Speeches
19:30- Evening Guest Arrival
20:00- Cate Cutting
20:05- First Dance & Party!
Sunset Lovers
Some couples elect to go for an afternoon wedding ceremony for a range of reasons from guests travelling further afield, summer season and longer days and/or having everyone attending the day and evening festivities, not requiring evening guest arrival as a consideration,
15:00 – Ceremony
15:30 – Drinks Reception
17:00- Call Through for Wedding Breakfast
17:30- Wedding Breakfast
19:30- Speeches
20:00- Evening Guest Arrival
20:30- Cake Cutting
20:35- First Dance & Party!
YOUR WEDDING JOURNEY
From the moment you enquire with us, through to viewing the barns, booking your wedding date, revisiting, creating and developing your wedding day plan, participating in wedding feast tasting days, culminating in your wonderful wedding day itself, down to the team supporting family and friends collecting your belongings the day; we work with you and do our utmost to ensure you and your family and friends have the best day ever! Our mulit-award winning Wedding Event team are on hand seven days a week to provide support and advice wherever needed, from budget planning, to nuanced family dynamics and seating plans, drinks ideas to feasting and flow of the day.
On booking our thoughtfully pieced together Wedding Day Planning document is offered to you, to use to help plan your day with further some helpful tips and suugestions provided by the team. We genuinely care and work tirelessly to ensure that your wedding day journey and wedding day itself, is an involved, fun, positive and wonderful experience for you both (and your family and friends!).
OUR EVENT MANAGERS
Our Event Managers are all down-to-earth, fun, interested and highly professional individuals who have had comprehensive training and experience.
The Team include the fabulous wedding event managers of Ashleigh, Carla, Jess, Lauren and Lydia augmented by the Estates Team of Simon and Bruce and supported by our wider management team of Simon & Annabelle, the business owners and Rachel the general manager.
We are collectively always on hand to ensure you have the best possible wedding day, support you through every step of your wedding journey (including providing full set up, co-ordination and take down on your wedding day!).
WHATS INCLUDED
Thoughtfully priced to offer optimum flexibility, our Venue Hire prices are considerably discounted on varying weekdays and months to ensure you can have the wedding you’ve always wanted whilst sticking to your desired budget. Your Venue Hire includes exclusive use of the entire venue from 11:00 to midnight, wedding co-ordination on your wedding day by one of our award-winning Event Managers, an invite to one of our exclusive and well renowned Taster Day’s, 24/7 assistance with any element of planning with one of our competent Event Managers, an experience-led planning document to help you along, all your linen and cutlery (and a few in-house decorative bits you are welcome to use!), and your VAT. We pride ourselves in being so much more than just a venue, ensuring the best experience for our couples!
WHAT MAKES DODFORD MANOR YOUR UNIQUE VENUE
-Surprise elements for your guests
-An Award-Winning Events Team
-Full set up and take down service
-Affordable ‘pub friendly’ bar prices
-Complimentary Taster Day
-No corkage daytime drinks
-Affordable and hearty onsite catering
COSTS AND BUDGETING
The widest movement on prices at Dodford Manor is day of the week and winter months, with prices reducing by more than half at specific times of the year and days of the week. Whilst menu ideas for daytime feasts and evening food vary, the broadest price range remains venue hire/service. However all being said we remain a simply priced, super duper venue and team!
WE WOULD LIKE TO BOOK!
Congratulations! We are absolutely thrilled you would like to have your wedding at Dodford Manor and can’t wait to help you jump into planning! If you haven’t already reserved a date, you can do so by emailing us at [email protected] with the date you had in mind and we will send you a booking pack containing everything you need to know. Your date is initially reserved for a period of two weeks. After 10 days, we kindly ask that you let us know whether or not you plan to proceed (or if there are any other dates you wish to consider!). If you do go ahead, your initial venue hire (50% if your date is within two years, 25% if it is outside two years) is due at the end of your two week reservation period.