Booking Guidance Notes
Please read these notes carefully before contacting us, it will save time if you provide accurate details.
Please note: Music and any loud noise for all bookings must finish by 2300. Noise levels must not exceed 80dB at the perimeter of the green. This may affect your decision to book.
Barn Bookings
The Barn will hold approx. 80 people comfortably standing (with small dance area) or 60-70 seated. Any larger event may require a marquee booking – see below.
For a short booking (up to a day) of the barn only, our charges are £50 for the first three hours of any booking and £10 per hour (or part) after that (max £160/day). Please be aware that your booking is chargeable from the time of your first arrival on site to your final departure, so you should include your setup and clearing times in the booking. If you book to midnight (party ends at 2300, clearing allowed to midnight), you may wish to book up to two hours in the morning from 9am for cleaning up. Hire includes exclusive use of the sunken garden to the east of the barn and non-exclusive use of the green.
Once you confirm, the booking form will usually be emailed to you 4-6 weeks prior to the event and you send your payment then by BACS transfer or cheque with the returned form. You may also be required to provide a £500 security deposit cheque at that time. Meanwhile, no deposit is required to keep the booking and we would consult you before offering the dates to anyone else.
Marquee Bookings
Should you wish to put up a marquee on the green, it costs a fixed fee of £1000 to hire both barn and green, which gives you a 5-day period to put up your marquee (arranged yourself), decorate and get everything cleared off site afterwards. This is usually Thursday to Monday. If you don’t want a marquee and will just use the barn itself and outside space, then the charge is £160 per day. We take a £100 non-refundable deposit for marquee bookings, taken when you return the booking form. If you plan to have more than 70 people, you should also expect to hire portaloos. You may also need to arrange security to protect the marquee and its contents.
If you exceed 70 people, you probably won’t want to hire our crockery. Your caterer would probably provide all your crockery needs and would also deal with the washing up.
We only allow 6 marquees over the summer season, on a first come first served basis and favouring those who live in Ditchling or nearby postcodes, and we keep a free weekend between them to allow the grass to recover and so as not to annoy the neighbours with too many noisy parties.
Once you confirm, the booking form will usually be emailed to you in about January. At this point you should return the completed form and the £100 non-refundable deposit, preferably by BACS. The remaining balance and £500 security deposit cheque fall due 28 days before the start date of your event.
All Bookings
Your hire fee includes a pre-clean so that you get the barn in good condition and we expect you to leave it reasonably clean and tidy afterwards.
For all bookings we also require a £500 security damage cheque which is held and not banked.
We have an urn and cups/saucers for 70 people included in the hire. In addition, for hire at £40.00, we have, for 70 people; champagne, wine, beer and tall tumbler glasses, basic white crockery (dinner plates, side plates and dessert bowls) and basic cutlery (dinner knives and forks, dessert knives, forks and spoons and soup spoons). Please note we do not have a dishwasher so all items will need to be hand washed and dried (hirer needs to provide washing and drying equipment).
Music must end at 23:00, out of respect for our neighbours. There are residents with young children very close by, so you must be considerate about the volume. If you have a marquee, you must be particularly careful to ensure that speakers are placed facing toward the church and that sound levels are kept under strict control or you will be told to turn it down. Music in the barn should also be kept to a reasonable volume, but being more enclosed, there is less risk. We may do sound level checks during parties to ensure that reasonable volume levels are adhered to.
You will be sent the lock codes for access in good time before the event, and once you have paid in full.
You may find further information in the FAQ section.