Thursday 10 June 2027
Chafford Park · Ashurst, Kent
Thursday 10 June 2027
Chafford Park · Ashurst, Kent
The invitation
We’re getting married on Thursday 10 June 2027 at Chafford Park, a farm estate hidden in a valley near Ashurst on the Kent–Sussex border. It is properly in the countryside, which is the whole point — we want this to feel like a day at a festival, it just so happens we’ll be getting married there too. It does mean a little planning on your part.
In that spirit, the day is largely child free, with a handful of exceptions for close family. Nothing personal, and no judgement on your children — we’d just like everyone to be able to properly let go, stay up too late and not be watching the clock for bedtime. Camp in the field, dance until the band stops, and have breakfast with us in the morning.
Everything you need is on this page: the plan for the day, how to get to us, where to sleep, and where to eat if you’re making a weekend of it. If we’ve missed something, ask.
Thursday 10 June 2027
Food is served later than you might expect, so have lunch before you come and aim to arrive around 1.30pm. If you’re glamping with us you’re welcome from midday — get your tent sorted, get changed, and be ready to party.
Then grab a drink from the bar, which is a paid bar to begin with (the free stuff comes later), and get into the festival spirit ready for the off.
The field opens for anyone staying on site. Pitch up, unpack, change out of your driving clothes.
Come having eaten. Paid bar open from the start.
In the woodland barn. Seating for 120 and standing room behind for everyone else.
Biodegradable confetti only, please. Dried petals are ideal if you can get hold of some.
An old symbolic ritual where our hands are gently bound together with ribbon and cord to stand for our union. Informal, short, and full of love. Come and stand close.
The chilled afternoon session — fizz for those who want it, snacks to keep you going, games, and tunes to suit the mood.
Everyone into the main barn for some words. In true festival spirit the mic is open — memories, kind words, poems, chants, whatever you’ve got. Tell us in advance so we can make room for you. Come as you are.
No need to rush. There’s time for everyone to be fed before the party proper.
The barn turns into the club and the evening properly begins. We’re planning a happy hour around now — money behind the bar until it’s gone, so don’t wander off.
Shout-sing like nobody’s listening — because most of them aren’t.
Live, loud, and the reason you brought comfortable shoes.
The music stops and the bar closes. Rather earlier than a wedding usually ends, so don’t save your best dancing for midnight.
Everyone out of the barn. Campers head to the field; everyone else needs to be in a taxi or a car by eleven, so book your ride home well in advance — see below.
The venue
Chafford Park sits in a valley between the villages of Ashurst and Fordcombe, with views running down towards the River Medway. It’s a working 300-acre estate that the Thompson family have looked after since 1902, when John Thompson bought the place at a Harrods auction. It was cattle and sheep, then hops — and the two buildings we’ll be using are the old hop-picking shed and the granary store, both since restored.
We’ll marry in the licensed barn in the woodland, walk out to the tying tree, spend the afternoon in the meadow and end up back in the barn for speeches and the band, with a food van running through the evening. It is deliberately private and there is nothing else nearby, so bring everything you need for the day with you.
Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN3 9UR. The postcode takes you to the gate. Signal in the valley is patchy, so download your directions before you set off.
Open in mapsIf you’d like to see where you’re going, the estate’s own pages have photographs of the barns and the grounds.
Chafford ParkGetting there
Ashurst is about fifteen minutes from Tunbridge Wells and roughly twenty from East Grinstead, off the A264. Gatwick is under an hour away if you’re flying in.
There’s parking on site. If you’re drinking — and we hope you are — cars can normally be left overnight and collected the next morning. Confirm collection time with us.
The nearest station is Ashurst, about a mile away on the Uckfield branch of the Oxted line, direct from London Bridge in a little over an hour. It’s a tiny unstaffed halt with a ticket machine and roughly one train an hour, so check the times carefully and buy before you travel.
Station infoIf you’re coming from Charing Cross or Cannon Street, Tunbridge Wells is the better station and takes about an hour. It’s then a fifteen-minute taxi — book it before you get on the train.
This is rural Kent on a summer evening. You will not flag down a cab and you will not get one at an hour’s notice. The venue closes at 11pm and everyone who isn’t camping leaves at once, so book your pickup the moment you book your room. Numbers below.
Local firms
Any of these will cover Ashurst. Book your return leg in advance rather than trying to call from the field — the signal in the valley is poor and by eleven o’clock everyone else will be ringing too.
Beds
This is the bit worth sorting early. There is no hotel next door to the venue, so it comes down to two choices: sleep under canvas within a few minutes of the barns, or take a room in central Tunbridge Wells and taxi in and out. Both work well. June is peak season in the High Weald and the good rooms go months ahead, so please don’t leave it until the spring.
On the estate
Chafford Park has its own glamping village in the grounds, a short walk from the barns. It is far and away the easiest option — no taxi, no early alarm, and you get the morning in the valley. There are fifteen pitches and you book your own directly on the page below, so it really is first come, first served.
Fifteen furnished bell tents in the grounds, a short walk from the barns, pitched for us by Life’s A Pitch. Each one sleeps up to four, so a family can share. You book and pay for your own, first come first served — we’ve put everything you need to know on its own page, including beds, bedding, pets and what to pack.
Glamping, in fullEight furnished bell tents spaced around a three-acre wildflower meadow on a working fruit farm at New Park Farm, run by Claire and Ade. Proper shower block, shared kitchen, a stretch tent and a snug for the inevitable British weather. Fire pits and barbecues at each tent. Note there’s a two-night minimum, which makes it a good base for a group who want to arrive on the Wednesday.
caracolglamping.co.ukCountry inns near the venue
If you want a proper bed and a proper breakfast without going into town, these are the two closest options — and a short taxi rather than a long one at the end of the night.
A Grade II listed country inn on the high street at Penshurst, facing the gates of Penshurst Place and the church. Eleven en-suite rooms, recently and rather beautifully done up, with a good restaurant, a south-facing beer garden and its own car park. Dog friendly. Ring ahead if you’re bringing children, as we’re told rooms are adults only.
A nineteenth-century mansion in 186 acres on the edge of Ashdown Forest, with a spa, a pool and a serious restaurant. The one to pick if you’re making a proper weekend of it.
Royal Tunbridge Wells
Everything below is in the centre of town, so you can walk between your room, dinner and the station, and there’s plenty to fill the Friday morning before you head home. They run from grand to cheap and cheerful, and honestly they’re all perfectly good — pick on price and take your pick. The one trade-off is a taxi each way, so book both legs when you book the room.
A Grade II listed sandstone house of 1762 overlooking Calverley Park, extended in the 1830s by Decimus Burton. Around thirty-odd rooms, deep baths, a good bistro and a serious wine list. The nicest room in town if you’re treating yourselves.
Find itThirty-nine rooms a minute from the Pantiles. Period on the outside, calm and contemporary inside, with a brasserie and two bars for a nightcap when you get back.
A large traditional country house hotel in fourteen acres on the edge of the centre, with seventy rooms, a big spa and an indoor pool. The best bet for families, and for anyone who wants a swim and a sauna the morning after.
Right on the Pantiles itself, the colonnaded Georgian parade at the bottom of town. Under half a mile from the station and surrounded by places to eat. Small and full of character.
Find itA friendly, reliable mid-range hotel a short walk from the common and the shops. Consistently well reviewed and usually the best value of the traditional options.
Find itNine rooms above an American restaurant in the old Tunbridge Wells West station, a Grade II listed building of 1866 that still has its ticket office and clock tower. It is committedly Wild West — antler lamps, cowboy boots, rooms named after tribes — and a cooked breakfast is included. Free parking, five minutes from the Pantiles, and a great deal more fun than its price suggests. Fair warning: the restaurant below is lively and the country music is not optional.
smith-western.co.ukIn Merevale House, the town’s former magistrates’ court, five minutes’ walk from the centre and close to the station. No surprises and a very good bed. Worth knowing there’s no hotel car park — the Torrington multi-storey is two minutes away.
premierinn.comThe cheapest bed in town, and rather better housed than most — a Grade II listed building of 1873 looking over Tunbridge Wells Common, with a lift and a bar café. Ask for a room above the lower ground floor.
travelodge.co.ukThe rest of the weekend
You’re in the High Weald, which is very good pub country. These are the ones within striking distance of the venue — all worth booking, especially in June.
A sixteenth-century pub facing the green in the old part of the village, with a smuggling history and a garden with views over the Weald. The nearest decent lunch to the venue.
Find itA big, busy, good-looking pub on the green at Langton Green, on the road into Tunbridge Wells. Solid food, room for a crowd.
Find itThe village pub at Fordcombe, effectively our local. Small, unpretentious, and about as close as you can get to the estate.
Find itUp at Smarts Hill above Penshurst, with one of the better views in Kent from the terrace. Worth the detour on a clear evening.
Find itHartfield is Pooh country — the Hundred Acre Wood is Ashdown Forest. Two decent pubs on the main street, and Pooh Sticks Bridge is signposted nearby if you have children in tow.
Find itThe colonnaded Georgian parade at the bottom of town, lined with cafes, bars and restaurants. If you’re staying in town and can’t decide, just go here and pick something.
Find itWith a spare day: Groombridge Place and its gardens are five minutes away, Hever Castle and Penshurst Place are both close, and the Spa Valley Railway runs steam trains between Tunbridge Wells West and Eridge by way of Groombridge. Ashdown Forest itself is the best free thing to do for miles.
There isn’t really one
Come ready to party. Beyond that we’re relaxed about it, and we’d far rather you felt comfortable than correct. If dressing up to the nines is your idea of a good day out, do it. If it’s shorts and a t-shirt, do that. Both are equally welcome and nobody is keeping score.
The same goes for colour. We’re as fond of head-to-toe black as we are of the brightest thing in your wardrobe, so wear whichever you’ll be happiest in.
Two practical notes, and they’re the only ones. You’ll be on grass and uneven ground for most of the day — the ceremony barn is in the woods, the afternoon is in a meadow, and stilettos and a hayfield are old enemies. And bring a layer for the evening: a valley in Kent gets colder after dark than June leads you to expect, especially if you’re walking back to a tent.
Everything else
Biodegradable only — dried petals are perfect and look far better in photographs than the paper sort. Nothing plastic or foil, please. It’s a working farm and the confetti walk goes through the woodland to the tying tree.
Yes — the mic is open. Memories, kind words, a poem, a chant, whatever feels right. The only thing we ask is that you tell us beforehand so we can plan the time rather than have the afternoon run away with us.
Not all night, no. It’s a paid bar from when you arrive, and there’s fizz on us in the meadow from half past three. We’re also planning a happy hour — most likely when the club opens at seven — where we’ll put money behind the bar and keep going until it’s gone. Timings to be confirmed, but be in the room for it. And on that note: we don’t want presents, we want your presence. If you were thinking of spending money on us, spend it at the bar instead and have a better night for it. Bring a card either way.
Yes, and probably the Friday too if you’re staying over. We’ve given you a long run-up for exactly this reason.
In most cases, no — the day is largely child free, with a few exceptions for close family. It isn’t a comment on your children, who we’re sure are a delight. We’d simply like everyone to be able to relax completely, and a field, a late bar and a midnight band aren’t really built for small people. If your children are among the exceptions, your invitation will say so by name. We’ve given you a long run-up so there’s plenty of time to arrange a sitter, and there are hotels in Tunbridge Wells that will take a whole family if grandparents are coming along to help.
Your invitation lists everyone we have space for. If it says your name only, that’s the size of the barn rather than a comment on your partner.
We don’t want presents, we want your presence — and we mean that literally, given several of you are taking a weekday off and travelling a long way to be there. There’s no list and there’s no fund. If you genuinely can’t help yourself, put the money behind the bar and buy a round for someone you’ve just met.
Tell us when you RSVP and we’ll pass it to the caterers. Please be specific — “no dairy” and “a bit lactose intolerant” get handled very differently by a kitchen.
It’s a farm estate, so expect grass, gravel and a slope or two between the parking, the barn and the meadow. If you need step-free routes or a lift between areas, tell us on your RSVP and we’ll sort it with the venue in advance.
Unplugged ceremony or not. Afterwards, please do — and send us the unflattering ones.
Patchy in the valley. Download your directions and your tickets before you arrive, and don’t rely on ordering a taxi from the car park.