Our next Open event is on sunday 21st January 2024 10:30am-2:00pm
Come and enjoy our beautiful barn and meet with some of our favourite wedding suppliers. The Smeetham team will also be on hand to show you around the venue.
About Us
Smeetham
Hall Barn Wedding Venue In Essex
The Perfect Barn Wedding Venue
in Essex
When you and your guests step inside Smeetham Hall Barn, you will be transported to a magical world of beauty, splendour and romance. Our Barn is over 500 years old and has a stunning, high vaulted and airy ceiling with original timber beams. It has been carefully restored into a tasteful wedding venue ready for you to enjoy. Bridget or Sophie will do all they can to help make the rest of your wedding dreams come true.
‘Not only is Smeetham Hall Barn an absolutely stunning wedding venue but all the planning, advice and support right up to the end of the day was terrific and reassuring too!’
– Mrs P
The Barn is perfect for all weddings and civil ceremonies – big or small. It is large enough to cater for up to 150 guests for a sit-down wedding breakfast but is also ideal for smaller, intimate weddings of 30 or 40 guests. There is a large dance area with plenty of room to dance the night away to the band or DJ of your choice.
A Marquee or Garden Wedding Reception
Adjoining the barn, in a sheltered courtyard, is the silk-lined marquee that stands up to 150 guests. As in the Barn, the marquee is heated in cooler weather to ensure a perfect temperature. It is an ideal reception area for drinks and canapés as well as catching up with your guests away from the dance floor in the Barn. There is also plenty of space for additional musicians to play in the marquee. Why not enjoy a string quartet playing throughout your reception?
If you choose a civil wedding, which is held in the Barn, you will afterwards walk down the aisle and straight through to the marquee or into the landscaped gardens where the caterers will be waiting to serve drinks to you and your guests. You may feel an outside wedding is your dream, in which case we are licensed to hold ceremonies, beside the lake, on The Great Lawn.
If you have chosen a church wedding, then the bridal party will drive around to the French doors of the marquee where, again, the caterers will be waiting for you.
As well as the reception marquee, you will have access to the scenic courtyard, which is perfect for barbecues, hog roasts and enjoying the outdoors throughout the day.
Capture Stunning Photography in our idyllic location
Our barn wedding venue is set in the rolling hills and idyllic countryside of the Belchamps, on the Essex/Suffolk border. Here you can enjoy the peace and tranquillity of an authentically rural setting and take some truly stunning photographs. As well as the surrounding countryside and wild flower meadows of Smeetham Hall Farm, your photographer can make the most of our beautifully well-kept grounds.
‘The grounds were immaculate, and I can't wait to see the photos! Please thank your gardeners!’
– Debra
There are picturesque gardens with colourful borders and perfect lawns all set around a willow bordered lake. The grounds provide a glorious backdrop for photographs; you can also enjoy a drink or quiet stroll or simply just sit by the water and take in the setting.
Expect Privacy on Your
Wedding Day
Wedding days often go by in the blink of an eye. Therefore, we feel very strongly that Smeetham Hall Barn should be yours for longer than just one day to give you ample time to prepare for, and enjoy, your special day.
The venue will be exclusively yours during your whole wedding day – there will be no other wedding parties or visitors, ensuring that you and your guests can enjoy your day in peace.
At Smeetham Hall, we also have a lovely room set aside for the happy couple. This room can be used to change into your wedding or civil ceremony attire, or into evening wear for your reception. More importantly, this room allows you a little privacy, away from the hustle and bustle of the barn and marquee.
Directions To Smeetham Hall
Despite being in a rural location, Smeetham Hall Barn is not difficult to find. Close transport links for your guests include Sudbury Rail Station, around two miles away. This makes it an easy wedding venue to reach from London, Hertfordshire, Suffolk, Essex and further afield. For guests wishing to drive, there is also ample parking for 150 cars close to the Barn.
Contact Bridget or Sophie to find out more about our beautiful Barn wedding venue or book a viewing.
The History
Smeetham Hall Barn is a privately owned 16th century barn set within a property listed in the Domesday Book of 1086.
The Barn is a grade 2 listed building built in the mid-16th century and was used as a threshing barn for the storage of grain. Approaching the days of steam, the Barn became redundant until it housed livestock until the mid-seventies.
The Hyde Parker family have lived at Smeetham Hall since 1906 and it is still a working farm.
In 1998 the barn was beautifully converted into a wedding venue that is now considered one of the most esteemed wedding venues in Essex.
Ancient News!
May 3rd 1860 - Rebecca Messent a milk woman employed by Mr George Coote of Smeetham Hall Farm at Bulmer and from whom she embezzled various sums of money was handed over to the Essex constabulary.
November 14th 1861 - During the last week 2 or 3 sheep have been stolen from Mr Harding of
Gt Henny, and Mr Gardiner of Borley, a fat sheep belonging to Mr Coote of Smeetham Hall was slain with the heads and entrails left in the next field.
"Ancient News" above was taken from the 1860 Suffolk Free Press newspaper archive.
Local Area
The surrounding area is steeped in a rich history with exceptionally charming towns and villages set in rolling agricultural countryside and a long coastline providing fishing to funfairs!
Famous East Anglians include prominent portrait and landscape artists Thomas Gainsborough (Sudbury), John Constable (Dedham), the composer Benjamin Britten (Aldeburgh) and Derby winning horses from the home of horse racing - Newmarket.
Essex and Suffolk are blessed with beautiful churches and cathedrals such as Long Melford, Lavenham and St. Edmundsbury Cathedral in Bury St. Edmunds.
The renowned stately homes in the area are Melford Hall, Kentwell Hall, Ickworth Park and Audley End.
Visitors to Essex and Suffolk also have a wide range of leisure activities to enjoy including country and coastal walks, many golf courses, Newmarket racecourse and sailing.
