Houchins – Winner of Best Barn in Essex award at the Essex Wedding Awards 2025
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Houchins – Winner of Best Barn in Essex award at the Essex Wedding Awards 2025
Browse our frequently asked questions below, but if you can’t find the answer you are looking for please don’t hesitate to get in touch, Our friendly team is here to make your wedding dreams come true.
Yes. Houchins is located just off the A120 near Coggeshall and is clearly signposted where the drive meets the A120. View map.
There is ample parking for weddings at Houchins and cars may be left overnight, at the owner’s risk. Collection the following morning is between 9.00am and 11.00am.
Houchins is surrounded by its own farmland so there is plenty of space to land a helicopter nearby.
There are several train stations near Houchins. The nearest are Kelvedon and Marks Tey. Colchester mainline is only 20 minutes away.
We are licensed for up to 150 guests in the Marquee and Grain Store and 120 in the Foundry. For more intimate weddings we can sit up to 26 in the oak-panelled drawing room in the house.
How many guests can Houchins accommodate to sit down for the wedding breakfast? We can comfortably seat 150 guests in the Grain Store – 100 downstairs and 50 upstairs in the mezzanine. Do speak to the team about your seating plan options.
You are welcome to invite additional guests for the evening up to a maximum of 180 in total.
For the civil ceremony you can have live music or bring your own pre-recorded music to play on our PA system. Due to licensing restrictions there is no amplified music allowed outside after the ceremony.
Access to the venue is from 10am on the morning of your wedding but if you book the house the night before your wedding you may set up from noon until 4pm the day before.
There is disabled access to the indoor and outdoor civil ceremony areas and the main reception barn and loos. The only inaccessible area for wheelchairs is the mezzanine gallery.
There are numerous photographic locations at Houchins including the beautiful wedding garden, the pond, the front of the listed farmhouse and seasonally permitting the huge straw bales and wonderful borage fields when it is in bloom. In addition, as we are a working farm, there are a number of rustic barns that provide a wonderfully characterful backdrop. See our Gallery for more.
You are able to book the house the night before your wedding at a premium price as it means we will not be able to hold a wedding. Please ask a member of our team for details.
There is festoon lighting all around the wedding garden and the pathways have beautiful Moroccan-style lanterns set over the paving lights.
Yes we do but they need to be in candle holders, glass containers or set on mirrors/glass to catch the wax. Please speak to a member of the planning team to discuss your ideas in detail.
Yes we have a wide selection of props that perfectly suit the venue from uplighters to ceiling drapes and cast iron braziers with logs to tall oak barrels – just ask a member of the team to give you the full list and prices.
Yes we have underfloor heating throughout the venue powered by a water-source heat exchanger. This means the Venue heating system is completely carbon neutral. Something we are rather proud of!
Yes there is air conditioning in the dance barn.
Due to planning restrictions except on 5 November & 31 December fireworks are not allowed at Houchins.
We ask you to use one of our preferred caterers who we believe are four of the best and most professional in the area. They each have many years’ experience with their own individual style to suit all budgets and tastes.
We would strongly recommend that you organise childcare for the enjoyment of yourselves and your guests either starting during the ceremony or once the drinks reception and/or wedding breakfast begins. This can take place on the mezzanine, in the marquee or in the wedding garden.
If you have more than 10 children under the age of 12 we would ask that you organise appropriate childcare.
Yes you are very welcome to hire a band for the evening. See some of our preferred music partners.
We ask that the band or DJ set up during the wedding breakfast.
We do have a recommended list of our preferred partners who we have worked with and are very happy to recommend. We are happy to give you a full list once you have booked the venue.
You are also welcome to use your own suppliers we just ask that you ensure they have sufficient public liability insurance and if they are connecting to our electricity supply that their equipment is PAT tested. We will need copies of their insurance certificates and schedule of electrical items that have been tested.
Guests are allowed to smoke outside the main venue where ashtrays are supplied for your convenience.
In line with UK law, smoking is not allowed inside the venue or house at any time.
Dogs are allowed outside for the ceremony but not inside the venue or accommodation.
We are here to help if you have any questions please get in touch or arrange a viewing and we can show you around our beautiful venue.
Houchins is located in Essex, just 1 mile east of Coggeshall, with direct access from the A120. It is approximately 15 minutes from Colchester and Braintree.
01376 230 160
Houchins Farm, Coggeshall,
Colchester, Essex, CO6 1RT
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© Houchins 2024. Houchins Farm, Coggeshall, Colchester, CO6 1RT. Co No: OC365420
