Milling Barn at Bluntswood Hall is an idyllic setting for your wedding celebrations. The venue enjoys an unrivalled location within the beautiful North Hertfordshire countryside, set on a charming family-run farm.
The Milling Barn is a delightful 17th Century oak barn, along with the adjoining Oak Barn and Dairy Barn. All the barns are licensed to hold civil ceremonies, allowing you to spend your whole day at our exclusive venue. Alternatively, for something a bit different, you can choose to exchange your vows outdoors in our beautiful woodland.
Whether you plan to get married here or in your local church, both the Milling Barn and the Dairy Barn are perfect for your wedding reception, accommodating up to 150 guests. The flexible barns, complete with licensed bars, can be arranged to suit the unique feel of your wedding from formal to more relaxed.
Weddings are our speciality at Milling Barn. We have played host to many bespoke wedding ceremonies, services and receptions for over 20 years. Every wedding held here is greeted with the same enthusiasm and attention to detail, and we take a personal approach to meet each and every couple’s specific ideas, needs and requirements. We strive to provide your dream day in a truly wonderful location.
To make the most of our beautiful setting here at Milling Barn, we have teamed up with renowned catering company The Chopping Block to provide our wedding catering. The Chopping Block have catered for numerous wedding venues for 20 years and as such have built up an amazing reputation for great tasting food, imaginative ideas and excellent service.
For more information about holding your big day at Milling Barn, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
27 Reviews for Milling Barn
Recommended by 93% of couples
Louis M. · Getting married on 28/08/2021
Legal action taken
During our initial visit in late February, my fiancée and I fell in love with Milling Barn, compounded by the feeling that we had found a local, honest, family run establishment. Unfortunately, our trust was totally misplaced, and our personal experience has led us to a legal dispute with The Venue Group’ (the corporate parent company behind Milling Barn, based in Rugby), in an attempt to have our deposit returned.
Sent on 15/07/2021
Our timing was incredibly unfortunate as we booked on the 3rd of March 2020, two days before COVID became a notifiable disease, meaning that we were unable to obtain suitable insurance. COVID was a largely an unknown entity at this point, thus we still had confidence that our wedding date of August 28th 2021 would continue as planned. Unfortunately, COVID tore through the country and the initial summer lifting of restrictions gave way to further infections and deaths, witnessed first-hand by my EMT (soon to be qualified Paramedic) fiancé, who has worked tirelessly throughout this awful pandemic. As it became increasingly likely that the UK would face a second national lockdown, we became ever more concerned that we would soon be asked to begin making large contributions towards our £22,000 wedding. We made a visit to Milling Barn in October 2020 to highlight our concerns, to simply be told that we would need to write to the corporate office and that the staff stationed at Milling Barn wouldn’t be able to offer us any potential solutions.
We wrote to The Venue Group (Initially Director Gwil Jones), highlighting the fact that we couldn’t obtain insurance and that we were extremely nervous giving such large amounts to a company within an industry with legitimate insolvency risks given they were not able to host any weddings during lockdown. We did not wish to pay nothing at all but we offered what we felt was a reasonable and fair compromise amount, given the unprecedented circumstances. Having heard from our friends about how flexible their chosen local wedding venues were being during these circumstances, we felt confident that a solution could be found.
Unfortunately, The Venue Group flatly refused our suggestion and upon us mentioning that we may need to review whether or not to cancel our wedding on the back of their refusal, we were informed that they would not only try to keep our £2,000 deposit, but would also pursue us for an additional £5,650 (£7,650 in total) in ‘Damages’. For us, the final straw was to see that they would be looking to claim £2,500 in food an drink, for a wedding that would be cancelled a full 10 months before our proposed date.
Needless to say, at this point, all faith and trust that we once had with this company had gone and we felt morally forced to cancel, despite the continued threat from Director Richard Bray, for ‘damages’.
We have sought legal advice and we are advised that we have a very strong case against them. In particular, guidance from the Competition and Markets Authority states that wedding deposits cannot be non-refundable.
My fiancé and I are not the type of people to write negative reviews for the slightest injustice or poor level of service received. However, we will not be bullied by Milling Barn/ The Venue Group’s arrogant dismissal of both our legitimate concerns and our legal rights. If this review means another couple can avoid the stress and heartache in planning their special day with Milling Barn then our experience won’t have been in vain. We would definitely NOT recommend this wedding company!
Dan N. · Married on 17/07/2021
A horrible experience, beware.
My fiancé and I loved the venue (Milling Barn, run by The Venue Group) when we first saw it in May 2019, and it’s large capacity made it ideal for all of our families. We booked for August 15th 2020 for 130 guests.
Sent on 16/07/2021
The coronavirus outbreak meant this initial date had to be moved, and we agreed on a new date of July 17th 2021. After this, they attempted to charge us an additional and unagreed £825 because the rates for 2021 were going up. After some discussion, they agreed to maintain the original price.
In February 2021 the country was still in a state of lockdown, with weddings in particular under heavy restrictions. My fiancé and I were very stressed at the prospect of planning and committing even more money to a wedding that seemed unlikely to take place, in our opinion. We emailed the venue and requested a refund. We were told this would not be possible, and that they had information that the wedding would go ahead.
Shortly after this, the government announced that on June 21st 2021 all restrictions would be lifted, and so our wedding could go ahead. With a little more confidence we continued planning. I emailed the venue, and said that for our peace of mind, could they confirm that in the event the restrictions weren’t lifted, and it would not be possible to host our wedding on July 17th that we could have a refund as per their terms and conditions. Richard Bray, the Director of The Venue Group, responded saying that this would be the case.
On June 14th it was announced that restrictions would not be lifted. This meant that our wedding could not go ahead, as under social distancing guidelines Milling Barn could not hold all of our guests. We were told that we had two choices; uninvite nearly 50 guests so that we could accommodate their new capacity and still go ahead on the day, or accept one of their remaining unbooked October 2021 dates. No pro-rata rate was even offered for either proposal.
We asked for the refund as agreed in February, and were told that we could not have it. We even offered to accept a reduced refund, and were still denied.
When my guests have emailed Milling Barn asking for refunds for the accomodation booked for our wedding date, they have been ignored.
We are now in the process of attempting to claim this considerable amount of money back through the courts, which has caused immeasurable stress to both my fiancé and myself.
It is my hope that other couples will see this and take great caution when choosing to sign a contract with this horrible company. One of the true villains of the coronavirus pandemic.
Tom · Married on 15/11/2019
Tom and Jades perfect day
We had an amazing wedding day at Milling Barn. Everything was perfect, the day ran seamlessly and staff could not have been more helpful. Very reasonably priced compared to other venues in the area but what they offer is just as good if not better. All our guests loved it and said how good the food and drink was. Wouldn't have changed a thing.
Sent on 17/11/2019
Tom and Jade
