The Mill Barns

Our wedding took place here on 27/09/2020. Our original date was 02/10/2020. After the announcement that weddings would be reduced to 15 guests we moved our day forward with just 4 days notice. The Mill barns were amazing! All the staff...especially Paige, our wedding planner. The venue is stunning and we cannot fault anything about it. Really is a breath taking venue.

Stunning, warm, welcoming, friendly, secure, perfect, just some of the words I’d use to describe The Mill Barns. I’d have a wedding every year there if I could!

Firstly, I am beyond disappointed that it has lead to me having to write this review, but I feel I have no choice. I feel I have no other option but to give you all some facts and experiences my partner and I have had to endure for the past 12 months.

Our dream wedding was booked for the 15th of June 2020. With Covid-19 restrictions in place, we received a call from the Mill Barns giving us two options. Option one, rebook for the next available date (at this point 2022) or option two, a gift voucher for the amount we paid initially.

We asked at this point if we could have a refund, to which we were told that we would lose all monies paid at this point as it would be classed as a “cancellation”, even though, the venue could not provide us with our wedding as planned for another two years due to Covid restrictions.

Upset about this, we had a night to think about this situation and came to the decision that we could not afford to lose the money paid for our wedding as this was thousands of pounds of hard earned savings, and this was just not an option. We were lead to believe that the two options given were our only choices.

We decided to ask for a cancellation list or for the wedding to be moved to the new venue in the group, the foxtail barns. We was told at this point that a cancellation list did not exist and we would have to call every week to see if any new cancellation dates had become available, as they were only being offered on a first come first serve basis. This would mean that brand new customers would be given the chance to book a cancellation date before we were given the option (even though we had already had our wedding day cancelled already).

We was told that foxtail barns had been put on hold due to the pandemic, therefore was not taking bookings, which we have since found out that weddings will be taking place there from July 2021. We spoke to management and finally got a cancellation list (after asking multiple times and being told that there wasn’t one). We received a call with an offer of a cancellation date of 10th of June 2021, which as I’m sure most people would have, we decided to rebook our wedding to this date (it was either this or another year waiting).

With government restrictions still in place on our new date (limit of 30 guests) this was something that was simply not an option as our original number of guests was 120 people. With this is mind, we instructed a solicitor to act on our behalf to recoup our money, as we knew we would get the same answer as the previous year of “no” to a refund.

On the 10th of February 2021, our solicitor sent a letter asking for a refund as the service we booked originally could not be provided. We sent two letters, one to the venue and one to head office. On the 26th of February 2021 we received a call from the venue asking which date we would like to postpone to. We had two options, November or a date in December this year. Both of which were winter weddings, which we did not want. At this point we spoke to the employee about the two letters that our solicitor had sent to them, to which they responded “we have not received any letter regarding your wedding”. I find this hard to believe as two letters were sent to them. How could both possibly go missing? They wouldn’t have.

We are now over three months after first sending our letter requesting a full refund. The responses we have received from the venue have been slow to say the least. They have dragged their feet at every opportunity, with our money remaining in their bank account.

Our contract states that if the venue were to cancel for any reason, we would be entitled to a full refund. In our opinion, the contract is being broken as they cannot fulfil the number of guests we were contractually obliged to have. To date, we have paid a deposit of £2475. We have been offered a partial refund of £825. To say this is insulting would be an understatement. The venue is being extremely difficult about returning our money.

The venue has given reason for such a low offer of a refund. They state that they have incurred costs such as a tasting evening (at a cost of £30pp) which we are more than happy to cover which we have already been over with the caterers and came to this agreement. I would like to add that the caterers have been amazing. We received a majority refund from them within 48 hours of asking for it. This review is in no way a bad reflection on them, it just shows how difficult the Mill Barns have been.

Another reason the Mill Barns have given in which to keep most of our money is that they provided an online wedding planner, which is a piece of software you are expected to complete yourself. These two reasons are not in any way justifiable to keep most of our hard earned cash. The offer of £825 is an absolute disgrace.

Overall the owners and employees have completed tarnished our wedding day. This was supposed to be a magical day; instead we have to seek legal advice in order to get our money back. We feel completely let down with the poor service and dates offered. There is no personalisation from this venue. You feel like a number rather than a couple planning your special day.

If you are thinking about booking the Mill Barns, then please proceed with caution. All is not what it seems on first glance and you may well run into the same problems we have.

We just wanted to say a huge thank you to all the staff. Our Daughter Jennifer got married last Monday 30th December. It was truly a special day and this was due to all the hard work from your excellent staff. From the moment we arrived everyone was superb. The venue was spotless in all areas. Guests complimented the kitchen for wonderful food day and night. Thank you.

Getting married at The Mill Barns filled us with such joy and excitement, from the moment we first saw laid eyes on our venue to our wedding day. Throughout the whole planning process we were made to feel at ease and the staff ensured our day ran smoothly. Our fabulous wedding planner Lisa was on hand at all times and always ahead of the game when ever we needed something. In the build up to our wedding we’ve felt we could contact and approach The Mill Barns with the smallest and probably silliest of questions. We honestly can’t thank you enough for helping us to have the best day celebrating our marriage. We look back on our wedding with such happiness and memories to cherish forever.

To Lauren and everyone at the Mill Barns

Me and Ben just wanted to say a huge thank you for making a wedding day so special!
The amount of compliments we got on the venue, service and also the food was unbelievable.
Nothing was too much trouble for the staff and helped us every step of the way.
To house keeping, bar staff, waiters/waitresses ..absolutely everyone.
Lauren you were amazing and we cannot thank you enough.

We would recommend anyone looking to get married to come to the mill barns. Absolutely perfect

Thank you again

I couldn’t recommend The Mill Barns enough it is absolutely stunning and has the wow factor. Staff are friendly and helpful, Lydia was so lovely and very helpful, we are so grateful! The bridal prep room is amazing. Our wedding day was absolutely perfect! Thank you so much!

WOW! What a place! Everyone involved worked to make the day the best of our lives. Aggie was ridiculous! I spent most of the evening telling her to go home but what an outstanding job she did. She kept everything on time and to plan, the service was smooth and the day just ran perfectly. The place looked better than we could have imagined. She was world class, couldn’t have asked her for more, the dedication to the whole day was amazing and we couldn’t have had our dream day without the hard work Aggie put in. Thank you so much! The venue was presented immaculately, the attention to detail from all the staff was above and beyond what we could have imagined. Thank you so much for everything, we will never ever forget the experience you created for us!

Honestly can’t say a bad word about the place, food or our planner! Everyone made us feel so at ease throughout the whole experience. Our wedding planner Laura was amazing. She was so helpful and friendly and dealt with all our queries and questions. The food was beautiful, not one person could fault it and everyone was asking for a second serving. Was the perfect day and we can’t thank the team enough!!

From before we were engaged to the day after the wedding we knew The Mill Barns was the venue we would become husband and wife. Everything that was important to us both was covered by the venue from it being all in one interlinked location, having somewhere to get ready the morning of, accommodation for close family and friends and the fact that if you were unlucky enough to have poor weather (like us!) you didn’t have to step outside if you didn’t want to and it didn’t dampen your day in the slightest. Baring in mind how much glass is used in the stunning architecture I forgot and didn’t realise it was even raining!!! We found whoever you dealt with in the events team were always quick to respond and provided information. . The events team were fantastic start to finish. They even ended up taking a few calls from my dad in that last month leading up to the big day and they took it all in their stride. We were extremely fortunate to be paired up with Lydia as our events manager. She embraced all our ideas for the big day and we had a complete faith in her after our first meeting! When it came to the big day itself I had no fear or need to loiter to make sure it was being done right. The wedding day I had always dreamed of became a reality in her hands and I couldn’t thank her enough. Everyone at The Mill Barns are all so clearly passionate about their jobs and making peoples dream weddings happen don’t question booking…do it. You will not regret it!

Why would you get married anywhere else!? Aggie and the whole team work tirelessly to ensure every single element of your day is just perfect. We can't thank you all enough!

Lauren was absolutely amazing. She took a lot of pressure off me just by her reassuring nature. The venue looked amazing and ran so smoothly. It was the most perfect day and we had the most amazing day and that was mainly down to Lauren, our event manager and team were amazing. They made the day feel so relaxed. I knew that everything was being sorted and the venue was perfect. I could not fault anything. Thank you so much for everything!!

We really want to take the time to say a massive thank you for all of your efforts in making our day so very special. You are truly amazing at what you do, and you deserve a huge pat on the back. We honestly cannot thank you enough.
Weddings are obviously very stressful times for those involved but your warm and friendly personality instantly put us both at ease in the planning meeting. This gave us faith that everything would fine on the day, and that faith definitely wasn't misplaced. In the build up you were so accommodating, especially with some of our odd requests like having axes being thrown at our wedding.
When we arrived at the venue we were amazed to see all of your hard work in setting up the venue. We thought we would have plenty to do when we arrived but you and your wonderful team took all of the stress away. You made everything look just perfect, especially when it then came to moving things around for us during the day.
Your support throughout the day was incredible, from the big things like guiding us through the day, to helping with all of our small requests.
We also really appreciated all the small touches, like taking pictures of the set up to satisfy my brides ocd, or leaving cake and bubbly in our room. You even made the following day incredibly easy by being so considerate when packing away our items.
The Mill Barns is an incredibly beautiful venue but it would be nothing without the team of staff who put in all of the hard work. You and the staff seriously outshine the stunning venue and that is no easy feat. Laura, you were a huge part of making our day magical!

Thank you for making our special day so special on Friday.
Every one of our guests were blown away by the venue and couldn’t believe how stunning it is!

Whatever we asked for we got and nothing was to much bother!

Jenkinsons the caterers, were amazing. They were so friendly and kept the whole atmosphere light and professional. I would like to say a big thank you to the lady who served the top table and ensured we all had our correct drinks and she even brought me some more ice cream! Furthermore on the evening, she told Josh it was only a continental breakfast as he said he was looking forward to a full English! This made us laugh so much and made us feel part of the ‘family’.

I would especially like to say a massive thank you to Lucy our wedding coordinator. She made the day run so smooth and was so professional and friendly. The little touches on the day and her thoughtfulness with the lemonade really touched us.

Just thank you thank you thank you!!!

The best wedding venue and team we could of dreamt of!
Everyone at the Mill Barns was superb from the moment of booking right through until the day after our wedding. They have literally thought of everything to make your wedding day perfect and run so smoothly.
Special thank you to Lauren who was so kind and made us feel relaxed and at ease because we knew she had everything covered. The setting is beautiful, the building design is stunning, the food is out of this world and it’s just the most spectacular wedding venue! We truly had the best day of our lives so thank you!