Athelhampton house

It is my favorite venue. The staff there are simply the best around and really treat our clients and guests well. I can't praise them enough. I have no idea on the costs, but for a memorable day, great customer service, and fabulous food, it can't be beat. We do alot of weddings there, and every time it has been great. Laura and Owen are wonderful to work with. All the best!

Teri M

We seriously considered having our wedding at Athelhampton House but eventually decided against it because of the cost. We found the wine extortionate but then when we tried to provide our own the cost of corkage meant we would have had to find bottles that were approx £2 each. Our budget for the day (not inc honeymoon) was approx 10k for 60 people and we would have struggled to fit everything in. Obviously if you have a large budget money will not be an issue.

Athelhampton House was a beautiful venue and we were very disappointed that we were unable to go with it in the end. We found the main positives were the beautiful gardens and the amount of room for guests to roam, but the negatives were the location (hotels would be required for guests and there aren't many to be had in that area) and that if it rained then you didn't really get your moneys worth due to a lack of indoor space.

Hope that helps :-)

I have no idea about the cost, does the website not offer any clue?

We went to a wedding there earlier this year. It was a 5 hour drive and we were expecting great things! Tolpuddle and the area was lovely but I found the wedding a bit soulless, especially as most of it was held in the more modern coach house rather than the house itself.

The house has a kind of museum upstairs. All these oldy worldy bedrooms set up but barred off. Most odd. And two single toilets/bathrooms, for all 100 guests at the drinks reception. The queues were huge.

The gardens looked lovely, but it rained all day. The staff were great as Teri said.

The bride and groom also spent most of the day arguing elsewhere which could have also out a damper on the whole thing! They married at a church down the road, so can't comment in ceremonies at the house. This was also the wedding that had a barn dance, for 6 hours which we didn't enjoy. Perhaps it wasn't the best wedding to comment about the venue!

It is pretty though!

They are still together as far as we know. We sat with a couple of the ushers and they said the arguments were about the groom getting too drunk. As we didn't know anyone apart from the bride and groom, not seeing them dancing and having fun just made it feel lacking. Although I do appreciate this is the people involved not the venue.

After the drinks reception in the old house (with the museum bit and two loos) we were guided to the other side of the estate to the coach house which was more like a modern bar with a dance floor. This had more than enough ladies loos. Phew! My bladder was getting bursty by this point.

There is no accommodation as such, I read there is a cottage somewhere in the grounds that can be hired via Hoseasons holidays, but the house is not a hotel. We stayed in the cheapest B&B we could fin in a ten mile radius, it was not cheap mind!

I have been to several ceremonies there, but always in the great hall, and I think we must bring great weather with us, knock on wood, as we have never had much rain, it always seems to hold off until time to go in for the wedding breakfast, lol. I have never seen them hold a ceremony in the Long Room, not sure I would like that. Most of the time, the drinks reception has been held outside, so the guests are normally directed the large, well appointed loos that are just by the bar.

Funny you mention the toilet situation, I have never used the ones in the main house, I have always gone to the other building where the wedding reception and evening recepton is to use the loo, and have seen guests directed to it as well, which has 4 stalls in the ladies room. So I don't think that should be a deal breaker, lol. I was at a stunning venue in Kent to weeks ago that really did only have two loos, for 130 guests, a very huge country hotel, which I thought was badly thought out. We had a room there tho, so just went to my room instead of queuing. But if I had to queue, that would not have been much fun.

For my clients who have their ceremonies at athelhampton, there are cottages they can recommend, and there is the gorgeous Kingston Manor House, just down the road and near Kingston College. It is a very romantic Elizabethan E style house that is run as a B&B. Highly recommend it for the bride the night before the wedding and wedding night. Normally taxies have been used to take guests to a hotel in Dorchester. The main house is a private residence, so I not see it ever being used to stay overnight in.

I have told my daughters that is where I want them to get married when the time comes, lol. I have been to alot of venues and am very picky.

I have been to several ceremonies there, but always in the great hall, and I think we must bring great weather with us, knock on wood, as we have never had much rain, it always seems to hold off until time to go in for the wedding breakfast, lol. I have never seen them hold a ceremony in the Long Room, not sure I would like that. Most of the time, the drinks reception has been held outside, so the guests are normally directed the large, well appointed loos that are just by the bar.

Funny you mention the toilet situation, I have never used the ones in the main house, I have always gone to the other building where the wedding reception and evening recepton is to use the loo, and have seen guests directed to it as well, which has 4 stalls in the ladies room. So I don't think that should be a deal breaker, lol. I was at a stunning venue in Kent to weeks ago that really did only have two loos, for 130 guests, a very huge country hotel, which I thought was badly thought out. We had a room there tho, so just went to my room instead of queuing. But if I had to queue, that would not have been much fun.

For my clients who have their ceremonies at athelhampton, there are cottages they can recommend, and there is the gorgeous Kingston Manor House, just down the road and near Kingston College. It is a very romantic Elizabethan E style house that is run as a B&B. Highly recommend it for the bride the night before the wedding and wedding night. Normally taxied have been used to take guests to a hotel n Dorchester. The main house is a private residence, so I not see it ever being used to stay overnight in.

I have told my daughters that is where I want them to get married when the time comes, lol. I have been to alot of venues and am very picky.