Hello! We’re Becca and Ollie. We’re the owners and managers of The Barn at Cott Farm. We’re also the creators of the venue, and here’s the story of how it all started…
When we got engaged in September 2015, we knew we wanted a personalised wedding with our friends and family in a special place with lots of outside space. Ollie grew up on his parents’ free range egg farm in East Chinnock, Somerset, which was the perfect setting for our wedding.
We came up with the idea of renovating a dilapidated barn and set a date for July 2016. This gave us ten months to do the work. In hindsight the plan was really ambitious!
Originally a chicken house, the barn was used for storing farm equipment for thirty years. In autumn 2015 it had a leaky roof, an uneven concrete floor, drafty timber walls and rotten window frames.
It was a complete, inhabitable mess… But we could imagine transforming it into a light, bright wedding-worthy backdrop.
With the help of our families and friends, we fixed the leaks, fitted windows and sky lights, insulated the entire building, laid a new floor, painted the vast walls and had the electrics and lights re-wired. We landscaped the outside areas and planted the gardens with flowers. We installed glass tri-folding doors behind the original barn doors, hand built massive wooden tables and a bar, fitted natural coir carpets and strung fairy lights around the old oak beams. The task was immense.
The end result, in the nick of time, was stunning. Our 120 guests enjoyed cider cocktails in the grounds of the barn before sitting down to a three course locally-sourced wedding breakfast cooked to perfection by the same chef you’ll find in our kitchen today. More guests joined the party in the evening with music by local band, The IOUs, before camping in the adjacent field.
We had our best day ever! The barn really was our dream wedding venue and the fact we had worked so hard on it just made it even more special.
The barn was destined to be Ollie’s new workshop after the wedding. In the final few weeks before our day though, a friend asked if they could hire the barn for their own wedding. It was then we realised we had something quite special… and so The Barn at Cott Farm wedding venue was launched.
Since 2016, we’ve hosted over 7500 guests at weddings and events, with a few pop up restaurant nights and several photoshoots in between.
We’re continually improving the venue, the facilities and the grounds, and have created countless additions. From designing and building the wooden pergola for wedding ceremonies (and becoming licensed for these), the commercial kitchen and the outdoor kitchen with pizza oven, to hand-creating our luxurious shepherd’s hut toilets and the nook dressing room, we’ve certainly been busy!
We’ll be honest; managing a wedding venue is hard work, and much harder than we’d imagined.
But we think we have the best job in the world. There’s nothing more rewarding for us than helping each couple achieve their perfect wedding day.
The time, space and guidance to create your perfect wedding day.
Keeping with the relaxed festival-style we wanted for our wedding, we offer couples the time, space and guidance to create their own perfect wedding day.
We host a limited number of weddings, and each is completely unique and genuinely special.
Venue hire is for the whole weekend, which includes access to the venue all day Friday to add your personal touches, and Sunday morning to collect your decor, cards and gifts. This gives you time to properly prepare for what is going to be one of your best days ever.
Plus we and our wonderful team will be on hand all day to coordinate timings, and ensure your day runs perfectly.