Dodford Manor is a collection of Grade II listed barns at Dodford, a few minutes from Daventry and very well placed for the M1 and the M6, and it has been restored with unusual assurance — ancient stone and new oak set against each other, and floor-to-ceiling glass wherever the architects could get away with it. The effect is that the barns are flooded with daylight in June and still feel warm and glowing in January, which is not a trick every barn manages to pull off.
The day moves through the buildings in a sequence that has clearly been thought about. Mornings begin in the Grain Store, where the wedding party gets ready; ceremonies take place in the historic Mortain Barn; and the glass-walled Oak Barn takes the reception, the dinner and the dancing. Outside there is the West Lawn, which is where everybody ends up as the light starts to go and the photographer stops pretending not to be excited. In all there are more than 20 acres of Northamptonshire countryside, and the site is exclusively yours for the day.
Catering is handled in-house by Jenkinsons, and the venue is refreshingly relaxed about drinks — no corkage at all on daytime wine, so you can bring your own and spend the saving somewhere more interesting. Numbers run to 170 seated for both the ceremony and dinner, and 200 standing. There is no accommodation on site, so guest rooms will need booking nearby. The team here has won its regional category at The Wedding Industry Awards three years running, and that reputation for organisation is a good part of what you are paying for.
Where the band plays
The Oak Barn is the evening room and it is a good one for live music: a high, open, timbered volume that gives sound somewhere to go, with the bar within easy reach of the dance floor so that the crowd never drifts too far from it. Live music and discos are both permitted. Since dinner and dancing share the space, agree early with the coordinators when a band can get in and set up — a barn with glass walls looks wonderful and hides absolutely nothing, so most couples arrange the soundcheck before guests arrive.
How the evening runs
Drinks on the West Lawn, dinner in the Oak Barn, and then the tables go back and the room becomes a dance floor. The licence and the bar both run to midnight, so the band’s final set lands while the room is still at its fullest rather than after it has started to thin out. Because nobody is staying on site, it pays to sort transport in advance so that last hour is not lost to people leaving early — a couple of coaches booked for midnight will do more for the party than almost anything else you could buy.
Bands available in Northamptonshire and perfectly at home in a venue like this.
More live music in Northamptonshire.
- Wedding Bands in Northamptonshire
- Events Bands in Northamptonshire
- Northamptonshire Tribute Acts
- Northamptonshire Wedding DJs
- Northamptonshire Corporate Entertainment
Worth reading before you book: Sound Limiters Explained. More questions answered on our England & Wales FAQs.