Huntsham Court is a Victorian gothic pile in a fold of countryside near Tiverton, on the softer side of Exmoor, and it is unapologetically a house rather than a venue. The whole property is yours: turrets, panelling, log fires, sofas you sink into, five acres of mature Victorian gardens and a church sitting on the driveway as though it came with the furniture. Couples who have stayed talk less about the architecture than about how comfortable it is — a grand house that behaves like a home, with small nooks for quiet conversations tucked off the big rooms.
The scale is what makes it unusual. There are somewhere north of 40 bedrooms and suites, sleeping up to 100 people, done out with four-posters, silk canopies, enormous sofas and bathrooms that mix antiques with modern plumbing. That means your guests do not go anywhere: no taxis, no 11 o’clock exodus, just everybody staying put for two or three days. There are croquet lawns, a tennis court and archery on the grass outside, and a spa for the recovery phase.
The 5 large reception rooms — among them the Great Hall, the Yellow Room and a library lined with books and armchairs — are all licensed for civil ceremonies and all designed to be moved around. One can be a ceremony room in the afternoon, a banqueting hall by 7pm and a dancefloor by 10pm. The house takes 20 to 130 guests for dining and around 150 for a reception. It runs as a dry hire with no corkage at all, and the catering is entirely your call: Michelin-trained chefs at one end of the scale, pizza ovens, hog roasts and fish and chips at the other. As the house itself likes to put it, there is no boring rulebook.
Where the band plays
Because the evening happens in a reception room rather than a hall, this is a venue that rewards a well-judged line-up over a big one. A four- or five-piece with a sensible stage footprint fills these rooms properly, and the hard floors and high Victorian ceilings give a band far more help than they would get in a modern space. Have the conversation about which room the dancing lands in before you book, since the five spaces differ in size and shape and the answer changes what an act brings with it.
How the night runs
Huntsham holds a late licence and the house tends to go on until about 1am, with live sets generally wrapping up by midnight. That last hour is not a formality here — with 100 people sleeping upstairs, the room at 12.30am is very nearly as full as it was at 11pm, because nobody has anywhere to be. It is worth arranging something to take over the moment the band packs down, whether that is a DJ booked alongside the act or simply a properly planned playlist through the house system. Get that handover right and the night carries itself into the small hours; leave it to chance and a very good evening stalls at exactly the wrong moment.
One practical note: the lanes in are narrow and dark, so give any supplier proper directions rather than a postcode, and load in during daylight where the timings allow it.
Bands available in Devon and perfectly at home in a venue like this.
More live music in Devon.
- Devon Wedding Bands
- Events Bands in Devon
- Tribute Acts in Devon
- Devon Wedding DJs
- Corporate Entertainment in Devon
Worth reading before you book: Sound Limiters Explained. More questions answered on our England & Wales FAQs.