Inkersall Grange Farm sits high and quiet in the Nottinghamshire countryside near Bilsthorpe, about 20 minutes from both Nottingham and Newark, looking out over fields towards the edge of Sherwood Forest. It was one of the very first tipi wedding venues in the country, and the head start shows. This isn’t a field with a tent dropped into it — the canvas and timber structures are placed so that the forest view does most of the decorating for you, and the whole site is arranged with a kind of easy confidence that only comes from having done it for years.
Three linked tipis make up the main space and seat up to 150, with a fourth kept aside as a chill-out tipi for the point in the evening when people want a sofa and a quieter conversation. A charming little ceremony barn is licensed for legal ceremonies, so you can marry on the farm rather than doing the round trip to a register office, and there’s an orangery and a courtyard to spill into as well. Firepits burn both inside the tipis and out, which is the detail everyone mentions afterwards.
Catering comes from a roster of regional cooks rather than a single in-house kitchen, so the food can be whatever suits you — street food vans, sharing platters, a barbecue, or a proper three-course sit-down. There’s a licensed bar on site and the farm is taken on an exclusive-use basis, so for the length of your booking the view, the fires and the privacy are entirely yours. Guests tend to describe it as rustic-meets-luxury, with a distinct festival streak.
Where the band plays
Tipis are a genuinely lovely space for live music. The canvas takes the hard edges off a drum kit, the low centre poles keep everyone gathered in rather than spread thin, and the dancefloor ends up surrounded by guests on three sides instead of being an island at one end of a hall. Live music and discos are both welcome here, and there’s a dancefloor in place. As with any tipi, it’s worth agreeing the power supply and the exact position of the band with the venue early, since the layout is flexible and the decision is usually made when the tipis go up.
How the evening runs
The shape of the day is relaxed by design: ceremony in the barn, drinks in the courtyard, the meal under canvas and then the tipis cleared for dancing as the firepits are built up. Evenings here run to around midnight, which means a band can play two full sets with the bar still busy and nobody watching the clock. Fireworks are permitted if you want a finale, and there’s parking on site for guests.
Bands available in Nottinghamshire and perfectly at home in a venue like this.
More live music in Nottinghamshire.
- Wedding Bands in Nottinghamshire
- Events Bands in Nottinghamshire
- Nottinghamshire Tribute Acts
- Nottinghamshire Wedding DJs
- Nottinghamshire Corporate Entertainment
Worth reading before you book: Sound Limiters Explained. More questions answered on our England & Wales FAQs.