Lapstone Barn stands up on Westington Hill just outside Chipping Campden, with acres of privacy around it and one of the loveliest market towns in England a few minutes down the road. It’s an 18th-century Cotswold barn in that particular honey-coloured stone, restored fairly recently into a modern wedding venue that has managed not to iron out its own character in the process. The bones are old; the underfloor heating, the lighting and the plumbing are not.
The site is arranged as a series of connected spaces rather than one big room, which gives a wedding day somewhere to go. The Stone Barn handles ceremonies and dining, Northwick Barn brings in the natural light for the wedding breakfast, and between them sits an English courtyard that’s partly under cover — a genuinely useful thing in an English summer, because drinks can happen outside whether or not the forecast cooperates. South-facing lawns run away from the buildings for games, photographs and the long golden part of the afternoon.
Everything is exclusively yours, and there’s accommodation on site including a rather good bridal suite, so the wedding party can stay put. The Hayloft opens as a dressing room in the morning, catering is done by the in-house team and runs from sharing plates to a traditional three courses, and there’s corkage if you’d rather bring your own drink. Dogs are welcome, which for some couples settles the matter entirely.
Where the band plays
The barn takes up to 200 for a ceremony, a seated dinner or an evening reception, so this is a room with proper scale — a six or seven-piece band with horns doesn’t look lost in it, and the volume needed to fill it is sensible rather than punishing. Stone walls and a high timber roof give live music real body, and there’s a dancefloor and an in-house sound system already installed, which is handy for speeches and background music even when a band brings its own PA.
How the evening runs
The typical rhythm is a ceremony in the Stone Barn or outdoors, drinks in the sheltered courtyard, dinner in Northwick Barn and then dancing as the room is turned around. Evenings generally run to around midnight, which gives a band two comfortable sets and lets the last one finish while the dancefloor is still busy. The site’s isolation works in your favour for volume, though as with any converted barn it’s worth asking directly about any sound limiter or agreed finish time before you sign, so the band can plan around it rather than discover it on the day. Parking is on site and the load-in is straightforward.
Bands available in Gloucestershire and perfectly at home in a venue like this.
More live music in Gloucestershire.
- Gloucestershire Wedding Bands
- Gloucestershire Events Bands
- Tribute Acts in Gloucestershire
- Wedding DJs in Gloucestershire
- Corporate Entertainment in Gloucestershire
Worth reading before you book: Sound Limiters Explained. More questions answered on our England & Wales FAQs.