Tucked into the Nadder Valley below the Pythouse estate, Pythouse Kitchen Garden is three acres of old walled garden that somebody had the very good sense to bring back to life. There are warm brick walls and glasshouses, rows of vegetables and cut flowers, and a restaurant and bar sitting in the middle of it all, cooking over a wood fire from whatever was picked that morning a few yards away. It is one of those places people drive out to for lunch and then find themselves quietly planning a wedding around.
As a wedding venue it is genuinely unlike the barns and grand houses the county does so well. You take exclusive use of the walled garden, the dining terrace and the bar, and the celebration happens among the beds and the fruit trees rather than in a room dressed up to look rural. In spring and summer the garden will take up to 200; in autumn and winter a heated marquee holds 150, or 60 gather in the conservatory for something smaller and altogether more candlelit.
There is somewhere to sleep, too, and of exactly the right sort. A glamping orchard takes up to 24 guests through the summer, with its own bathrooms and a chill-out space, and a shepherd’s hut is kept year round for the couple. Everything the kitchen serves leans on what is growing outside the door, which is why the food here tends to be the thing guests are still talking about on the drive home.
Where the band plays
Dancing happens in the conservatory, which has the dancefloor and the glorious oddity of being a glass room in a walled garden after dark. The team will happily help you line up a band or a DJ, and it is worth talking to them early about layout: glass and hard surfaces are lively, so a band that plays with a bit of dynamic control — an acoustic-leaning first set, then the full thing once everybody is up — sounds better here than sheer volume ever will. In summer the doors open and the sound carries beautifully out into the garden.
Getting married here, and the drinks that follow
The licensed civil ceremony takes place next door at Hatch House, which the garden works with, and a blessing or a celebrant-led ceremony can be held on site among the beds. Either way the drinks reception belongs outside, working its way along the terrace and the paths between the walls, and it is a rare venue where the setting does so much of the decorating for you. Numbers shift with the seasons, so the shape of your day will be led as much by the month you choose as by the guest list.
How the evening runs
Evenings here have a lovely unhurried rhythm to them: dinner runs long, the bar stays busy, late-night snacks appear when people need them, and for anyone staying in the orchard there is the option of a campfire at midnight to see the day out properly. Confirm the music finish and the bar with the team when you book, since a garden venue has its own neighbourly considerations, and let the band know how the night is shaped so the last set lands while the conservatory is still full.
Bands available in Wiltshire and perfectly at home in a venue like this.
More live music in Wiltshire.
- Wedding Bands in Wiltshire
- Events Bands in Wiltshire
- Wiltshire Tribute Acts
- Wiltshire Wedding DJs
- Wiltshire Corporate Entertainment
Worth reading before you book: Sound Limiters Explained. More questions answered on our England & Wales FAQs.