St Julian’s is not really a wedding venue, and that is much of its charm. It is a private family club on the Greensand ridge at Underriver, just outside Sevenoaks, which has been running since 1956 and occupies a Georgian house with 40 acres of woodland, gardens and orchard around it. Members come for the outdoor heated pools, the tennis courts and the long views over the Weald, and the place has the comfortable, slightly worn-in feel of somewhere that is used constantly rather than dressed for photographs twice a week.
The rooms themselves are listed and rather lovely. The Lounge is the original drawing room, with long bay windows that open straight onto the south-facing terrace, and it is where dinner and the dancing both end up. The Gallery is smaller, with a deep alcove bay window looking out across the valley, and works beautifully for a ceremony or for drinks. There is a Victorian conservatory hung with wisteria for the in-between moments. Ceremonies take around 80, a standing reception around 100, and a seated dinner around 60, so this is a venue for a wedding on a human scale rather than a vast one.
Food is done in house, with seasonal local produce and a fair amount of it grown on site, and there is a proper licensed bar. Because it is a club rather than a dedicated wedding business, the atmosphere tends to be relaxed and the day tends to run long — and it suits a milestone birthday or an anniversary party every bit as well as it suits a wedding.
Where the band plays
Size the band to the clubhouse rather than to the grounds. 40 acres sounds enormous and the terrace is glorious on a summer evening, but the party itself happens indoors, and the Lounge is the constraint that matters. A four- or five-piece is usually right: enough to lift a room of 60 to 100 people, not so much that the front row has to stand in the garden. There is a sound limiter in the Lounge, set at 95dB, which is a workable ceiling for a band of that size but not one to discover on the night — tell your act the number when you book and they will set up to it rather than against it. The bay windows and the terrace doors mean the sound spills out pleasantly on a warm night, which is one of the nicer things about the room.
How the evening runs
Evenings here have run through to midnight, which is a long, generous night by the standards of a venue this size and gives a band room to play a proper three sets with a break for the cake. The club’s relaxed rhythm helps: nobody is being moved along to a schedule, and the dancefloor tends to fill early and stay full.
Finding the place
Underriver is reached down narrow lanes off the Sevenoaks road, which is charming in a car and rather less so in a long-wheelbase van with a trailer behind it. It is worth flagging in advance so the band allows for it and the venue knows when to expect them — load-in is always easier when somebody is expecting you.
Bands available in Kent and perfectly at home in a venue like this.
More live music in Kent.
- Kent Wedding Bands
- Events Bands in Kent
- Tribute Acts in Kent
- Kent Wedding DJs
- Corporate Entertainment in Kent
Worth reading before you book: First Dance Guide. More questions answered on our England & Wales FAQs.