New rural wedding venue Awberry Farm in Beenham is getting ready to welcome its first couples in 2025

A married couple who have had their rural property converted into a wedding venue are nearly ready to welcome guests to the new facility.

Una Roscoe and Nigel Hopes purchased Awberry Farm in Beenham in 2021 and were looking for ways to diversify the agricultural property and generate income in new ways when they acquired it.

After Una and Nigel got married there themselves in 2022, they saw Awberry’s potential of becoming a first-class events venue.

Having been granted a licence to run 28 events on Saturdays throughout the summer months of the year, they want the weddings at Awberry Farm to be as enjoyable for the couple as they are for their family and friends.

Nigel said: “We will be promoting the concept of the ideal analysis after the event being ‘not only was this the best day of my life, but actually our guests said it was the best wedding they’ve ever been to’.

“You want [the guests] to have a memorable time as much as you want the couple to have a memorable time, and a lot of couples I think forget that.

“We have got some of hints and tips to make it fantastic for the couple but also for everyone else.”

Ever since they were granted permission to make changes to the farm and to operate the wedding business, the couple have been hard at work getting it ready for prospective customers.

Nigel said that the mid-18th century barn already looked the part for the main reception area, and the renovations they have done have only enhanced the rustic space.

The entire length of the barn has been fitted with flooring suitable for barn dances, and specialist acoustic cladding has been fitted to the exterior of the building to reduce sound pollution for neighbours.

The other key location at Awberry Farm is the Owl Gallery which will be where the wedding ceremonies take place.

The marriage room – which has space to fit 120 people and is the result of a storage shed conversion – overlooks the rolling hills of the North Wessex Downs and a large singular oak tree standing in a field.

There are several other areas that will be used in the weddings too, such as a cocktail garden, a fully-stocked bar within the barn, a commercial kitchen and a yard area between the barn and ceremony room.

Awberry Farm has also been granted planning permission to create nine ensuite bedrooms on the site.

The couple are aware that some within the Beenham community won’t be welcoming the arrival of their contentious wedding venue.

Before the venue’s alcohol licence was approved, 15 locals objected to the application due to potential noise, traffic and anti-social behaviour issues, while 27 wrote in to show their support of the application because of its supposed benefits to the local economy.

Una and Nigel understand the concerns that their neighbours might have, and have assured the people of Beenham that their venue will not be a nuisance.

Una said: “We have complied and are complying with all the conditions, and I believe we are good neighbours.

“If the music is to go off at 11, it’ll be off at two minutes to 11.

“We are also very mindful because we are villagers ourselves and we are part of the community.

“It’s not like we go away at the end of a wedding event.

“We are here, so we don’t want it to be loud either.”

Nigel added: “In a nutshell, we want to do the right thing.

“We completely respect all the conditions that have been imposed and they are sensible.

“They are onerous and very costly to comply with, but we want to create a facility that is an upper-end facility.

“We want this to be a really high-quality venue.”

The couple also believe that the existence of the wedding venue will have the “huge added benefit” of protecting Beenham’s village pub The Six Bells (owned by Nigel and his ex-wife), as the pub’s four rooms would likely be filled every time a wedding takes place.

They also believe that their venue will benefit small businesses in the area, as the couple will be working with local florists, caterers, accommodation providers and others to put the weddings together.

Nigel stated: “We are now very close to being operational. We are taking bookings from May 2025.

“We hope that we’ve generated a facility that is high quality, and we are absolutely convinced that this is going to hugely beneficial [to Beenham] and provide a new asset to the village but also retain a key asset which is the pub.”