Looking for an all-inclusive wedding venue near Eastbourne? Blackstock Country Estate is a short drive inland at Hellingly, set in 70 acres of East Sussex countryside. Two restored barns, our own catering team, accommodation on site, and meadows and lakes right outside for your photographs. One venue and one team, rather than a list of suppliers to chase.
Most couples start their search along the coast and end up looking a few miles north instead. Eastbourne has good hotels and seafront venues. What it can’t give you is countryside. Open meadows, wild deer on the grounds, views across the South Downs, and you’re still close enough that guests can get home the same evening if they’d rather not stay over.
When couples ask us about an all-inclusive wedding venue near Eastbourne, what they usually mean is they don’t want to spend the next year chasing a caterer, then a bar, then somewhere for everyone to sleep, and trying to get all three to talk to each other. They want one place and one team.
That’s how we work. The ceremony, the wedding breakfast, the bar, the evening and the rooms your closest guests sleep in are all on the same site, looked after by the same people. If you’ve already got suppliers you love, bring them. And if you haven’t got that far yet, we work with photographers, hair and makeup artists and cake makers across Sussex all the time, so we can point you towards the ones we trust.
Every wedding here is a bit different, so we’d rather sit down with you and go through exactly what’s included.
Image above by The Soul Of My Lens
We’re at Blackstock Farm on Grove Hill in Hellingly, BN27 4HF, just north of Hailsham. For most guests coming from Eastbourne, it’s well under half an hour by car; there’s plenty of parking when they get here, and Polegate is the closest station if anyone’s coming by train.
That distance is really the point for couples looking for an all-inclusive wedding venue near Eastbourne. Far enough out for real countryside, close enough that nobody’s planning a two-hour journey. We’re within easy reach of Polegate, Pevensey, Bexhill, Seaford and Lewes, and we sit fairly centrally between Eastbourne, Brighton and Tunbridge Wells.
The parish church of St Peter and St Paul is a little over a mile away, so if you are able to marry there and hold the reception here afterwards, that works too.
The Tudor Barn dates back to the 16th century, and that’s where the ceremony happens. We’re licensed for weddings and civil partnership ceremonies for up to 120 guests in there. And then there is also outside in our grounds near the gazebo – this is a spectacular place to be married!
Then everyone moves across to The Granary, our second restored barn, and that’s where you eat. It takes larger wedding breakfasts comfortably. Both barns are decorated simply enough that you can dress them for your own theme without fighting the building.
Having two rather than one also means nobody’s left hanging around while a room gets turned around between the ceremony and the meal.
Image above by Luke Woodford Photography
Our catering team and chefs are in-house, and that’s one of the main reasons couples looking for an all-inclusive wedding venue end up with us. You’re not booking an outside caterer and hoping for the best on the day. There’s a menu tasting day as part of the planning, so you’ll have met the chef and eaten the food long before your guests do. Then, the menu is put together around your tastes and your budget rather than picked off a fixed list.
We’ve got licensed bars and room for live music in the evening, so the drinks and the entertainment are sorted here too.
We’ve got accommodation on the estate, within walking distance of the barns. So no taxis at midnight for your closest family and friends, and no rush to pack up and leave the next morning.
For couples looking for an all-inclusive wedding venue near Eastbourne, this is often the part that decides it. Especially if half the guest list is travelling in from the coast.
Image above by Sarah Williams Photography
The grounds run to over 70 acres. Meadows, lakes, bluebell woodland, and the Cuckmere River winding through the valley, with the Weald and the South Downs National Park behind it all. There are wild deer on the estate, and rheas, geese, horses and llamas in the fields, who have a habit of turning up in the background of photographs.
The courtyard gives you the tight, close-up shots, whilst down at the lakes it’s open countryside behind you, and on a clear day that’s miles of view in the frame. No driving between the two, so your guests aren’t sitting about waiting for you to come back. Stay for the sunset as well, because there’s nothing out there in the way of it.
Bluebells in spring. Long evening light across the meadows in high summer. By autumn the valley’s gone gold. Worth a thought before you settle on a date.
If you’re looking for an all-inclusive wedding venue near Eastbourne, our honest advice is to come and walk round. Photographs only tell you so much. Standing in the Tudor Barn and looking out over the valley is the quickest way to know whether this is your place.
Email us at venues@blackstockestate.co.uk,call 01323 848006 or book a private viewing and we’ll find a time that suits you. We can show you both barns, walk you down to the lakes, and talk through dates and numbers.
Image above by Darren Buss Photography