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Member since 2013

Southend Barns

Weddings at Southend Barns start from £10,995, based on a weekday in January, and include accommodation, food and drink.
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Southend Barns is a family-run wedding venue located on what was once a working farm. Nestled in the beautiful West Sussex countryside, Southend Barns has been lovingly restored with rustic charm and romantic touches, perfect for a romantic wedding.
Key Info
Southend Barns
Sesley Road
Donnington
Chichester
PO20 7PS
Website: southendbarns.co.uk
Tel: 01243 641 247
Email: enquiries@southendfarms.co.uk
 
 
Capacity
Ceremony:150
Dinner:150
Standing:200
Facilities
Licensed For Marriage:Yes
Accommodation:Sleeps 22
Exclusivity:Yes
Food & Drink
Catering:In-house
Bar:In-house
Licensed Until:11.30pm
Other
Pets Welcome:Yes
Disabled Facilities:Yes
Child Friendly:Yes
Pricing
From £10,995

Based on a weekday wedding in January. Includes accommodation, food and drink.

Starting price includes:
  • Exclusive use of the venue and grounds.
  • A dedicated wedding event manager to assist with planning and running the event.
  • The Milking Parlour, Shepherds Hut, and nine Bell tents with breakfast hampers the next day.
  • Tables, chairs, cutlery, linen and glasses.
  • PA system for background music and large stage for a band, DJ or singer.
Additional costs:

These items are not included in the price above but can be added for an additional fee:

  • Additional adult day guest £120.
  • Additional evening guest £15.
  • Additional accommodation for up to 18 people from April to September.

Please contact the venue for detailed prices.

About
Setting

Open since June 2012, Southend Barns is a family-run wedding venue located on what was once a working farm. Located in the beautiful West Sussex Countryside, Southend Barns has been lovingly restored with rustic charm and romantic touches. Built and run to be as eco-friendly as possible, the wedding barns have been carefully restored to create the perfect setting for a romantic civil ceremony and wedding reception.

Ceremony

Fully licensed for all civil ceremonies and partnerships, Southend Barns offers two ceremony spaces, which can be finalised on the day of your wedding.

The Dairy Barn is their indoor ceremony space. It has a serene ambience and simple yet romantic styling to complement all wedding day themes. Featuring a sweeping aisle, wooden beams and a crisp, neutral colour palette, the Dairy Barn provides the perfect backdrop to add your own style.

The Secret Garden is the outdoor ceremony space. It is a fantastic way to create a unique wedding inspired by nature, adding a sunlit sparkle to daytime ceremonies. Nestled in a peaceful spot between our fields and the flint walls of the Dairy Barn, the garden is lined with elegant concrete benches and surrounded by beautiful borders. The sweeping 50-foot aisle leads to a sheltered pagoda where vows are exchanged.

Reception

The Collecting Yard is a beautiful space for your drinks reception. Spacious and perfectly maintained, it is ideal for mingling with guests, live entertainment, musical performances, or relaxed conversation. The all-weather Collecting Yard includes a terrace bar, sheltered alfresco seating and a roaring fire pit.

The Threshing Barn is a magnificent space for your wedding breakfast and evening party. Exuding countryside opulence with exposed wooden beams and original features, it offers flexibility for all sizes and styles of wedding receptions. The barn provides a stunning backdrop for your celebrations, whether as a dining hall, a lively space for dancing or a banquet setting for festive or winter-themed occasions. Experienced event managers can recommend layouts that perfectly suit your vision.

Accommodation

The Milking Parlour is the perfect finishing touch to an unforgettable wedding. With its stylish interiors, you can relax and indulge in the memories of your day. Located in a private courtyard with a rose garden and water feature, it offers a calm and luxurious retreat. A freshly prepared Roots breakfast hamper is delivered the next morning for your enjoyment. The Milking Parlour can also be used by the wedding party to get ready, with large mirrors, comfortable seating and all the facilities needed for those important preparations.

Mama Lou Shepherd’s Hut is the epitome of first-class glamping. Set in the alpacas’ grazing field with its own festoon-lit private pathway and garden, it has been immaculately restored to create a sumptuous and unique retreat. In the fridge, you’ll find chilled prosecco, fresh juice, milk and coffee to accompany your breakfast delivery.

Enjoy a night of luxury under the West Sussex sky with their beautiful bell tent accommodation. In total, there are nine tents sleeping up to 18 adults and two children – including eight luxury bell tents and one spacious family tent that accommodates up to two adults and two children. Each bell tent is equipped with lighting and charging points, double beds dressed in Egyptian cotton bedding, and exclusive access to bathroom facilities, including showers and toilets, complete with indulgent Land & Water toiletries and soft towels.

In the morning, guests can head to the brand-new Piggery Pit Stop, an additional tent serving a delicious continental breakfast in a relaxed, grab-and-go style. With freshly prepared pastries and muffins to start the day, plus Nespresso coffee machines for takeaway coffees, it’s the perfect Southend Barns send-off.

Food & Drink

Roots Catering is the in-house team of talented chefs who are passionate about fusing fresh, local ingredients with creative flair to create mouth-watering menus that evolve with the seasons. From sharing platters and street food to decadent three-course feasts and plant-based dishes, the chefs look forward to designing a wedding menu tailored perfectly to you.

At Southend Barns, choosing the right drinks is just as important as the food. From signature cocktails and mocktails to an extensive wine list and our very own Southend Craft Lager and Southend Crisp Cider, every option is chosen to enhance your celebration. Drinks are served in elegant glassware and poured by a dedicated team.

Menus include traditional three-course, BBQ, tapas, and festival menus.

Sustainability

At Southend Barns, sustainability is at the heart of everything they do. As a countryside venue on a working farm, the team are dedicated to protecting and nurturing the buildings, land and surrounding environment. Their efforts enable them to proudly offer carbon-neutral weddings to couples.

Sustainability extends beyond the barns themselves and encompasses Southend Farm, where they prioritise soil regeneration to enhance organic matter and microbial diversity, ultimately improving long-term soil health.

Roots Catering also prioritises buying locally, supporting nearby suppliers and reducing food miles – and therefore reliance on fossil fuels. The addition of an on-site allotment has further developed their home-grown offering of seasonal vegetables, berries and herbs.

Getting There
  • From the A27 at Chichester, come off at the Stockbridge roundabout and take the A286 towards the Witterings.
  • Follow the A286 until you see Chichester Marina, then turn left towards Donnington into Wophams Lane.
  • At the end of Wophams Lane, turn right into Southend Farm and follow the signs for Southend Barns.
“

We fell in love with the venue on our first visit, great layout for weddings come rain or shine, and the lovely alpacas in the field surrounding the venue really added to the charm. The ceremony room was beautiful, and the barn for the breakfast/celebrations really had that rustic barn charm. Our guests also loved the covered outside bar area during the day and evening.

I was obsessed with their social media – especially their weekly roundups!

We felt really cared for by the event managers; their attention to detail really made sure our day was truly special, and they worked directly with many of our suppliers to make sure everything ran smoothly.

The Southend Barns team did everything they could to make us and our guests feel looked after.

The food by Roots catering was absolutely fantastic, and our friends are still talking about it, and the cocktails by the bar staff were made freshly and tasted great – no premix here! They also had a great selection of beers, wines and spirits to cater for all tastes.

Our flowers were provided by Flowers By Lucy, the inhouse florsit, Our flowers were exactly as we’d described to her, and we were thrilled when we saw the final product. Lucy was very helpful throughout planning, and we had a call with her to run through any questions or suggestions she might have.

All in all, we would recommend Southend Barns to any couple looking for a wedding venue! We’re extremely grateful to them for making our day perfect.

 

Married April 2026

K & D

We want to say a big thank you for our amazing wedding day. We loved every single moment, and all our guests thought it was incredible. The venue is so beautiful and we were very lucky to get married outside with the weather just about holding out for us. We loved that we got to spend time at the venue so much before our wedding day, with a date night and a taster evening, that on our wedding day, we felt completely comfortable and at ease with the fantastic service we had already received.

 

Married April 2024

Caroline & James

A woefully late thank you to you all (Sophie, Amie, Marc, Mariella and everyone else) for having us last week. We had the best day and can’t thank you enough for everything you did to make it happen. We can’t believe that it was our “take 3” wedding – it exceeded all our expectations! So a huge thank you again. Pete’s sister has already decided to have her wedding with you (and she’s not even engaged!).

Sophie & Peter

Southend Barns, the DREAM TEAM! What can we both say other than a massive THANK YOU! You have all made this day more than we could have dreamed that it would be. Organising a wedding from Dubai was not easy, however you were all there and so supportive whenever we needed you. The venue and your team have made this day so very special! Thank you again for everything.

Laura & Lizzie

To all the team at Southend Barns and Roots Catering, we just wanted to say thank you so much for making our day so amazing. It really was the best day of our lives and we are incredibly grateful for all the hard work you guys put in to ensure everything ran smoothly.

Amy & Carlos

Thank you so much. We had the best day! And wish we could do it all over again. We wanted to say thank you to all the team for making it the best day, everything went off without a hitch and the whole day from start to finish was perfect! The team made me feel more at ease before I walked down the aisle as I was so nervous. All of our guests said what a stunning venue with amazing food, and everyone said how on it the staff were. No one ever had to ask for anything, drinks were always being poured, and the food was delicious.

 

Married May 2024

Tilly & Nathan

Where to start!! There is a lifetime of build up to a wedding, people dream about that day so for us to be able to say that it was more than we could have imagined is a huge thing. Every detail was looked after, nothing was too much and you made us feel like the most special people in the world!

The day was seamless, from arriving and having a bottle of champagne ready for the groom, to how safe you made me feel before I took my first steps down the aisle. The food was breathtaking, we both wish we weren’t so nervous so we could have eaten more. The beef and pavlova were the stars of the show. You have given us the most incredible memories that we will keep for a life time, we can’t thank you enough!

Can we come and do it all again??

Jessica & Nathan

We had the most amazing wedding day at Southend Barns. After a year of planning with their team, we arrived on the day feeling completely at ease, knowing that every detail had already been thought through. That preparation meant we could simply be present and enjoy the moment, trusting the staff to guide us (and our guests) seamlessly through the day.

The venue itself is stunning while allowing us to add our personal touches. We received so many compliments on the barns and the surrounding grounds, which looked even more beautiful bathed in sunshine on our lucky break between rainy days. Having dedicated spaces for getting ready, the ceremony, the reception, and even staying overnight made the whole experience feel effortless. We never had to think about moving between locations or managing logistics; everything flowed naturally.

What really stood out was how adaptable and open to bespoke requests the team were. Even last-minute changes were handled with calm professionalism. At every stage, we genuinely felt that the staff wanted us to have the perfect wedding day — and we truly did.

Roots were fantastic. We chose a fully vegetarian and vegan menu, and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive (even from our meat-eater friends and family). The canapés in particular were a huge hit. Despite our dietary preferences, we were genuinely spoilt for choice, and it was lovely knowing everything was locally sourced. The presentation was beautiful, the flavours were vibrant, and the portion sizes were generous. You could tell everything had been cooked and baked with love. Thank you for creating a menu that felt very “us”.

Lucy created the most beautiful floral arrangements for our day. We went with a bespoke palette of blues and purples to match the rest of our details, and she brought it to life perfectly. I had requested something local, in-season, and a little wild, and she absolutely understood the vibe, beautifully capturing the meadow-inspired feel.

I had mentioned a few of my favourite flowers, and when I saw the Forget Me Nots in my bouquet, I nearly screamed. It was such a small detail, but incredibly meaningful, and I was so touched that she included them. It showed that she had really listened.

Thank you, Lucy. The flowers were absolutely perfect.

Thank you for giving us a day we will treasure forever.

 

Married June 2026

E & J

I can’t believe it’s all over. I want to do it all again. Me and clayton just want to take a moment to thank all the staff at Seb for your hard work on making our vision come true. The venue looked amazing and all the staff are so friendly, helpful and just amazing. It really was all we imagined and more so thank you all so so much for everything. The best day ever.

 

Married February 2024

Lydia & Clayton

To everyone at Southend Barns. Thank you so much. You helped us get through all of our changed plans, months of uncertainty and many ups and downs of wedding planning and we ended up having the most perfect day! We are so appreciative of everything you did to make our day special. P.S we’re still all thinking about those salted caramel profiteroles.

Charlotte & Josh

We cannot thank Southend Barns and Roots Catering for giving us the wedding day of our dreams. From our very first meeting, they made us feel completely supported and at ease. The professionalism, warmth, and exceptional attention to detail were clear from the start, and they were there every step of the way to guide us through the planning process.

On the day itself, everything ran seamlessly. From the moment we stepped out of the car to the final dance of the evening, the entire day was full of joy and calm, all thanks to the incredible team working behind the scenes. The calm and reassuring presence meant we could relax and fully enjoy each moment, knowing everything was in the safest hands.

The venue was absolutely breathtaking. The barn looked even more beautiful than we could have imagined. The team brought our vision to life with such care and creativity, and we were genuinely overwhelmed walking into the space for the first time. It felt truly magical.

Roots Catering exceeded all expectations. The food was outstanding, beautifully presented, full of flavour, and served with such professionalism. So many of our guests commented that it was some of the best wedding food they’d ever had. Everything was executed to perfection.

We feel incredibly grateful to have had Southend Barns and their amazing team as part of our wedding. The day truly felt like a fairytale, and we’ll cherish the memories forever. If you’re looking for a venue with not only a stunning setting but also an outstanding team that genuinely cares about your day, we couldn’t recommend Southend Barns and Roots Catering more highly.

 

Married September 2025

J & S
Your Sussex Wedding Magazine Feature
FAQs
Where can we have our Civil Wedding Ceremony?

The Dairy Barn, a charming and rustic venue, is licensed for Civil Wedding Ceremonies. For those who prefer an outdoor setting, we have a fully licensed ceremony area, The Secret Garden, surrounded by lush greenery and blooming flowers.

Can we bring our own caterers in?

No, our catering is provided by our brilliant own in-house team, Roots.

We are planning a small wedding. Will the barn feel too large?

The Threshing Barn, with its spacious layout, is perfect for weddings and events of all sizes. Whether you're planning an intimate gathering or a grand celebration, we can adapt the space to suit your needs. We offer the option to install organza drapes or white wooden screens to create a more intimate atmosphere. Additionally, we can rearrange the furniture and even bring in an outdoor sofa to transform the barn into a relaxed bar area.

Do you have a Bridal Suite?

Yes, our Milking Parlour has been revamped into a luxurious bridal suite located in its own private courtyard. Once used as a dairy parlour, it has now been refurbished with contemporary interiors complete with driftwood mirrors, lavish rugs, and a log fire. In addition to stunning suite gardens featuring a water feature and seasonal florals, this is the perfect spot for a couple's portrait.

What time do we have to finish the party?

In order to comply with our premises licence, all music must cease by 23:30, taxis should be booked to arrive by 23:45, and guests must have left by midnight.

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From £10,995
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