Cooling Castle Barn is a wedding venue located on the outskirts of London, amongst the rural peninsula of North Kent.
A brief history – Cooling Castle was built in the 1380s by John Cobham on the edge of marshes at Cooling, six miles north of Rochester, Kent. It is now about two miles inland. It was besieged by Thomas Wyatt the younger during Wyatt’s rebellion in 1554; Lord Cobham surrendered after a brief resistance. Though he claimed to have surrendered to superior force, he had previously sympathized with Wyatt’s cause, and he was briefly imprisoned for his role in the affair. The castle has also been the property of the Lollard leader John Oldcastle – executed for his beliefs, and later the source for Shakespeare‘s Falstaff – through his marriage to Joan Oldcastell, 4th Baroness Cobham.
During the 1990s, the property was owned by the Rochester bridge wardens. The more recent residential parts of the castle are still in use – as of 2006 it is owned by musician Jools Holland.[1] The main part of the castle is in ruins with a private house inside.[1] The gatehouse is in good condition and can be seen from the road.
These days, the barn and grounds are used for weddings and other celebrations.
“At Cooling Castle Barn we are renowned for ensuring that each and every wedding is special.
With only one wedding per day, we can ensure that the Bride and Groom receive our undivided attention and have a day that they will never forget. We pride ourselves on attention to detail and if unusual requests are made, we rise to the challenge.
We have three barns, the Heritage Barn for the reception of guests, the Fathom Barn for the marriage ceremony and the Tithe Barn for the wedding breakfast. Our grounds are superbly maintained in order that our guests can enjoy the peace and tranquillity of our rural location. The Barns can be decorated to match different colour schemes/themes and individual budgets.
Combine the romance of the occasion, the dignity of the ceremony, the stunning atmosphere of such a fabulous location, together with the welcoming attentiveness of our staff and you cannot fail to experience your perfect wedding.”
The grounds have some amazing opportunities for beautiful portraits of you. The outside of the Castle Gates make for some beautiful images and is very often used by photographers as a backdrop to their wedding portraits
.jpg "Bride and Groom Portraits Cooling Castle Barn")
Hair & Make up by Hair Come the Girls { http://www.haircomethegirls.co.uk/ }
The bandstand is also another quirky place to have photos taken, although the inside of the bandstand isnt too pretty, however it still makes for a great opportunity for photos
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Dress by Maggie Sottero - Suit hire from Oh Suit Hire
Cooling Castle Barn are also able to cater for you food needs too, and their team of chefs create not only amazingly tasty food, but in a well presented and mouth watering way. You can find examples of their sample food menus here
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Flowers by Darling Buds of Kent
Prices and Packages at Cooling Castle Barn
| Monday through to Thursday | Friday / Sunday & Bank Holidays | Saturday | |
|---|---|---|---|
| April – October | £4,800 | £8,680 | £9,900 |
| December | £6,495 | £8,680 | N/A |
| November – March | £4,200 | £7,670 | £8,000 |
Weekend Friday / Saturday / Sunday
Minimum numbers
80 day guests for the wedding breakfast & up to 150 for the evening reception.
Pre wedding preparations:
- Wedding Coordinators available to discuss and advise you on your wedding plans.
- A comprehensive wedding guide prepared by Cooling Castle Barn
- Bespoke online interactive wedding planner website.
- Rehearsal of the wedding ceremony to ensure that everything runs smoothly on the big day.
- Professionally printed and framed table plan with neutral borders
- Professionally printed menu card for each table.
- Cake stand and knife for wedding cake.
On your wedding day:
- A celebratory drink to be served after the ceremony as a pre dinner aperitif.
- A tasty three course meal prepared by our imaginative chefs – incorporating local produce wherever possible.
- Individual meal selection for each guest from a menu handpicked by the Bride & Groom.
- Half a bottle of house wine per person to be served during dinner.
- A glass of sparkling wine to be served during the speeches.
- A delicious evening buffet
- Excellent resident DJ
- A Duty Manager who will be available to you at all times during the day and evening.
- A Master of Ceremonies to help with the running of your day.
.jpg "cooling castle barn5")
Picture Courtesy of http://www.photo3.co.uk/
Midweek Monday – Thursday
Minimum numbers
30 day guests for the wedding breakfast & up to 150 for the evening reception
Pre wedding preparations:
- Wedding Coordinators available to discuss and advise you on your wedding plans.
- A comprehensive wedding guide prepared by Cooling Castle Barn
- Bespoke online interactive wedding planner website.
- Rehearsal of the wedding ceremony to ensure that everything runs smoothly on the big day.
- Professionally printed and framed table plan with neutral borders
- Professionally printed menu card for each table.
- Cake stand and knife for wedding cake.
On your Wedding Day
- A celebratory drink to be served after the ceremony as a pre dinner aperitif.
- A tasty three course meal prepared by our imaginative chefs – incorporating local produce wherever possible.
- Individual meal selection for each guest from a menu handpicked by the Bride & Groom.
- Half a bottle of house wine per person to be served during dinner
- A glass of sparkling wine to be served during the speeches
- A delicious evening buffet
- Excellent resident DJ
- A Duty Manager who will be available to you at all times during the day and evening
- A vase of seasonal flowers for each table
- A two tier wedding cake.
*If your guest numbers are seventy or above, then we include a Master of Ceremonies to help with the running of your day.
.jpg "cooling castle barn4")
Picture Courtesy of http://www.photo3.co.uk/
To book your wedding with Cooling Castle Barn, contact them with the details below
Post/Address
Cooling Castle Barn
Cooling Castle,
Cooling, Rochester
Kent ME3 8DT
Telephone: 01634 222244
Email: enquiries@coolingcastlebarn.com
Brochure
If you would like a wedding brochure, please contact us and we will pop one in the post for you.
Map
For a downloadable map please CLICK HERE
To see more examples of photographs from a recent wedding at Cooling Castle Barn Click on the photo below
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Reviews of Cooling Castle Barn
Charlie { Soon to be Married @ Cooling Barn }
I’m getting married at CCB 1st Nov 2013 and all the staff have been excellent so far, from the date we booked, you can ask them any question no matter how big or small there always on hand to help, their online wedding planner is amazing and really helps with all the planning and saves having loads of spreadsheets! The venue itself is stunning, I don’t think I’ve seen anything more beautiful, once we saw it we knew it was the one for us!
I really cannot wait for our special day it will be amazing hopefully xx
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