Planning the stretch tent set up for an English garden party
The party format was one they had achieved before but leaving a few years hiatus, it was based on a traditional English summer garden party. They had previously used a traditional marquee but upon some investigation liked the more modern, stylish and open feel of the stretch tent, an A frame now felt too confined by comparison.
Plus the surrounding gardens were all stunning, each venue specifically selected for this reason. The guests would be welcomed to view them from their dining tables, the stretch tent enabling this with its open sides and simple structuring. Each of the parties had the same plan; the guests (clients of our client) would arrive around 4pm and be greeted with champagne and a full english tea; cucumber sandwiches, cakes and a range of delicate pastries. Then after they had eaten, there was a garden tour, some speeches and more wine to enjoy!
Where the parties took place
We began the first party for 350 guests in Scotland at Preston Hall, a stunning Georgian House which is still part of a family run estate between Edinburgh and the scenic Lammermuir Hills. The venues being the perfect choice for a traditional Scottish wedding.
Swapping Scottish hills for Cheshire ones, we then journeyed to the beautiful Abbey Wood Estate set in the Delemere Forest overlooking the Utkinton Hills. We’d heard how popular it was as a wedding venue and could easily see why.
You can hire both the main house and the cottages to stay on site which makes it feel like home. It also boasts a two kilometre wildlife walkway and an Arboretum with an unusual variety of deciduous and evergreen trees. For the 250 guests Abbeywood asked us to add two of our pagodas for the catering tents too.
We then went on to Loseley Park in Surrey where we used a 40m x 20m white stretch tent to cover 550 guests. With all the tents and the same production collection used: hard-wooden flooring or coconut matting, round tables, white-washed chiavari chairs, and white linen table cloths for the classic summer party look.
The heavens opened and the rain came pouring down, the crew were a little more than soaked! Luckily with the English weather being so temperamental the sun shone brightly for the party itself. The hard work paid off as you can see from the stunning rig in the below photograph.
We raced from Surrey to Devon to construct our stretch tent in the gardens of the outstanding Bickham House, family run by John and Julia Tremlett. It’s been in Julia’s family since 1685 and there isn’t a day that goes by when they don’t spend hours in the garden working on their respective areas.
This was one of our busiest days of the year; we deconstructed the tent and production for the 200 guests, packed them up and drove to Gloucestershire where our team worked all through the night to get the final event ready in time at Kiftsgate which is the culmination of phenomenal work by three generations of women. The final 330 guests were thrilled and in particular loved seeing the Kiftsgate Rose.
The Stretch and Tents team returned to HQ, with a very happy client, delighted with their corporate party roadshow which had instead felt more like an inspirational celebration of the British country garden.
Find out more about stretch tents for corporate events.
