It's a very nice venue. The woods were centre stage for us but we also used the building to gather everyone together at the start and we were in there again after our party activities in the woods for pasta and birthday cake.

It would have been really helpful to have a fridge and a cooker or hob. Also the chairs that are there are difficult for little kids to manouevre and took up too much space when we set them up around the tables (this wouldn't matter so much with a smaller group). We brought our own, but some people might want a basic sound/speaker set-up?

It's great that you have time to set up and tidy up - a lot of places have a small timeframe and that can be very stressful. Also it was easy to clean up and look after - nothing breakable or needing polishing! We had lots of muddy kids in there but it wasn't a big deal to mop up after them. Lots of powerpoints too, which is useful.

I think everyone who came enjoyed it and thought it was a real find as a venue. A lot of people hadn't realised it was there, but one person had been at a party there in the summertime and had really liked it then too.

The courtyard could be prettied up very easily too, which would make a good outdoor eating area in summer, particularly if you had a couple of picnic tables. In fact, I thought it would be a brilliant spot for a summer pop-up if you'd have any interest in me trying that out?!