The Bell in Ticehurst, East Sussex, hosts weddings with up to 90 guests seated and 120 for the evening party, and offers 16 bedrooms, lodges and garden houses on site. A coaching inn from 1560, it is now a village pub with rooms on the border between Kent and East Sussex, run with a strong sense of style.
Weddings and receptions
The Bell presents itself as an unusual wedding venue, and the day follows a route through the building. The ceremony takes place in the Big Room. Guests then make their entrance along a red carpet, take drinks and canapes in the Stables or in the garden by the firepit, and return to the Big Room for the meal. Speeches are held in the Stables, and the party ends back in the Big Room, with marshmallows toasted on the fire to close the evening. The couple can spend the night in The Love Nest, the luxury lodge. Price guides for 2026, 2027 and 2028 and a wedding brochure are available from the venue, and the team holds wedding fairs for couples who want to see the rooms set up. Wedding enquiries have their own email address and are handled by a wedding team.
Rooms and capacities
The Big Room is the main event space. It seats 90 for a meal and holds up to 120 for an evening party, and the same room hosts the ceremony. Outside wedding days it is used for creative courses run with Curious House. The Stables are the room for drinks, canapes and speeches. The garden has a firepit and can replace the Stables for the drinks reception in good weather. The site does not publish a separate ceremony figure or a capacity for the Stables, so these are worth confirming with the team.
Accommodation
There are 16 places to stay. Seven bedrooms sit above the pub: three classic doubles, three deluxe doubles and one suite, with names such as Stranger than Truth and Then and Now. Four rustic lodges stand around a fire pit, among them Pour L'Amour, a spa lodge with an outdoor bath, and The Love Nest. Five garden houses outside the pub offer cosy, classic and deluxe doubles. Every room has handmade Somnus mattresses and the house's own toiletries. Dogs are welcome throughout the property.
Catering
Wedding menus are prepared by the head chef and the kitchen team, with locally sourced ingredients. Menus are built around each couple, and the kitchen caters for individual dietary needs and requirements. The rest of the time, the pub restaurant serves seasonal food in an unhurried way.
History and setting
The Bell started life as a coaching inn in 1560 and is now a public house with rooms on Ticehurst High Street. The village lies on the Kent and East Sussex border, close to several National Trust properties. Bateman's, the 17th-century house linked to Rudyard Kipling at Burwash, is about ten minutes away by car, Scotney Castle about 13 minutes and Bodiam Castle about 20 minutes. Great Dixter, the house and garden at Northiam, is also about 20 minutes away.
Getting there
By car, leave the M25 at junction 5 and follow the A21 south. Tunbridge Wells, Rye and Hastings are each about half an hour's drive away. Guests coming from further afield can stay on site in the bedrooms, lodges and garden houses, which keeps the whole party in one place for the night.
