Houghton Lodge hosts weddings from two guests up to celebrations of 300, as well as corporate lunches, product launches, day conferences and private parties. The estate stands above the River Test at Houghton, five minutes from the market town of Stockbridge in Hampshire.
Seminars and company events
The venue hire page offers corporate use of the house and gardens: exclusive breakfasts, lunches and dinners, product launches and day conferences. Teams can also be entertained with a day of fishing on the River Test, with a champagne hamper or a riverside picnic, or with a corporate hog roast or barbecue. The estate tailors each package to the client, and the page invites you to get in touch to discuss yours. The official site gives no seat counts for meetings, so ask for the layout and the room that fits your group.
Weddings and receptions
Houghton Lodge is a family home that hosts only a select few weddings each year, from intimate ceremonies to celebrations of 300. It is a licensed wedding venue. Ceremonies can take place on the riverbank overlooking the River Test, in the walled garden, in the Music Room or in the Chinese Dining Room. The 12th-century church of All Saints, Houghton, is a short walk away.
Receptions can be formal or informal. The site mentions a marquee on the banks of the river with food trucks and sharing platters, a four-course meal in the Glass House, or a picnic in the oriental garden. Couples can bring their own suppliers, and the estate's partner, WILDS Events & Management, provides planning and event management.
Rooms and capacities
The Glass House is the main hire space for entertainment, celebrations and parties, and it hosts a four-course dinner for a wedding. The Conservatory is for small private parties and looks over the walled garden, the well and the herbaceous borders. The Music Room and the Chinese Dining Room are used for ceremonies. The only capacity the official pages state is the wedding range of two to 300, so confirm the figure for each room with the team.
Houghton Lodge also lets the gardens and house for photo shoots and filming.
Accommodation
The wedding page refers guests to the Apple Rooms, six individually designed rooms with their own website, theapplerooms.co.uk. The estate itself has no hotel rooms on the pages given.
Catering
The Glass House Tea Room serves coffee, baked goods, and breakfast and lunch dishes, and the space is also hired for private events. For weddings, the estate lets couples bring suppliers and gives no catering restriction on its wedding page.
History and setting
The house was built in 1790, probably as a fishing lodge, and the site calls it the best surviving example in the UK of an 18th-century Cottage Orné. It sits above the River Test with views across the water meadows. The grounds cover about 14 to 15 acres, with a walled kitchen garden, a long herbaceous border, an oriental garden opened in 2023 and a rose arbour. The gardens are closed for the season and reopen in spring.
Getting there
Houghton Lodge Gardens is at Houghton, Stockbridge, Hampshire, SO20 6LQ. Stockbridge is five minutes away by car. The site gives driving times of about 1.5 hours from London, 40 minutes from Southampton, 20 minutes from Andover and Winchester, and 30 minutes from Salisbury.
