Weddings and receptions
Lower Damgate Farm hosts weddings for 80 to 180 guests in Dovedale Barn and its garden room. The farm, the barn and the grounds are hired together from Friday to Monday, with the wedding on Saturday. The farm lies in Dovedale, near Ilam and the market town of Ashbourne, inside the Peak District National Park. It takes about twelve weddings a year, and smaller weddings of up to 40 guests are possible on request, with limits on music.
Dovedale Barn is licensed for marriages and civil partnerships, so the legal ceremony can take place on site with a registrar booked by the couple. The legal part must happen inside the barn. A blessing can follow outdoors in the fields, paddocks, woodland or under the arbour, and the churches at Ilam and Alstonefield are an option for couples who meet their criteria. The farm recommends accredited celebrants for non-legal ceremonies.
The barn is hired on a do-it-yourself basis. Couples choose their own suppliers, and farm staff help on the day: they serve welcome drinks and canapés, pour for the speeches, set out the evening buffet, cut the cake and clear the tables.
Besides weddings, the farm runs workshops, retreats and charity or special-occasion events, and large groups can book the courtyard properties together.
Rooms and capacities
Dovedale Barn and the garden room together take 80 to 180 guests. The garden room looks out over the farm toward the hills and gives cover in poor weather. The barn has a purpose-built bar, a stage, a dance floor, fairy lights, tables and chairs, toilets and a shower with disabled access, and a parlour for food preparation. Arches, a sweet cart and a post box come with the hire. The grounds cover 22 acres of hay meadows, woods, gardens and a pond area.
Amplified music is allowed in the barn on the wedding day until 11:30 pm, with bands finishing at 11 pm, and a noise limiter is fitted. Guests who are not staying on the farm leave the site by midnight.
Accommodation
According to the farm, the self-catering cottages around the courtyard sleep 32, with room for six more guests. The properties include Reuben's Roost, Bremen's Barn, Hope's Hideaway and the Purdy's Place farmhouse B&B, with four-poster beds, a games room, decks with barbecues and lawns. The Alpaca Hut, a honeymoon suite with a hot tub, is hired with the barn. A field campsite and, in summer, a restored gypsy caravan add more beds. The cottages won a 2021 North West Prestige Award for farm holiday cottages.
Catering
There is no in-house catering. Couples book a caterer from the farm's suggested list or have another one approved, and the farm takes no commission. There is no corkage on welcome drinks, the toast or table wine. A charity bar runs in the evening, and its takings fund Dovedale Animal Sanctuary, home to more than 100 animals on the farm.
Getting there
The address is Dovedale, Ilam, near Ashbourne, DE6 2AD, but the postcode points about half a mile away, so guests should search for the farm by name and follow the farm's own directions. Parking holds about 25 cars plus supplier vehicles, and the farm expects guests who are not staying on site to use the shuttle run by Warrington's Coaches, based in Ilam about a mile down the road.
