Location Location Location

In this season of uncertainty, there is an opportunity for growth and creativity. If a picture says a thousand words, then an entire photoshoot can give you a story, and people are looking for this now more than ever before.

While the world is kept inside, we look out towards the light and long to chase the clouds and catch the sun as it sets. We want to see rainbows, vast landscapes, and everything in between. In our enforced bubbles, we turn to family albums, postcards, magazine clippings and the endless reel on Instagram for comfort and for the hope of a better future.

We invite location scouts and managers, photographers, creatives and designers to Happy Valley where the options are endless. Whether you’re looking for a woodland wilderness, a little lake, rustic lodges, vintage barns, industrial spaces or an open field in the middle of nowhere then look no further. There’s an exciting portfolio of unique locations available for film and photographic shoots within this one Norfolk Venue.

Here we highlight the Hay Barn which is a great year round historic barn with a wood burner, bar area and chill out. It’s licensed for Weddings and perfect for a Micro Wedding.

Why not shoot and stay on site. Take a look at our Shepherds Huts, Tree temple and Treehouse HERE

By hiring Happy Valley for the day or week, you can paint people’s screens with positivity and fun with the following photoshoot options:

·       Film location

·       Engagement shoots

·       Commercial photoshoots – Fashion, Wedding, product shoots etc

Set in a rural backdrop of quintessentially English countryside, Happy Valley is a woodland venue like no other. Its nine acres of land offers the perfect chance to capture nature at its best. What’s more, our on-site, luxury glamping accommodation, barn and hot tubs can host your team should you wish to work on a longer project.

We could not wait to get back to being creative and shot a little Autumn shoot in the Hay Barn with some incredibly talented local creatives last week.

Hannah Hunnam is a sustainable florist based in Castle Acre and has a natural eye for creating incredible flower arrangements. Check out her instagram @Hannah.Hunnam to see how she works with colour, movement and flair in a sustainable manner. Here’s a bit more from Hannah -

“I’m an independent florist based in Castle Acre, West Norfolk. I specialise in seasonal, wild and naturalistic floral arrangements - all of which celebrate colour, movement and flair! I’m passionate about sourcing locally grown and British blooms wherever possible, and have built some great relationships with incredible local growers here in Norfolk (I'm also growing what I can in my very small garden!). I take great pride in using sustainable design methods in my work, and avoid using floral foam in all of my arrangements and installations. There are plenty of alternative and creative design solutions available with the aim of lowering our carbon footprint, without having to make any compromises on the quality and style”

Tori Hancock is a UK based wedding and commercial photographer - A little bit from Tori -

“My style focuses on humour, emotion and beauty and is a blend of documentary, fine art photography and photojournalism. I love to get those unique portraits, teary eyes, and fun candid moments. If you're getting married and think you might be interested in me discreetly documenting your special day, why not get in touch. Likewise, if you want to capture some memories of you and your loved one(s), or have a business that you want to be photographed, feel free to drop me a line.” Check out Toris Instagram HERE

For more information or to receive a bespoke quote, please contact: hello@happyvalleynorfolk.co.uk  

INSTAGRAM - @HappyValleyNorfolk

TWITTER - @NorfolkVenue

Halloween Shoot in The Hay Barn at Happy Valley - Photography @torihancock_photography - Flowers @hannah.hunnam

Carry on Glamping...

“Nature itself is the
best source of healing for mental and emotional disorder”

- Paul TP Wong

“A walk in nature,
walks the soul back home”

- Mary Davis

2020 is the year where the world grew silent and its people grew still, where we yearned to touch but remained distant and where the sound of the news broadcast was an unwelcome invasion into our fortress of solitude. We’ve cried, we’ve fretted, we’ve sighed, perhaps we’ve even thrown a thing or two and yet we were the lucky ones. As our doors begin to creek open and we tentatively take our first steps into society again, we wonder what it is we will find and we wonder who it is we will find. Though we are moving forward, we are not moving on and we will not forget the NHS heroes who fought for us, the household members who held onto us or the loved ones who tragically left us.

Pre-pandemic, we were a society who knew the cost of everything but understood the value of nothing. Now, we’ve seen the beauty in the kindness of strangers, we’ve felt national pride watching our community come together and we’ve watched in wonder as the earth has begun to heal and nature has reawakened to the dawn of what we hope will be a new era. How we began 2020 was beyond our control but how we end it, is up to us.

Here at Happy Valley, we invite you to push the reset button and enjoy the simple pleasures in life.

Happy Valley Post-Pandemic

Reflect – curl up on the sofa in our treehouse lodge and look out onto a panoramic vista of nature. Use this time to think about what matters to you, consider how you’ve felt in recent months and how you want your future to look like. Write it all down and then cast it into our log burner and as the fire turns it to ashes, begin to rise up and start again.

Remember – in nature we can bare our soul. Our lake will catch your tears, our trees will hear your cries and our lands will hold you. Nature will remain by your side and will be your quiet companion as you remember those you have loved and those you have lost. There is no right way to think, no correct way to feel; Nature will not judge you, will not report you but it will console you.

Rejuvenate – they say time is a great healer but nothing speaks to us more than walking through the woods and grounding ourselves among trees that have seen a lifetime of loved ones walk our lands and watched every story of our ancestors unfold. It’s here that we feel close to them and here that we feel able to breathe again and ultimately, give ourselves permission to live again.

Reset – we can hurt without having to hide and we can heal in allowing ourselves to find happiness. Embracing the future does not mean forgetting the past. At Happy Valley, we invite families to reconnect and friends to reunite. Hug, sing, dance, laugh.

Hopefully, from the 4th July onwards, our glamping will be open again. Each cabin/tent will have its own private facilities and can only be booked by those who have been isolating in the same house. Extra measures have been put in place so please take a look at our Covid page on the website to see how this may affect your stay.

Our doors will soon be open to welcome you back and we hope we can give you the opportunity to end 2020 in a very different way to how it began.

We can’t wait to see you,

With love,

Katy, Kirsty and the team at Happy Valley xx

The Wilderness Wedding Fair Norfolk

Save the date! On Sunday 26th April 2020 Happy Valley will be throwing a Wedding Fair with a difference… less conventional, more edgy and eco-friendly.

We’re planning a day for Bride Tribes and Couples to enjoy all things Wedding.  We’re a natural Norfolk venue with 2 stripped back barn spaces and luxury glamping cabins that appeal to the wild at heart Bride & Groom.  

Eco blooms by @wildfolk who will be joining our Wedding Fair

We would like to invite local Norfolk vendors to join us for what looks set to be a collaboratively creative day!!

Photo credit to Aurora Grey who will be joining us on the day

There will be bands playing, photography Q&A’s, styling sessions, cake tasting, sumptuous spreads, champagne corks popping and a host of wilderness wedding workshops.

We’re inviting expressions of interest from spectacular Norfolk suppliers. If you’re a Wedding Vendor who has the edge we’d love to hear from you!

To register your interest please contact Weddings@happyvalleynorfolk.co.uk

To Grab your FREE TICKET then enter details HERE

Photo credit to Aurora Grey who will be holding a photography Q & A

Check out this super resource on the positive environmental impact of sustainable weddings…

“The Guide to Sustainable, Zero-Waste, Ethical Weddings”
https://www.77diamonds.com/sustainable-weddings

Boho & Bunting for the Norfolk Bride

Nothing says Boho like a Floral Crown

Searching for a naturally Norfolk venue for your Boho Wedding? Happy Valley lends itself perfectly to the Boho Theme. Take Katie & Neil who married here this year. They created their colourful Boho canvas with Happy Valley’s breathtaking backdrop and artistic infused florals from Swaffham & Fakenham Florist.

Swaffham & Fakenham Florist are a locally run family business with a passion for all things floral. Specialising in Weddings throughout Norfolk and beyond, they co-create on trend florals including the beautifully bohemian Flower Crown, Bouquets and Button holes for Katie and Neil’s Wedding.

Katie & Neil Dempsey’s happily ever after began at Happy Valley Norfolk

The Outdoor Ceremony Scene

Play off of the natural features of Happy Valley’s outdoor scene for your Boho Wedding setup. The overarching trees make an earthly and grounding landscape for Wedding Photography. Gary Rowsel Cambridgeshire based Wedding Photographer, was in his element capturing this gorgeous couple. When you marry at Happy Valley you have exclusive use of the ethereal grounds, including the Woodland, Grassland and Bridged Lake, meaning there are endless opportunities for a Wedding frame.

Photo credit to Gary Rowsel

Lakeside Wedding Chats

Wedding Night Done Right

Happy Valley comes to life with the Festoon lights illuminating the night sky. Treat your guests to a hearty Hog Roast or Street style Food, making the most of the outdoor space from day to night. Katie & Neil’s guests were well fed by The Spitting Pig Company, an experienced Norfolk Hog Roast caterer. All of the food is cooked on site ensuring it’s as fresh and tasty as possible - with the option to personalise your Wedding Menu. Our Dutch party barn has played host to many a Wedding party night. The atmosphere glows and guests are able to dance the night away in-front of our handmade festival stage.

The Dutch Barn lit up & Food served by The Spitting Pig

True Love burns brightly

Happy Valley Hay Bales

Photos by Gary Rowsel

To talk through your Boho Wedding ideas call one of our experienced team to begin your journey to ‘I DO’… we’re a super flexible venue who support you to do your wedding your way!

Wedding Venue Testimonial by Katie Dempsey, on 11 Oct 2019

‘Happy Valley is the most incredible place. We were lucky enough to hold our September wedding there and we still can't believe how beautiful it was. With little gypsy caravans and bell tents in the woods, us and our closest friends and family could stay all weekend, making it feel extra special. It is such a child friendly venue, with acres of space (literally!) for our 6 little flower girls to run riot, I don't think they ever really left the rope swings! If the weather isn't the best, there is plenty of beautiful inside space that offers a great peace of mind in the run up to the day. Katy, Scott and Gemma make the whole process so relaxing and completely stress free. They are there when you need them but very much stay in the background to leave you to enjoy your weekend. I can't think of any other wedding venue where you can spend your wedding morning drinking champagne in a wood fired hot tub in the forest, before having your ceremony under a willow tree on an island on a lake, before sitting around a fire pit toasting marshmallows with your guests whilst the sun goes down. The following morning was just as fun, with all of our guests who'd stayed overnight milling around in their pyjamas and wellies, eating bacon sandwiches cooked on the bbq, whilst reminiscing about the day before. We honestly cannot recommend Happy Valley enough.’

Telephone: 01485 600719

Email: hello@happyvalleynorfolk.co.uk

Instagram: @happyvalleynorfolk

Facebook: www.facebook.com/NorfolkWeddingVenue/

Eco-friendly Weddings at Happy Valley

What a Summer Season we’ve had so far at Happy Valley Norfolk.  We love to see that Weddings are becoming increasingly sustainable with couples adopting a few eco-friendly ideas. How we build our cabins at Happy Valley encourages natural habitats and we use environmentally friendly products on our Glamping site. We’ve built bird and bat boxes to encourage wildlife in our ancient woodland as well as planted fields of Sainfoin for the honeybees. We use all of our own natural filtered water from source on site too!

At the end of July it was the turn of the gorgeous Hannah & Peter, a local Bride and Groom who fell in love with our Dutch Barn to create their dream wedding canvas.  With Hannah’s background in floristry we knew the flowers would be breath-taking and Jam Jar Flowers of London pulled out a show stopper.

Jam Jar Flowers, London

Jam Jar Flowers have an impressive selection of lovingly sourced antique vases, cut glass and Jam Jars of course. We adore Jam Jar’s eco-friendly ethos of working with seasonal flowers and foliage to reduce their wedding carbon footprint. The simple charm of flowers displayed in a natural and unfussy way, along with a love of native flora, informs Jam Jar’s style of beautiful, natural arrangements where seasonal flowers are celebrated.

Here are some flower suggestions for each season:

Spring: Tulips, white daffodils, lilac, ranunculus and guilder roses.
Summer: Peonies, larkspur, nigella, sweet peas, sunflowers and roses.
Autumn: Dahlias, calla lilies, hydrangeas and snapdragons.
Winter: Hellebores, berried ivy, jasmine, narcissus, poinsettia and anenomes.

The greatest carbon footprint of your wedding is from travel, so if you can find a place you love near the majority of your guests, that will make the biggest eco-friendly impact… think local! Instead of transporting and constructing a venue like a marquee or tipi, choose a permanent building like a barn, we have two onsite at Happy Valley with plans to convert a third in the near future. We have the infrastructure set up to adapt to your eco wedding and good contacts with local suppliers.

DIY your eco-friendly favours! Use reusuable jars to serve up homemade preserves, a herb cutting or handmade chocolates for your guests. Cute bags of confetti are a colourful addition to the table and you can make your own by drying out rose petals collected from family and friends’ gardens. You can also buy natural, 100% biodegradable petal confetti from Mitre Farm a local West Norfolk supplier.

Our personal favourite at Happy Valley are gifts that keep on giving back to the environment like Wildflower seeds. To contribute towards a local charity at the same time you can make your own birdseed favours effortlessly from seed bought from our local RSPB

Dressing your Bridal party can be an expensive task, not to mention hugely costly in terms of environmental impact. The solution is quite simply vintage! Vintage styles flatter all shapes and sizes so it makes sense to be eco-chic on your wedding day. Vintage Deli in Norfolk stock some gorgeous pieces which are available for fittings by appointment.

These are just a few sustainably savvy ideas but there are many many more to mention. Including email invites which can be RSVP’d to instantly. Ensuring if you do send paper invites they are suitable for recycling and have been made from recycled card in the first place. Seeking out a catering company with an eco-friendly ethos and good relationships with local farmers will also help to reduce your carbon footprint on the day… in season food is always a tasty touch! Avoiding disposable dinnerware will help to reduce waste and compostable cups to replace plastic glassware would be another eco-friendly tip. Car-sharing between guests will also help to reduce those carbon emissions, so to will hiring a double-decker bus to bring everyone together in a fun way to travel to the venue. When it comes to decor, plastic balloons are a no go for eco friendly weddings, think lanterns, candles and biodegradable materials.

The marital motto for your eco-wedding - Reduce. Reuse. Recycle!

Wedding Venue Testimonial By Hannah Hunnam, on 31 Aug 2019

‘We were fortunate enough to hold our wedding reception at Happy Valley, an idyllic and peaceful spot hidden in West Norfolk's beautiful countryside. The venue has it all: a lake with a bridge to a little island in the middle (you can also get married on this island), magical woodland accommodation and facilities (including hot tubs), huge party barns and all surrounded by nothing but peaceful woodland and glorious Norfolk sunsets. It really is the perfect, private wedding venue and you will be spoilt for choice with photograph opportunities. We had our drinks reception and canapés on the edge of the pretty lake, using the lean-to of the Dutch barn as our outside bar area, and had a band playing outdoors near the willow trees to accompany. We then moved inside to the incredible Dutch barn which has stunning views across the lake, to eat and party the night away - it was just amazing. There's a built-in bar area already in the Dutch barn which is a lovely touch, a stage was set-up for the band to play on in the evening and our caterers set-up camp in the Hay barn. We were very lucky with the weather, but both barns at Happy Valley offer great (and dry!) spaces to be in whatever the weather. Katy and Scott, the owners, really are the most fantastic hosts, and we couldn't thank them enough for everything they did to help ensure we had the perfect day. None of us wanted to leave at the end of the weekend, and it will forever remain the most special place for us. We can't recommend Happy Valley highly enough, and have spent most days since wishing we could do it all over again. The venue really is a gift that keeps on giving.’

If you’re looking to plan a sustainable style wedding we’d love to hear from you and support you to make your eco-friendly day a reality.

E: hello@happyvalleynorfolk.co.uk

T: 01485 600719

Instagram: @happyvalleynorfolk

Facebook: www.facebook.com/NorfolkWeddingVenue/