The original Mill was first built in Sopley in 1066. Over hundreds of years it has been renovated, rebuilt and reborn numerous times. The current Mill was built around 1780 and has been owned by the same family since 1870. It finished its life as a working Mill in the mid 50’s and since then has been sub-let as a scent factory, storage and most recently a restaurant. When the restaurant closed the
owners of the Mill took it back in hand and spent 2013 renovating this wonderful building back to its former glory. This beautiful building still has the stunning original features of the watermill with its oak beams and incredible views over the Avon water meadows. The gardens and lawn are flanked on both sides by the Avon Millstream, securely fenced in case you have any children at your wedding. The wild location is picturesque and completely private without another house in view – not to mention just 8 minutes from Bournemouth. There are 3 main floors to the building, all of which are accessible by lift. The top floor (3rd floor) has seating space for up to 100 people at your wedding breakfast as well as a fully fitted kitchen space for your catering team. Your ceremony would take place on the second floor, with enough seating and space for 100 guests. However, all 3 floors of The Mill are licensed for weddings. This same room has a dance floor and subtle stage area for your evening reception to take place later in the day. The ground floor is the perfect area for your guests to mingle both before and after your ceremony; with a bar on this level your guests can enjoy drinks whilst mingling both inside and out. The Mill also has a beautiful, light and spacious bridal suite for your use on the day. In the summer months the outside terrace area is the ideal reception spot, with outdoor furniture your guests can enjoy drinks sat outside amongst the beautiful Sopley grounds. In the case of rain, which is always a factor here in the UK, there is plenty of room on the ground floor for 100 people to have drinks and mingle inside and in the winter months the two log fires create a perfect warm and cosy atmosphere. Although The Mill can hold 100 for a sit down wedding breakfast it can cater to a larger number of 140 for a more informal style wedding or if you want more evening guests. We rent The Mill out on an exclusive use basis, so you can decide what you want to have and where you want to have it – essentially creating your own unique wedding day. We provide the venue but for all the other parts of the wedding that is up to you – we don’t have ‘packages’ as such as each wedding is unique. We work with some incredible suppliers; caterers, florists and photographers etc whose details we will of course send to you but our aim is to provide a stunning venue, set in an idyllic location which is as flexible as possible. For example, we don’t charge corkage on any drinks you want to provide yourself therefore, we work with a great bar company who will run either a dry-bar or a pay-bar for you.
