Our venue of the month for November is Whittlebury Park. We asked the venue several questions to gain insights into the day to day running of the venue and the new and exciting prospects to look forward too. With a £1m investment to create inspirational spaces for conference and events there is so much to look forward to. Read below to find out more:
Description of Whittlebury Park itself and surroundings:
Our modern facilities situated in the very heart of the UK, in rural Northamptonshire, provide the perfect location for your event. Nestled in over 700 acres of ancient parkland and just a 10-minute drive from junction 15a of the M1 and 20 minutes from central Milton Keynes. Next to the world-famous Silverstone Circuit, Whittlebury Park offers unrivalled facilities and access.
With a dedicated team working hard to ensure your expectations are exceeded in every way, we'll ensure you receive a warm welcome and personal service.
Our award-winning hospitality is further enhanced with our refreshed meeting and syndicate rooms and new coffee stations
• Easily accessible - set in the heart of the country within minutes of the M1 and M40, next to Silverstone Circuit
• Purpose-built and professional event and learning facilities –
• 20 spacious conference and training suites
• 29 fully serviced syndicate rooms, an executive boardroom, three secluded private dining rooms, two conference and banqueting suites (Brooklands and Grand Prix Suites) and can cater for up to 500 delegates
Great value for money, offering a range of complete packages to assist in the budgeting for all your conference and event needs, ensuring there are no surprises or unexpected extras
Summarise what a week could look like at Whittlebury Park
The diverse range of venue spaces and events (both leisure and corporate) that Whittlebury can accommodate means that no two weeks are the same. One week could be a full-on corporate takeover with meeting, team away days, exhibitions and training sessions whereas another week could be full of awards dinners, weddings, an outdoor festival event on the land or a tribute evening. It’s one of the reasons I love working at Whittlebury -the diversity with what we can offer is amazing!
What would you say the venue is most popular for?
Being a purpose build conference venue - meetings and events are always at the heart of what we do. Having 254 bedrooms means we can offer 24-hour delegate packages, along with day delegate rates. However, that being said, our business is also seasonal for example December is renowned for hosting outstanding Christmas parties, and July is all about promoting our camping facilities over the British Grand Prix!
How do you strike a balance between being a corporate, wedding and leisure venue?
With a large number of event spaces, we are lucky to be able to offer all types of events all year round. We have certain event spaces that naturally lend themselves to certain types of events. For example, our Orangery and Pavilion are our most popular wedding venues, whereas our Brooklands and Grand Prix suites are our most popular corporate venues. Leisure slots in-between Corporate and Wedding business predominately taking place on weekends with our leisure and spa breaks.
What has been the most significant change in the industry that has had a positive impact on the venue?
Could link this to sustainability, we are zero food waste to landfill, confirmed!
What atmosphere does Whittlebury Park portray?
The atmosphere that we create at Whittlebury depends on the client and their requirements. We are very fortunate that we have a large number of repeat clients who and know what they are wanting to achieve with their events. For those clients that are with us for the first time, we ensure that we understand what they want to achieve so we can adapt around this. For example – if someone is hosting an awards ceremony, they want a relaxed, fun and energetic atmosphere however if someone is delivering a conference, we know the atmosphere they want to create is professional and a will require a smooth delivery of their key messages.
What are the venues top three attributes?
• Diversity
• Award winning venue
• Family owned/independent
What is the most popular and favourite team building event?
We actually see this change each year, and is heavily impacted by what is current in terms of TV. For 2019, Crystal Quest has been our most popular outdoor activity this year. It is definitely our team’s favourite also -purely one that we feel everyone can relate to. The anticipation and excitement can build up before the guests are event onsite, which means the energy levels are already increased before starting. The set up is very impressive and the end dome challenges gets everyone very exciting.
Is there anything coming up in the future for Whittlebury Park to keep a look out for?
We always have lots of things to look forward too in the future, however the most exciting thing at the moment is our £1 million investment to create new inspirational spaces for Conference & Events guests. Our product is excellent but its about standing out and being Innovative! These will be exceptional creative spaces and I am so excited to welcome guests to see them.
What are some of the biggest challenges faced at the venue?
I would say nothing different to what other venues face, however something that we do come across regularly is not having enough bedrooms onsite. Whilst 254 is a large number, due to the number of event spaces we have it is often we come across this problem. This is one of the reasons that we are launching apartments in spring 2020 and have future plans to increase our inventory.
Is there space for outdoor team building activities?
Set in 700 acres of land, we have vast space for outdoor activities. This also includes a lake that is suitable for activities and we have power access on a lot of our land.
Is there Wi-Fi?
Fast, free, unlimited 1GB Wi-Fi – with no data capture to be completed when signing up.
Is there parking available on site?
Parking is available on site and we also operate multiple car parks near to different venues to ensure smooth access for our clients.
