"We took over the whole site for the party": a celebration weekend at The Firs

When we wanted somewhere to throw a proper celebration weekend, we hired the whole of The Firs — all six lodges, sixteen of us, one private Suffolk retreat with nobody else around. Months on, it's still the weekend everyone in the group talks about, and I keep getting asked where it was. So here's the long answer.

We'd looked at a dozen places for a milestone celebration and most were either a soulless function room or a cottage that technically slept the numbers but had everyone tripping over each other. The Firs was different: a countryside stay where each couple and family had their own lodge — their own space, their own bathroom, their own private wood-fired hot tub — but where the whole site was ours to share. That balance turned out to be everything. People could retreat when they wanted and gather when they wanted.

The heart of the weekend was the outdoor kitchen in the Cartlodge. We spent one whole evening cooking on fire — the pizza oven going non-stop, the giant firepit throwing out heat, kids and adults building their own pizzas while someone manned the horsebox bar. There's something about food cooked over flame in the open air that makes an event feel like an occasion without anyone having to try.

The days had their own easy rhythm. Garden games on the lawn in the afternoon, the hot tubs steaming away each evening, a slow morning with a coffee. The grounds — four acres of gardens, with a moat for the brave — meant there was always somewhere to wander off to, and always a corner of sun to find.

We barely left, but when we did, the Suffolk coast is close: we took a carload to Southwold one afternoon for the beach and the pier, and a few of us drove to Aldeburgh for fish and chips on the shingle. It made the weekend feel like a proper escape rather than just a venue hire.

If you're planning an event — a milestone birthday, a reunion, a big family get-together — and you want one of those Suffolk hideaways where the whole thing is yours, I can't recommend it enough. It's one of Suffolk's best-kept secrets, and it made our celebration feel completely ours.

Thinking of taking over the whole site for your own event? Check availability and enquire here.