CHAPTER ONE · 2001
A show jumper from Essex
Jess grew up at her family's yard in Finchingfield, Essex. She knew little apart from horses, had hardly attended school and show-jumped professionally until she was 21.
In 2001 she was invited north to train in Yorkshire with the Barkers. She gained her HGV licence and met Phillip, the farmer in the family. After eight months she returned home to Essex.
Then came harvest, and four weeks apart. Phillip drove more than four hours to fetch her in a battered Peugeot. The doors were tied shut with billy band, and the cassette was stuck on “Oh Mickey” for the journey.
No white stallion. No Black Bess. Just a Yorkshire farmer making the trip in the car he had.
CHAPTER TWO · 2005 TO 2006
From The Big Dipper to The Woods
In 2005, Phillip proposed on the Big Dipper at Blackpool Pleasure Beach. He picked a rollercoaster on purpose, because he didn't want to get down on one knee in front of a crowd.
“Don't you DARE drop that ring!”
Jess and Phillip married in June 2006. Their wedding took place in a marquee on Phillip's parents' farm, in the same woods where Thief Hall couples go for their photographs today.
There was no venue yet, and no Hall. But the woods were already part of their own wedding story, years before it became part of anyone else's.
CHAPTER THREE · THE PLAN
Another door opens...
Jess and Phillip applied to convert Phillip's farm buildings on Thief Hole Lane into their own home. The buildings had spent their working life holding sheep. The plan was for them to hold a family instead.
Unfortunately, the council refused residential use but they did approve holiday cottages instead. Jessica was devastated. The route they had planned was closed, but little did she realise, another one had quietly opened.
“Little did she know at the time that this was the best thing that could have ever happened.”
CHAPTER FOUR · 2007 TO 2009
Four cottages and a growing family
In true Barker style they didn’t do things by halves. During the first building project of the first four cottages, Jess and Phillip’s daughter, Clara was born in 2007. By the time they were ready to open the holiday cottages, they were moving house themselves and Jess was also pregnant with their son James.
CHAPTER FIVE · 2009 TO 2015
The years between
Life didn't stand still while the cottages found their feet. Jess became a Recruitment Director for Premier Cottages, worked with a network marketing company, gave up show jumping, faced health worries and wrote a book.
Somewhere in all of that she also supported Phillip with the farming accounts, and drove the odd tractor.
CHAPTER SIX · OCTOBER 2015
From sheep barns to a wedding village
October 2015 changed the scale again. Four cottages became six. The remaining original farm buildings became Thief Hall Wedding Venue, the Hall was completed, and Jess and Phillip applied for a marriage venue licence.
The barns that had held sheep now stood at the centre of what our couples now call the wedding village.
CHAPTER SEVEN · THE VENUE TODAY
Who knows what else is still to come...
Today, the converted barn ranges, Hall, courtyard, six cottages and six glamping pods sit together across the venue. The buildings that once held sheep now hold weddings and each of our couples get to enjoy them in comfort with their guests for up to 4 days.
From Jess and Phillip's happily ever after to all of our couples who follow them. The venue has grown to accommodate each wedding and who knows what else is still to come...
