Browning Bros. Teybrook Orchard — Attraction in Colchester

We stayed in the Musafa Yurt for two nights earlier this week. The Yurt itself was amazing, went beyond our expectations. The grounds and orchard are lovely, the kitchen was well equipped and the toilets and showers were great. There wasn’t really anything for our young kids to do, I know it’s a camping trip and we have to make our own fun but it was literally a field with a tent housing a ping pong table and a rusty old football table. A climbing frame or play area would’ve have really made a huge difference. The surrounding forest doesn’t really have any walkways or paths and is covered in quite high stinging nettles so our tree climbing kids were reluctant to explore. The other negative was the placement of our Yurt, it was quite far away from the other yurts and the facilities so it was hard to let the children play with the other families and still be able to see them. We felt it would’ve made sense to have the Yurts all in a big circle around the campfire as the kids made friends and wanted to socialise with them. The big negative I have to mention, however, is on our first night, there was a very large Hen party staying in a number of the tents. When we arrived, it felt as though we were gatecrashing, there was alcohol and old food everywhere. The girls were quite drunk (chatted to a few of them in the kitchen although I’m sure they won’t remember!) and were up playing music until the small hours. Not trying to be a spoil sport but it wasn’t ideal when you have a 2 year old trying to sleep a few metres away. I would suggest that large, all adult groups like this, be made to hire out the camp for sole use and not share with families. Or at least let the families know beforehand so they can decide if they want to share with such a group. Oh and we hired the hot tub, the kids got in during the afternoon, us adults planned to use it in the evening once the kids were asleep but someone had kindly stolen the logs for it so we didn’t end up using it as it was freezing cold by that point! We would go back but do things a bit differently now we know...

If I could give this place 10 stars I would! I had my 30th birthday weekend here last weekend and I honestly can't tell you how amazing it was. I hired the whole site (for 57 of us) and every single person said how much they enjoyed the experience. The accommodation was perfect as well as the facilities on site. Some of my guest are 5* resort kind of people (aka divas ha) and even they couldn't stress how clean their accommodation, the loos, the showers, the kitchen, the social areas etc. were. It was like we were the first people to ever go there! Becky and Nat really have thought of everything including comfortable beds, lights/lamps, towels, mirrors, electricity for charging phones, plus plug points at the showers for hairdryers, straightners, fridges, ovens, bbq, freezer etc. It really was the full glamping experience and felt like a home from home.

I cannot thanks Becky enough for making sure the weekend was perfect. She spent months in the lead up dealing with my constant requests and questions (from festival flags and hay bales to silent discos and bed positioning in tents); and even went above and beyond sourcing me a yoga teacher at the very last minute. A huge thanks to her, Nat and Archie for making sure all guests were safe and having a good time. Archie couldn't do enough for us on site; he helped us with the BBQ, made sure hot tub was kept warm, stocked up loo rolls, answered any questions we had etc. We loved his adorable companion Dexter too!

If you are a bit of a wild child like me and want to do something that's a little unique for your celebration; this is the place for you. It's honestly such a beautiful place, set in a idyllic location; run by salt of the earth people. Thanks Browning Bros for making it a birthday...

We got married at Browning Bros - Teybrook Orchard in September and WOW. We found the venue online after visiting other local companies venues which felt way too formal for us and really non-inclusive of same-sex couples. Meg showed us round and we instantly fell in love with not just the venue, but the entire Browning Bros team and ethos - a chilled and fun bunch who really only want you to have the best day celebrating, going against the grain of tradition and leaving room for you to run wild with creativity (also super dog friendly which is a huge bonus!!!)

The booking process was easy, the payment periods were super reasonable and the planning process was seamless.

The Browning Bros recommended suppliers were also incredible and saved us having to search through the endless directory of Google.

The actual weekend was the best weekend of our lives. Having access to the venue and the use of the kitchen meant we could spend time with our nearest and dearest the night before the wedding. The day ran perfectly due to the flexibility of the venue, there’s no strict timing or routine for the day and the Browning Bros team made sure that whilst we were busy spending time with our guests, the vendors and general organisation of the day were all taken care of.

It’s taken a few weeks to write this review because we’ve only just processed how incredibly wonderful the whole experience was. Our guests are still telling us it was the best venue and wedding they have ever been to. We had so much fun.

Big shoutout to Meg & Holly for helping to organise the whole thing and the INCREDIBLE bar staff who we partied and ate cheese with after our guests had...