Moon Down Tunbridge Wells

Moon Down is located in over 150 acres of beautiful Wealden countryside on the Kent/Sussex border.

Moon Down offers Wild Mushroom Forays with John Wright and Christmas Wreath Kits.

Blessing Ceremonies & Wedding Receptions

Moon Down is available for hire for Blessing Ceremonies and Wedding Receptions. You can plan the wedding of your dreams that fits your budget, whether that be the full-on Tipi experience and professional catering or a simple marquee, straw bales and a fish & chip van!
Your wedding -Your Day!

Wedding Venue Hire

Moon Down offers a beautiful setting for your country wedding reception where you can have the wedding you have always dreamed of.

Wild Mushroom Foraging with John Wright
2025

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Christmas Wreath Making Kits

Make your own Christmas wreath with our Moon Down wreath making kits. All you need to make a beautiful wreath to decorate your home.

RoundandAbout Travel Blog

Just odd musings as we travel, sometimes near, sometimes far, sometimes just roundandabout.

This blog follows our journeys in our motorhome.

I am a total novice at foraging and bid for this in a local charity auction (thanks Moondown for so generously donating it to the charity!) without any real idea of what I was coming to. I am SO glad I did. John totally opened my eyes to the wealth of fungi quite literally around our feet, some tiny and almost invisible unless you know what you are looking for, others like huge umbrellas, colours ranging from the obvious browns and whites through yellows and even deep purple. There were plenty of experienced foragers amongst the group, some had travelled big distances, but I felt totally welcome and so enriched by the day. Definitely recommend it.

We had an idea of what kind of wedding we wanted and felt very lucky to stumble across Moon Down and find it was so close to us! Lisa & Charles were brilliant from start to finish. They kept in contact between booking to the big day to make sure everything was OK and offered a hand during the set up days. They were so flexible and accommodating and let us have free rein over the space. The day ended up being perfect thanks to the extensive time we had to set up and natural beauty of the venue. Thank you! July 2024

We just had our wedding at Moon Down and we couldn't be happier that we chose this venue. Not only is it absolutely gorgeous, and incredible value for money, but Lisa & Charlie were so helpful and went out of their way to support us with setting up and preparations, whilst also being relaxed and allowing us to do things our own way. Charlie helped us build a beautiful archway for our ceremony, and both Lisa and Charlie were so helpful and efficient on the morning when we had some last minute mishaps with other suppliers, so much so that we barely even noticed there was a problem, they handled it all for us so that we could enjoy the wedding. We loved the DIY element of the venue which allowed us to have things exactly as we wanted them, but at the same time I ended up actually using very few of the decorations I had planned, as the venue is so beautiful and peaceful as it is, it didn't need anything else to make it look amazing. We would thoroughly recommend Moon Down to anyone planning a DIY wedding, and would hire them again in an instant if we were planning another big event. Our guests loved it too and several of them mentioned to us how after seeing it they wanted to hire the venue for their own weddings. August 2024

Thank you for a very enjoyable day . Well organised by Lisa, John was able to talk both in lay and technical terms of fungi that was abundant in the surrounding fields and woods. Highly recommend.

We had a wonderful day out, loads of mushrooms found with John Wright providing patient support and suck knowledge. In the field he could name all of them (over 75 different varieties found). He had a wonderful sense of humour and regaled loads of fun facts and stories. Can’t wait for the next one.

We booked Moon Down for our wedding venue a few years ago, then had to change the date. Moon Down were very accommodating with this. When it came to planning, we had a blank canvas to do what we wanted with. The woodland was beautiful for our ceremony and the field was a great space to hold our reception where we had a tipi put up for the party and bell tents for overnight camping. The venue looked stunning when everything came together for the day so I’d highly recommend it to anyone looking for a venue to make your wedding your own. Lisa was also very helpful every step of the way in planning our big day. June 2024

We just celebrated our wedding at Moon Down and it was truly the best day. The venue has such a special feel, it’s beautiful, remote and private but also accessible for suppliers and guests. Lisa and Charles were so accommodating and helpful and we were able to create the exact day we wanted. Thank you so much Moon Down, we wish we could do it all over again!

To say having Moondown venue as the setting of our greatest day was beyond spectacular. Upon stumbling across this beautiful venue, me and my partner fell in love with the area. We hosted our wedding for the 180 guests and the space and atmosphere allowed us to create a beautiful event. Lisa and Charles were the most accommodating hosts, helping us on the lead up to our big day and especially afterwards. Amazing people! Highly recommend this place as it won’t disappoint. A place that will live on in our memory’s as the perfect day!

I had a fabulous day foraging for fungi and mushrooms in beautiful countryside at Moon Down. I did not know there are so many types of fungi and mushrooms native to the UK that can easily be found. John Wright gave us a wealth of information in a sociable and humorous manner that made the whole group feel involved.

Thank you so much Lisa and Charlie for providing us with the perfect space for our dream wedding! Right from the start Lisa was fantastic to work with and the communication was great. Moon Down is a really special site which worked perfectly for our tipi tent and hog roast, and our ceremony in the woods was fantastic. Having the electricity and water on site too made everything very easy for suppliers. Would highly recommend Moon Down to anyone! Thank you!

We could not reccommend Moon Down and Lisa/Charlie enough! A blank canvas of open field and woodland that we used to create our own festival style wedding, it could not have been better. The location is perfect as is set away from any main roads so there is no noise pollution or passers by. The site has power and running water to facilitate any catering and entertainment needs. The large field was ideal for our Tipi Marquee and glamping bell tents. The woodlnd area was idyllic for the ceremony. Our wedding could not have been improved and that is testament to what a great place Moon Down is. Charlie and Lisa are extremely welcoming and could not have been more accommodating, any issues or questions they have answers and solutions for them all. If you are thinking of planning an outdoor event, Moon Down is the ideal place.

We started with a cup of coffee at the location for the foraging, and before we ventured far, many types of mushrooms were found. John is incredibly knowledgeable, very patient and a wonderful storyteller – he genuinely made this the best day out EVER! Lisa was great to deal with and the booking process was straightforward. She arranged for a scrumptious 3-course meal to break our foraging day before we spent the afternoon looking for more shrooms. Whilst we enjoyed a delicious afternoon tea, John had painstakingly laid out and labelled all our finds (with both their Latin & common names) – over 60 species! I thoroughly recommend Moon Down and John Wright! See you next year!

We had a late May wedding with around 115 people and Moon Down was the perfect venue for us!! The field was beautiful, the greenery, bridges and flowers made such a lovely backdrop. But the best part for us was the flexibility to design our own perfect day!! Lisa and the team were absolutely amazing, so lovely and helpful. She was also fantastically reasonable and flexible. Letting us come onsite basically the whole week before to set up, making sure we had access to the site when we needed it, letting us look round the site many times beforehand! We really appreciated the way she saved bits from previous weddings and allowed us to reuse them. The onsite camping was a real hit with our guests and allowed people to party the night away without having to worry about catching last trains or forking our for hotels and taxis. The onsite parking was ample for our guests and the closeness of Frant station (with a direct line to London) made the site really accessible for our guests. We loved having a DIY wedding. Picking the food, wine, music, celebrant, décor all ourselves allowed us to build the perfect day for us and Moon Down really was the best backdrop for that.

.A really wonderful day of fungi foraging with the famous John Wright along with John’s wife and Moondown’s Lisa, both knowledgeable fungi enthusiasts themselves. John imparts his vast knowledge of the fascinating and relatively incomplete science of mycology along with dry anecdotes from the world of publishing and gruesome stories that serve as warnings to the adventurous forager! There is a lot of information to take in – we found nearly seventy species over the course of the day – but the real benefit was becoming more attuned to the presence of fungi around us and how to read the environment as well as the books to help in the quest to identify each of the fungi we encounter. Also Lisa is a brilliant host!

Thanks so much for a wonderful days mushroom foraging, I learnt a huge amount under the expert guidance of John Wright and can’t wait to find more saffron milkcaps in the future!

I think the whole group was amazed by how many different species of fungi we found just in the first field we entered! And the day continued in this vein. It was a treat and also extremely useful to be able to see so many real specimens side by side, touch them and sniff them, and get John’s expert view on all of them. Thank you so much for such a generous dose of both learning and pleasure.

Really enjoyed this foraging course around Moon Down with John and Diane Wright – so knowledgable and just really confirmed that I’m on the right path with my learning around fungi! Great mix of field and woodland to explore! Classroom is a great base for the day, Lisa had organised a good schedule to accommodate our interests out & about and sit-downs with food and the participants were interested in fungi and foraging so we all had plenty in common! Great birthday/Christmas gift for a loved one.

As a first time forager of funghi, I didn’t have any expectations and was so pleased, it was all great fun. John and Diane were amazing company and John’s knowledge is second to none, he spent time with all of us individually and he kept us all entertained with his anecdotes. We found over 58 species, sadly most not edible, and the day went so fast. Food was fantastic and can’t wait until next year!!

A truly amazing day all round. Guided by John’s fantastic knowledge of fungi we found some 50 different species during the day, including a number fairly rare to spot. Lunch and afternoon cakes were substantial and very tasty and the general organisation of the day was excellent and very friendly. Highly recommended.

.My daughter and I had such a wonderful day and it was so interesting to find so many different types of fungi. John has an absolutely amazing knowledge of nature, habitat and mushrooms . The food ( lunch and afternoon tea) was homemade and so tasty too… just a wonderful day and one which we will repeat in the future.

Absolutely fantastic day. Wandering about in the woods and fields with John sharing his knowledge and being so friendly and approachable. Cannot believe we saw over 90 different types of fungi. Organiser Lisa looked after us all so well and the lunch and afternoon tea were both delicious and generous. Highly recommended. Hoping to get a place next year!

Wonderful day. John Wright is a brilliant, friendly guide with a great, dry sense of humour and massive knowledge. The hospitality provided by Moon Down is first class (only wish I had more room for the cream tea after the lovely lunch). But still found space for eating some of our finds that were cooked up for us. The added joy is a group of really friendly strangers whose experience ranged from minimal or limited (me) to confident foragers who wanted to learn more.

Moon Down offered us a relaxed, romantic, rural wedding, where our reception just felt like a dream! I had a particular vision of having an English Country Garden style wedding and Moon Down offered us the canvas to create what we wanted and that was really important me. As a venue, it wasn't restricted or prescriptive, it offered us freedom and flexibility, which enabled us to make the whole day really personal to us. Lisa was amazing throughout the whole planning process and on the day, we couldn't have asked for better. Aside from the space and feel of the place, the practical side of Moon Down is on point too - great parking, good facilities and the opportunity to bring in fantastic local suppliers which made our day so bespoke to us. Just wish I could do it all again!

I am a total novice at foraging and bid for this in a local charity auction (thanks Moon Down for so generously donating it to the charity!) without any real idea of what I was coming to. I am SO glad I did. John totally opened my eyes to the wealth of fungi quite literally around our feet, some tiny and almost invisible unless you know what you are looking for, others like huge umbrellas, colours ranging from the obvious browns and whites through yellows and even deep purple. There were plenty of experienced foragers amongst the group, some had travelled big distances, but I felt totally welcome and so enriched by the day. Definitely recommend it.

John entertained us all with his wicked dry asides alongside fascinating knowledge of the fungi and their habits. John should have his own TV programme.
Lunch was good too. Well organised.

We got married at Moon Down in September 2019, it was the most incredible day and the venue is just perfect for anyone looking for something bohemian/festival style or more laid back. Couldn’t recommend Lisa enough, everything ran so smoothly 🙂

What a wonderful day my husband and I had foraging for and learning about mushrooms at Moon Down. John is a goldmine of information when it comes to the world of fungi, his enthusiasm is infectious and he is also very entertaining. I would definitely go again and would highly recommend to anyone wanting a really lovely day out.

Had a very warm welcome on my arrival from Lisa who instantly put me at ease with her friendly, warm and informal approach. Simply, a most enjoyable experience; the whole team were lovely as was the food. John shared his fountain of knowledge and many anecdotes with such generosity that it was a real joy listening to and learning from him.

We had a really great day foraging with John. He was extremely knowledgeable, patient, humorous and welcoming. He's clearly passionate about all things fungi but he also interspersed the technical talk with interesting and funny stories. The 3 course meal was superb, especially the spicy Thai butternut squash soup! The location, Moondown, was a foragers paradise with so much variety within such close proximity to the start point. We'd highly recommend this day.

A thoroughly enjoyable experience. John has an incredible knowledge which he shares enthusiastically. Combined with Lisa and Diane, they're a great team. Thank you x

Wedding Venue Hire

Wild Mushroom Foraging with John Wright 2025

Christmas Wreath Making Kits

RoundandAbout Travel Blog

Wild Mushroom Foraging with John Wright
2025