Company Days Out in Kent, Beyond the Meeting Room

Almost everybody has been to a bad away day. A meeting room off a hotel lobby, a plate of sandwiches under cling film at half past twelve, and an afternoon of energisers nobody wanted. The problem is rarely the agenda. It is that the day never actually felt like a day out, so nobody's brain switched over.

This is about fixing that: what makes a venue work for a company day, which day of the week to choose, and the shapes these days usually take. Most of it applies anywhere. Where it is specific to us, that is said.

The real testWhat makes a venue work

What should you actually look for?

Three things, and the first matters more than the other two put together.

• Is it genuinely somewhere else? A room that could be in any town in England will not change how anybody thinks. The point of leaving the office is leaving the office.
• Can you work in it, and then not work in it? You need a room that takes a session properly and somewhere different to eat, break out and stand about in. One room all day is just your office with worse chairs.
• Does somebody else run it? If a member of your team spends the day chasing coffee and finding an extension lead, you have paid for a venue and supplied your own staff.

Does the setting really make a difference?

More than most people expect, and it is the cheapest lever you have. A team that has driven somewhere with a view behaves differently to a team that took the lift. It also does quiet work on a client: taking somebody somewhere considered says more about how you operate than a deck does.

We are biased, but the specific version here is 150 acres of Kent orchard, five spaces and a kitchen that cooks on site. The corporate events page sets out what each space does.

The shapeFour formats that work

Almost every company booking is a version of one of these. Pick the closest and change it.

The away day

A full day out of the office, work in the morning and something else in the afternoon. Here that means the Apple Barn, round tables or one long one, up to 180 people. Coffee and a workshop, a working lunch out in the orchards, team building and garden games, then drinks in the gardens to finish.

The reason the order matters is attention. Sessions land in the morning and do not land after lunch, whatever anybody tells you about post-lunch energy.

The conference

A polished day of sessions with room to present, network and break out. The Arboretum, rows facing a stage or round tables, up to 300. Registration, coffee and breakfast, keynote and sessions on the stage, a hot or cold working lunch, afternoon breakouts and a drinks close.

The client dinner

The smallest and often the most valuable. The Roost or the Rooster, one long dinner table, up to 50. A welcome reception with canapés, a bespoke tasting menu cooked on site, then coffee and conversation. Free parking, minutes from the M2, which matters more for an evening event than a daytime one.

The party or awards night

Summer party, awards evening or the Christmas do. The Arboretum with tables, a bar and a dancefloor, up to 300. Fizz on arrival under the fairy lights, dinner or a relaxed buffet, awards and speeches on the stage, then a DJ until midnight.

PracticalTiming, numbers and the awkward questions

Which day of the week?

Midweek, almost always. Tuesday to Thursday keeps the day inside working hours, which matters more than people admit: an away day that eats a Saturday is a day out for the company and a day off taken from your team.

It is also the practical answer. Midweek dates are easier to get and cheaper, because they are not competing with weddings. Corporate bookings here spread right across the week, which is unusual for us and tells you there is real availability outside the weekend.

How big should it be?

Around a hundred is the typical size for a corporate booking here, and the format tends to follow the number rather than the other way round. Under about 30 and a private dinner beats a workshop. Over about 150 and you are running a conference whether you meant to or not, and you need a stage and a microphone rather than a flip chart.

How far ahead do you need to book?

A couple of months is usually plenty for a midweek away day. Christmas is the exception and it is not close: party nights go on sale in the summer and the December Saturdays go first every year. If the Christmas do is your responsibility, pick a date before the end of September and you will have a choice.

What about the rest of the venue?

You can take one space exclusively, or hire the entire site, all five spaces and the surrounding orchards, so nobody else is here at all. The whole-site option is the one to ask about for anything with clients or press in the room.

For a single-space booking, our understanding is that you have private use of your space while the restaurant continues as normal elsewhere, which is how our wedding packages work. That is worth confirming with the events team for your specific date rather than assuming, particularly if you want the site quiet.

What about food?

Cooked on site by the same kitchen that caters the weddings, and built into the proposal rather than added later. Working lunches, hot or cold, sit-down dinners and canapé receptions are all ordinary here. If you have ever eaten a conference sandwich at two in the afternoon, this is the part worth spending on.

Getting a priceHow the proposal works

There is no standard price list, because a dinner for twenty and a conference for two hundred are not the same product with a different number on. Tell the events team what the event is, roughly when, and roughly how many people, and they will come back with spaces, catering and a plan for the day.

Two things make that proposal better. Be honest about the budget at the start, because it changes which space and which catering makes sense rather than shrinking the same plan. And say what the day is actually for, since an away day meant to fix a team problem and one meant to reward a good year should not look the same.

You can request a proposal here, or ring 01634 235059. If you are weighing up a Christmas party specifically, the dates and formats are on the Christmas page, and the rest of the year is set out in our season by season guide.