A conference venue on the Suffolk coast
We have been looking after groups here since 1922, and we look forward to welcoming yours
We are a few miles north of Aldeburgh, with the golf course on the doorstep. We have two meeting rooms, a kitchen that cooks everything on site, and bedrooms for groups who would rather stay the night. And when you want to get your group outside, there is team building golf, mini golf, tennis, and the beach at the end of the road.
What is included
All of our day packages include the meeting room, the equipment and three rounds of tea, coffee and biscuits through the day, with water kept topped up on the table. What changes between them is lunch.
Package | Per person | Lunch | Equipment | Numbers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Silver | £30 | Sandwiches and chips | TV, flipcharts, pens and paper | 4 to 30 |
Gold | £40 | One course, plated, or a buffet | TV, projector and screen, flipcharts, pens and paper | Buffet needs 15 |
Platinum | £45 | Two courses, plated, or a buffet | TV, projector and screen, flipcharts, pens and paper | Buffet needs 20 |
Twenty-four hour | £200 | Buffet lunch, three courses at dinner, bed and breakfast | TV, projector and screen, flipcharts, pens and paper | Up to 10 |
All rates are per person. Silver is the only package that does not come with a projector, so please say if you need one and we will arrange it.
Or call us on 01728 452176
How the day usually runs
A typical day looks like this:
9am Arrival, with tea, coffee and biscuits
11am Tea, coffee and biscuits, and water topped up
12.30pm Lunch through in the restaurant, so everyone gets out of the meeting room for a while
2pm Team building activity
3pm Tea, coffee and biscuits
5pm The day finishes. On a twenty-four hour package, bedrooms are ready now
7pm Three courses in Ogilvie’s
The rooms
The Library is our boardroom. It has a long table seating about ten, bookshelves, a fireplace and a window looking out over the course. It suits a small group who want a quiet day with no one else about.
The Lakeside Suite is the larger of the two. It is on the ground floor, with windows on three sides and doors opening onto the garden. It will take a theatre layout, cabaret rounds, a U-shape or a long table.
The Lakeside Suite, set out theatre style.
The Library, our boardroom, with the golf course through the window.
Team building and away days
Golf is the natural place to start. Christine Langford, our friendly PGA professional, can take your group out on the practice ground and the putting green. Most people are striking the ball properly within an hour. It usually ends with a competition, which your team will most likely be talking about for months afterwards.
A few minutes from the hotel is the Meare, a shallow boating lake dug in 1910 for the author of Peter Pan, with small islands named after places in the story. Boats can be hired by the hour, a boating session on the water can do more for group camaraderie and cohesion than most run of the mill exercises in a boardroom.
The beach is at the end of our road. Shingle, open sky and usually very quiet, which makes it a good place for any activities that need space for you to move around.
Jiggers is our mini golf course. A round takes about an hour and works well as a team building session. It is good fun and everyone can play, whether or not they have held a club before. There are also tennis courts at the Country Club, available outside the summer programme (July & August).
Fishers Gin is distilled a few miles along this coast, and a tasting can be added to your evening. For larger groups we usually hold it at The Brudenell, our hotel on the seafront at Aldeburgh, ten minutes away.
More room at the Thorpeness Country Club
Thorpeness Country Club is five minutes from the hotel and offers extensive outdoor space. There is a garden, a grass area big enough for most activities, and the tennis courts. If your group is larger than the Lakeside Suite will hold, or the day involves anything happening outside, this is the better place for it. The same team looks after it and the menus are the same.
Food
On the Gold and Platinum packages, lunch can be a buffet or a plated meal, whichever you prefer.
Your buffet could include:
Sandwiches and mini rolls
Charcuterie slate
Bacon wrapped prunes and chipolatas
Greek salad and homemade coleslaw
Gin and citrus cured sea trout
Goats' cheese tartlets
Dinner on the twenty-four hour package is three courses in Ogilvie's, at a table looking out over the third tee. Our menu changes through the year with the seasons. Expect plenty of fish given how close we are to the sea, a proper burger for the non-fish lovers, and puddings the locals come back for. We offer tasty vegetarian and vegan dishes on every menu, and we can cater for most dietary requirements.
Tell us what you would like and we will work with you to get it right, whether that is something quick between sessions or a proper dinner at the end of the day.
Staying the night
Some away days need longer than a single day. The twenty-four hour package adds dinner, a bedroom and breakfast the next morning, so nobody has to break off early to drive home.
Some of our bedrooms look out over the golf course and some open onto a patio. We also have accessible rooms, so tell us what your group needs when you book.
Finding us
Thorpeness is on the coast between Aldeburgh and Sizewell, about 50 minutes from Ipswich and three hours from London. The nearest station is Saxmundham, which is a 20 minute drive away.
Parking on site
Wi-Fi throughout
Getting in touch
Call us on 01728 452176, or send us a few lines below and we will come back to you as soon as we can. Please tell us the date, roughly how many people and what the day is for.