Bivouac Swinton is the place to come if you are looking for that unique one off venue which offers something a little more special for your wedding. Situated three miles outside Masham, North Yorkshire, the Druids Plantation is a very popular historic site where incredible views, the ancient monument at the heart of the woodland and the surrounding valley and moorland – all combine to make this a bespoke and breathtaking place to celebrate your marriage.

We work very closely with the local company Papakata, who specialize in hiring out Kåta tents for parties, weddings, festivals and events – tee pee style tents pioneered by the Sami people of Lapland. You and your guests can stay on site for a whole weekend enjoying the full Bivouac experience. We have a range of accommodation on offer – from the round-wood luxury shacks hidden in the woods, to a meadow village with yurts and a Yorkshire camping barn. Your guests will never forget this event!

There are several options available for you to use as a starting point for creating your ideal wedding, below is a short description of what each one incorporates. They are all tailored to give your day a slightly different look and feel whlie still maintaining the Bivouac sense of being creative, fun, friendly, sustainable and sensitive to our natural surroundings. Have a browse through and if you would like more information or want to book a viewing give us a call.

Castanea
This offers you the best of both worlds – the woodland as your backdrop and the 40 mile high views ahead and all our accommodation is available for you and your guest exclusive hire. The kata tents are situated at the highest spot in front of the six woodland shacks. Just a few minutes walk down the valley more of your guests are accommodated in the eight cosy yurts and the bunk barn – making this option a complete all rounder.

Depending on your plan for the day your ceremony can either take place in the kata tents or as an optional extra with this possibility you can have it in the actual woodland followed by a drinks reception. Guests at the event come to a total of 150 maximum and this option is available all year round except January.

Sequoia
This is for those that are looking for the village fete or the festival feel- taking over the whole yurt field, the 40 mile views are all yours. All our accommodation is available for you and your guest exclusive hire.

Depending on your plan for the day your ceremony can either take place in the kata tents continuing the fete feel or as an optional extra you can have it in the actual woodland and stroll down to the meadow for your reception. Hosting a maximum of 150 guests, this option is available from March through till October.

Acacia
Acacia takes you down into the old Yorkshire barns, where you have exclusive hire of the cafe, including the mezzanine level and the garden room, courtyard, veranda, walled garden and fire pit – as well as all of our accommodation.

The cosy barns provide a comfortable and warm venue mixed in with the breath taking views is yours from 10am until midnight on your selected date. This hosts 60 guests and is available from September through till April.

Tilia
Come and celebrate any event or get together in our cafe barn. If you are planning a small wedding with just close family and friends and are looking for a small venue to hold your celebration in why not hire our private garden room with exclusive use of our walled garden.

As an optional extra you can have your wedding ceremony and drinks reception in the woodland. This hosts up to 20 guests and is available all year round except January.

Ilex
This is for those looking for the farm feel! We have partnered with a local farmer to give you the best of both worlds. Here at Bivouac our bespoke accommodation can provide your guest with comfortable and unique lodgings for the duration of your wedding, as well as you having the additional option of our woodland ceremony. While your wedding reception and evening party will be organised and hosted across the valley at a larger farm barn reception venue. 

You can book a mid week day or a weekend to have your ceremony and wedding photos in the Bivouac woodland and then head over by tractor and trailer transport to your venue for the party to commence. You and your guest can book into our accommodation and add that little extra luxury to a wonderful day.

If you would like to view our wedding portfolio online please click here.

Notes for all wedding options:
Your guests can cover the costs of their own chosen accommodation bringing your overall cost down considerably. Yurts are only available from March – October and therefore the costs for all offerings change at various times during the year
Music – we are sensitive about music and we ask that all music desires are pre agreed and all parties have signed up to our terms and conditions.
Depending on your number of guests, there might be an extra charge for more bar staff.
Woodland- Our site is built on private land and it is our responsibility to maintain the woodland and protect it from harm. Due to this there are limits on events that happen in the actual woodland. We will happily discuss this with you during your viewing.
No alcoholic drinks allowed to be brought on site without agreement from Bivouac Swinton Ltd.

Bivouac welcomes events which are looking for that something special, simple yet creative and bespoke to who you are and what event you wish to celebrate.

With various spots around the woodland, valley and farm - this venue has the appeal for so many reasons. Whether you want to party for your 40th or chill with friends and family remembering a loved one, to treating your workforce to some time out and team building - we have all the ingredients to make your event come to life.

The woodland can be used in the daytime with Bivouac permission, to our Yorkshire barns and gardens for a more intimate affair. Give us a call to discuss your event wishes and together we can begin the creative journey.

We will also be arranging our own events and festivals throughout the year to provide a little laughter and a lot of fun for all our fantastic staff, locals and guests. Keep an eye on our site and blogs for updates on whats happening when.

If you have an idea for an event that you would like to collaborate with us on or think we would be the perfect venue for your existing event, send us an email to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Volunteer Week
Bivouac are organising a week of volunteer activity, with tasks such as building log stores and painting furniture - to helping with some finishing touches on the interiors of the shacks and yurts. We’d love you to get involved!

As the Bivouac site progresses, we look to Spring next year when we will be getting ready to welcome our first visitors to the site!  Our team here are busy working away hard to get everything ready.

Some of the jobs we need to do to spruce the site up can’t happen until the Spring, and we’d like to open this opportunity up for anyone to get involved!

For people that would love the opportunity to be a part of getting the Bivouac off the ground, and would enjoy some team building in the Yorkshire Dales, we have some dates for your diary…

Dates - Thursday 1st March - Wednesday 7th March

All guests are welcome to camp in the field here, we’ll provide shower and toilet facilities and there will be a camping kitchen set up next to the house.

Feel free to come and get involved in a day or stay for the whole weekend, everyone is welcome!

Here are a list of the types of jobs we will be doing over this weekend…

- Building a log store
- Planting
- Clearing areas of the site
- Hanging signage
- Building some recycling bins around the site
- Starting to dig a veg patch
- Building a compost
- Setting up and finishing off the internals of the shacks and yurts
- Painting and restoring pieces of furniture
- General moving of items around the site
- Making food and drink for our volunteers
- Creating a coal stock shelter
- Fixing some dry stone walls
- Tidying up the gardens
- Fixing up some shelves
- Interior decorating throughout the barns and accommodation

If you’re interested in joining us and getting involved then please download the form and e-mail to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Foraging
Our half day foraging course with Chris Bax, will give you a fascinating insight into the best wildfoods of the season. You will spend 3 hours in the woods learning to find and identify edible plants, seeds, nuts, flowers and fungi that grow wild in the British countryside.

Depending on the season you may be tapping trees for sap, gathering wild herbs or picking edible fungi, but no matter what you find, Chris will teach you how to prepare and transform foraged foods into great dishes, preserves and drinks.
       
A meal is included in the course which will be prepared by our chefs, using produce sourced from our local environment and foraged ingredients.

£35 per person - groups of 12 max per session (if more people are interested we can hire another leader at additional cost, but will need discussing as and when)

• Weds 8th August 10am - 1pm
• Weds 8th August 2pm - 5pm
• Weds 22nd August 10am - 1pm
• Weds 22nd August 2pm - 5pm
• Weds 31st August 10am - 1pm
• Weds 31st August 2pm - 5pm

Climbing
Enjoy a half day of climbing and abseiling with an experienced climbing instructor in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales.  We’ll provide all the climbing equipment you need to enjoy climbing on some local natural crags, set within an amazing backdrop.  This session is aimed at the novice or beginner.  Experienced climbing sessions can be organised if there are a group of 6.

£40 per person - groups of 6 max per session (if more people are interested we can hire another leader at additional cost, but will need discussing as and when)

• Sun 29th July 10am - 1pm
• Sun 29th July 2pm - 5pm
• Sun 5th August 10am - 1pm
• Sun 5th August 2pm -5pm