SUGAR & RIND ‘Where the wild things are’
Transforming a cow-shed into a magical ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ party for Ben & Jemima Goldsmith
THE BRIEF
In January of 2024, we excitedly drove to beautiful farm in Somerset for a recce of Ben & Jemima Goldsmith’s cowshed. Ben is one of the UK’s most passionate environmentalists who is spear-heading a movement to re-wild the countryside. His farm is at the forefront of the movement so he was very keen to use the buildings he had rather than damage any of the flowers or grasses that he’s carefully cultivated by building a marquee on top of it. The task was a bit daunting as at that time as the shed was full of mud, animals and farm equipment. It certainly smelt a bit fresh. This was a worry, but Ben assured us that it would all be cleared and the smells would have wafted away by the summer! So we set to work for a total transformation of the barn and the invitations for a ‘Where the Wild Thing Are’ party went out to all their friends and family.
FURNITURE & DÉCOR
So first stop was the décor. Thankfully for us, Ben & Jemima were friends with Kitten Grayson, a local to Bruton, who had just won ‘Chelsea Florist of the Year.’ It was therefore our great honour to team up with Kitten to transform the shed into the most magical environment with the ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ story at the forefront. Kitten worked tirelessly over 3 days foraging from the farm to drape the barn from top to bottom in greenery and foliage. Leaving no stone unturned, she and her team covered as much of the barn in branches, leaves, flowers and garlands. As you can see it was quite a transformation.
We then added a gorgeous rustic set of furniture from Virginia’s Vintage Hire and spread lots of comfy seating areas and firepits over the area in front of barn for chill out areas. We were even able to install the fabulous arch that had won Kitten her ‘Chelsea Florist of the Year,’ golden medal.
CATERING
Ben was adamant that his least favourite thing is a sit down meal so we had a super-informal and utterly delicious asado from Firemade. Look at this stunning set up and just imagine the fabulous smells!
AN INFORMAL SET-UP
Here’s the result of the informality of a ‘no-seating plan’ meal. We LOVE this photo. Guests are saying hi to old friends, shaking hands with new friends and generally looking very relaxed because they know they can get up and shuffle off as soon as their plate is clean!
MUSIC & ENTERTAINMENT
To our joy, there was no holding back on the entertainment. The evening started with a really excellent band called ‘The After Hours Quintet.’ Unexpectedly, people were dancing almost as soon as the guests arrived – no inhibitions made for a good start to the evenin. After dinner, the wonderful ‘Alan Power Band’ played powerful crowd-pleasing anthems that had the dance floor full throughout and then for the late night set, Isaac Ferry played an array of dance music till the wee small hours. It was such a pleasure to work with all of these fantastic artists throughout the course of the evening.
LIGHTING & PRODUCTION
To give a cowshed atmosphere, lighting and sound was absolutely key. We worked closely with All the Kit, another local supplier, together with Isaac Ferry to ensure top quality production services throughout the venue.
DANCING & HAYBALES
We’ll let the photos do the talking on this one but we built a set of tiered seating all around the dance floor create a ‘Ho-down’ vibe. This was Isaac Ferry’s idea and it was genius! It created great vantage points and dancing platforms for the guests to party on. Really cool!
FIREPITS & PYROTECHNICS
Ben’s farm team really kindly built a giant bonfire for us which everyone loved so we gave the guests sparklers for that fun lit up feeling later on in the evening.
CLIENT TESTIMONIAL
“Sugar & Rind organised for us the most perfect, brilliant party of a lifetime for our anniversary. It couldn’t have been better – thank you so much to Philly and her fabulous team!”
Ben & Jemima Goldsmith
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