Your festival.Your garden.

Usually, no. In England and Wales a Temporary Event Notice only covers an event with fewer than 500 people on site at all times—and that total includes guests, artists, production crew, bar staff, caterers, security and every other worker. A 500-guest event therefore needs a different licensing route and a suitable site. For a residential garden, we establish a realistic capacity after a site visit and leave room for the team required to run the event safely.

There is no universal “garden capacity”. The safe number depends on usable space, entrances and exits, emergency access, ground conditions, structures, bars, toilets, neighbours and the scale of production. Many residential gardens will suit far fewer people than the licensing ceiling. We assess the site first, then recommend a responsible guest number.

A Temporary Event Notice, or TEN, is one route for authorising licensable activities at an unlicensed premises in England and Wales. These can include selling alcohol, entertainment such as music and dancing, and serving hot food or drink between 11pm and 5am. A TEN event must have fewer than 500 people on site at all times and last no more than seven days.

We would explore a suitable licensed venue or a full premises-licence route with a longer planning period. That is a different proposition from placing 500 guests in a standard residential garden. The local licensing authority makes the final decision, and the site must also work safely at the proposed capacity.

We identify the likely route early and can coordinate the production information needed for applications. A TEN must be served by an individual, not a company, and the precise responsibilities are agreed for each event. Permissions are never assumed or guaranteed: police, environmental health and the local authority may review or object to an application.

Sound is part of the site plan from day one. We consider speaker direction, operating hours, sound limits, guest arrivals and departures, and neighbour communication. Public nuisance is one of the grounds on which police or environmental health can object to a TEN, so the plan must be credible as well as exciting.

There is no universal decibel number we can promise for every garden. We bring a properly specified system and engineer it to feel powerful on the dance floor, but the operating level and finish time depend on the location, nearby homes, the noise-management plan and any licensing conditions. The council can investigate loud music from gardens at any time if it may amount to a statutory nuisance. Our job is to create impact through system design, speaker direction and active monitoring—not simply turn every control to maximum.

A full Secret Garden Parties experience typically starts from £10,000. Your final proposal depends on the site, safe capacity, licensing route, production, line-up and services you choose. We only quote a per-person guide once the workable guest number and event scope are understood.

For early planning, the calculator allows roughly 5 m² of clear event area per invited guest: about 1,500 m² for 300 guests, 1,750 m² for 350, or 2,000 m² for 400. That includes breathing room for the guest areas and core production footprint, but not parking. It is only a starting test. HSE guidance makes clear that safe capacity also depends on exits, circulation, ground conditions, temporary structures, vehicle access and emergency routes, so we confirm the real number from a measured site plan.

No. The calculator’s area is for the event zone. As a rough transport-planning assumption, 300, 350 and 400 guests could mean up to around 120, 140 or 160 cars if an average of 2.5 people travel in each vehicle. Many homes cannot absorb that safely, so our valet and transport plan may use timed drop-off, taxis, minibuses or suitable off-site parking. Any external parking land is priced separately.

Yes. Temporary generation and professionally planned distribution for the agreed production are included. We calculate the load for sound, lighting, bar systems, toilets and site infrastructure, then position and manage the equipment around access, safety and noise.

Posh. We plan luxury flushing toilet trailers with running water, internal lighting and quality consumables—not rows of basic festival cubicles. The exact unit mix is sized to the attendance and event duration. Trailer access and firm, level positioning must be confirmed during the site visit, and we include the power needed for the agreed setup.

The physical bar system and its standard operating setup are included; food, alcohol, soft drinks and bar consumption are not. We can add food trucks, full catering, cocktail staff, draught products, glassware and drinks packages once we know the menu, service style and licensing plan.

Every package includes a tailored line-up from our resident DJs—trusted professionals with experience playing major festivals and large-scale events. Headline artists, live bands and specific named acts can be booked separately, subject to availability and fee.

Yes. Structures, stages, lighting, sound, DJs and artists, large-scale props, photo moments, pubs and bars, draught beer, cocktail staff, catering, toilets, power, security, furniture and full event production—it can all come through one team.

Absolutely. We can create a proper festival pub or cocktail bar with draught beer, premium spirits, glassware, bar teams and a drinks menu designed for your celebration.

Anything from garage, house and disco to pop, R&B, indie, live bands and headline artists. Tell us what moves your crowd and we’ll shape the line-up.

As early as possible—ideally several months ahead for larger garden events, summer weekends and artist bookings. A standard TEN normally requires at least 10 clear working days, but that is only the legal notice window, not enough time to design and produce a major private festival properly.