Private Dining in Kent for Smaller Celebrations

Some celebrations aren’t about a hundred guests and a full band. - a milestone birthday with the people who actually matter, an anniversary dinner where you're not shouting over a wedding party at the next table, a retirement, a christening, a quiet engagement. The kind of occasion that calls for a beautiful setting, a proper meal, and a bit of breathing space, without the production of a full-scale event.

Private dining gives you exactly that. A space that's yours for the evening, food that's been carefully prepared by skilled chefs, with our team handling the details so you can actually enjoy your own party. If you're looking for somewhere in Kent that does this well, Hempstead House Hotel & Spa, near Sittingbourne, is perfectly set up for it.

Why Hempstead House works for smaller celebrations

Hempstead House is a privately owned, AA 4-star country house hotel and spa, set in four acres of landscaped gardens in the heart of the Kent countryside. The setting itself does a lot of the work: a sense of arrival, a calm pace, and the unmistakable feel of a hotel that has hosted a lot of important evenings and knows how to make a celebration feel special.

The private dining rooms are designed for smaller celebrations of up to 30 guests, which is the sweet spot for a great deal of family and friend occasions. You're close enough to actually talk to everyone, the room never feels half-empty, and the night doesn't need a running order. It's a properly intimate format that lets you prioritise enjoying yourself.

A space that's actually yours for the evening

The strength of a good private dining experience is the privacy. Not just the door closing on a side room, but the room being properly yours. At Hempstead House, you're welcome to personalise the space with your own decorations, music playlists and seating arrangements. The team takes care of dining and service so the evening flows.

Practically, this gives you a lot of flexibility. A round table for a 60th birthday with the family. A long table for an anniversary dinner with close friends. A more relaxed layout for a christening lunch, with space for kids to move around without colonising the rest of the hotel.

Food that earns its place at the table The dining is the part of a celebration people always remember. At Hempstead House, this is taken seriously. Lakes Restaurant is the hotel's award-winning, AA Rosette fine dining restaurant, led by our Head Chef Paul Field, and the kitchen team can build menus around private dining occasions in a way that suits both the format and the food preferences of your group.

Building it into a longer stay

Half the joy of a country-house celebration is not having to leave at the end of it. With accommodation, dining, gardens and the AquaManda Spa all on site, you can extend a private dinner into a full weekend without anyone needing to drive home.

A popular plan: dinner in a private dining room on Saturday evening, breakfast in the hotel the next morning, a slow walk around the gardens, a treatment in the spa for whoever still has the energy, and a leisurely lunch before everyone heads off. It feels like a properly looked-after weekend, rather than a one-night production.

A Kent venue that's easy to get to

Hempstead House sits on London Road, Bapchild, just outside Sittingbourne. It's easy to reach from across Kent, the Medway towns and well connected for London, which matters when you're inviting family and friends from a few different directions. The hotel feels rural without being remote, which is a useful thing for a celebration where some guests are travelling in for the evening.

Planning your private dining event

The smoothest celebrations tend to be the ones where the basics get sorted early. A few practical things worth thinking about before you enquire: the date and rough timings, the number of guests (anything up to 30 fits the private dining format), whether you want fine dining or something more relaxed, any dietary requirements, and whether you'd like guests to stay overnight. A clear sense of these helps our team put together the right room and menu without endless back and forth.

The Hempstead House team is happy to talk through requirements, suggest the right space for your group size, and tailor the menu around the occasion.

Make an enquiry

If you're planning a smaller celebration in Kent and you'd like a country house setting that takes the food and the welcome seriously, Hempstead House is worth a look. Get in touch with the team to discuss your private dining requirements.