Learn how wedding venues in England and Wales can host temporary tent camping, check Class BC and Class BA rules, and avoid planning, licensing and VAT traps.
Hello, wedding venue owners, give guests a place to stay, then check these rules before you open the field.
Why add camping to your wedding venue?
Wedding guests may drink at the reception. Then they need a safe way to stay overnight. A nearby field with tents can give them that option, and give your venue a separate camping income stream.
In England, Class BC of the General Permitted Development Order allows temporary recreational campsite use on land. You do not need to be a farmer. There is no agricultural tie. Barn venues, marquee fields and event fields may qualify, subject to the rules and exclusions.
The right allows up to 60 days in total per calendar year, with up to 50 pitches. Count tents and other pitches together. Moveable structures may be provided where reasonably necessary. Class BC does not permit caravans, except motor vehicles designed or adapted for habitation, such as campervans and motorhomes.
This is a planning route for the temporary campsite use. It is not permission for every activity at your venue. Check your event, licensing, safety and facilities requirements too.
Class BC camping rules for wedding fields in England
Before you plan a camping weekend, check whether the field is eligible.
Class BC does not apply to development:
- On a scheduled monument or a site of special scientific interest.
- In a safety hazard area or military explosives storage area.
- On a site of a listed building.
- For siting caravans, except qualifying campervans and motorhomes.
Check listed-building status with care. Many barn wedding venues are listed. The exclusion is for a listed building’s site, so do not assume a nearby field sits outside it. Check the listing and the extent of the site before you plan pitches.
Class BC also has conditions. You must provide toilet and waste-disposal facilities on site. Before the campsite use begins in each calendar year, you must notify your local planning authority in writing.
Include a site plan. Mark the toilets and waste facilities. State the dates the site will be in use. A notice without the required dates and facilities marked is defective. The local planning authority must pass the notice to the fire and rescue authority.
Keep dated records of the campsite use. The 60-day limit counts days, not nights. Councils may check your declared dates against what happened on site.
Check flood risk before setting dates
If the proposed campsite is in Flood Zone 2 or 3 in England, Class BC requires prior approval from the local planning authority before use begins in each calendar year.
Your application needs a site-specific flood risk assessment and any required fee. The authority must consult the Environment Agency, allowing at least 21 days for a response. The default determination period can run to 56 days. Do not open until you have approval or the statutory period has expired without a decision, as set out in the rules.
The 2026 amendment removed the former National Planning Policy Framework reference from this prior-approval test. It did not remove the flood-zone process.
For the legal details, see our guide to camping legislation and permitted development.
Keep the wedding field to tents and campervans
A marquee counts as a tent. A touring caravan does not qualify under Class BC.
Take care with glamping pods, huts and similar units. A structure may count as a caravan under section 29(1) of the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960. The definition can cover a moveable, transportable structure designed for human habitation.
Check before you add pods. If they count as caravans, they fall outside the Class BC right. You may then need to consider planning permission and the 1960 Act site-licensing regime.
For the simple version, keep your temporary wedding campsite to tents and qualifying campervans.
The alcohol trap: your venue licence may not cover the field
A wedding venue may already hold a premises licence. That does not mean the licence covers the whole property. It covers the area shown on its plan.
Check that plan. The camping field may sit outside the licensed area. Serving alcohol from a bar cart or drinks station in that field can be an unauthorised licensable activity.
Under section 136 of the Licensing Act 2003, carrying on a licensable activity without authorisation is an offence. The maximum penalty is six months’ imprisonment, an unlimited fine, or both.
Choose one of these two fixes:
- Vary your premises licence. Ask the designated premises supervisor to apply to the licensing authority. Check that the proposed field area is added to the plan.
- Use a Temporary Event Notice (TEN). Apply for the relevant activity at the field, within the TEN limits.
One detail matters: as of 3 November 2026, the usual TEN deadline is at least 10 clear working days before the event, not 21 clear days. A TEN can cover an event of up to 168 hours and fewer than 500 people at all times, including staff. A premises may have up to 15 TENs a year. An individual without a personal licence may give up to five a year; a personal licence holder may give up to 50. Check the current GOV.UK TEN guidance before applying.
If drinks come from the venue’s licensed bar, inside its licensed area, and guests carry them to the field, you may be on safer ground. A field bar or self-service drinks station needs its own authorisation.
Late-night hot food and drinks for campers
There is a separate late-night refreshment exemption. Schedule 2 of the Licensing Act 2003 treats camping sites as premises comparable to hotels for this purpose.
Hot food or hot drinks served between 11pm and 5am may be exempt from late-night refreshment licensing when supplied only to people staying there for the night. Keep the service for overnight campers. Do not admit the public under this exemption.
It never covers alcohol. Arrange separate authorisation for alcohol.
Keep music within the licensed area
A live band or DJ at the barn may be covered by your premises licence. Check the licence hours before moving entertainment to the field.
Music outside the licensed area needs its own authorisation. Check the licence and event arrangements before you change the location.
VAT on wedding packages and camping pitches
HMRC treats a package of wedding services, such as ceremony rooms, a wedding breakfast and an evening party, as one standard-rated supply at 20%. A tent pitch is also standard-rated. There is no reduced-value rule for tent pitches.
Where you are VAT registered, charge VAT on both supplies. Add the camping pitch to the booking flow as its own VAT line, so guests can see the charge.
VAT can also be due when a deposit is paid. A retained deposit or cancellation charge can remain VATable. A refund may reduce the amount due. Check HMRC’s VAT Notice 709/3 and get accounting advice for your booking structure.
Facilities: keep temporary items removable
Class BC requires on-site toilet and waste-disposal facilities. Keep your arrangements suitable for the site and temporary in form.
- A permanent-looking toilet block or shower trailer on foundations may need separate planning permission.
- Use a registered waste carrier for chemical toilet waste, code 20 03 99.
- Do not discharge greywater to a watercourse.
- A mains-fed water bowser is outside Private Water Supplies Regulation 9. A plumbed borehole supply to the field is a Regulation 9 supply and needs a council risk assessment.
Check local requirements before installing facilities or opening the field.
Wedding campsite rules in Wales
Wales has a separate permitted development route: Class BA, introduced by S.I. 2026/79, in force from 1 June 2026.
Class BA allows up to 60 days on ordinary land per calendar year. The limit is 28 days in National Parks, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and World Heritage Sites. Unlike Class BC, the Welsh rule does not set a 50-pitch cap.
Before starting each year, apply to the local planning authority for a determination on whether prior approval is needed for toilets and wastewater, waste disposal, and vehicle access. Include a plan with facilities, pitches, access and dates. The authority has 28 days to respond.
Check exclusions before choosing the field. These include listed-building sites, scheduled monuments, SACs, SPAs, SSSIs and Ramsar sites. Camping is also excluded in Flood Zones 2 and 3; there is no flood prior-approval route. Class BA also excludes land within 100 metres of a protected dwelling. A protected dwelling is occupied by someone other than the campsite owner or operator. Your own venue accommodation does not count on that basis.
Class BA excludes caravans, except qualifying campervans and motorhomes. Check the exact site and rules before advertising camping in Wales.
Your wedding-field camping checklist
Use this short playbook before you publish a pitch or guest email.
- Map your site. Check listed-building status, protected areas and flood zones.
- Count your days. One weekend with Friday arrival and Saturday night uses two campsite days. Twelve such weekends use 24 of England’s 60 days.
- File the required notice or application. In England, send the Class BC notice before opening in each calendar year, with exact dates and facilities marked. In Wales, follow the Class BA determination steps before use.
- Choose tents and campervans. Check any pod or hut before including it.
- Check the bar plan. Extend the premises licence or arrange a TEN for field service. Set a reminder for the correct deadline.
- Limit late-night hot food and drinks. Serve them only to guests staying overnight if relying on the camping-site exemption.
- Set the VAT line. Price the camping pitch as a standard-rated supply where applicable.
- Tell guests to walk, not drive. Give them clear directions from the reception to their tent.
A well-run legal campsite can turn one celebration into two nights of revenue, without a planning application for the campsite use where the permitted development rules apply. Get the notification, dates, facilities and licensing right. Then tell guests where to stay.
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