Kings Oak Hotel

Some venues feel like an escape the moment you arrive, and Kings Oak is one of them. A hotel set in High Beach, in the southern reaches of Epping Forest, it sits on the Essex and London border with the trees right on the doorstep and good transport links close by. For couples who want greenery and a relaxed setting without travelling miles from the city, it is an easy place to fall for, and the function suites flex from an intimate gathering right up to 300 guests.

The Function Suites and the Forest

Kings Oak is built around flexibility, which is one of the things I like about it as a DJ. The Kings Room is the main space, air conditioned with its own lighting system, seating 120 for the wedding breakfast and holding 200 standing in the evening. The Oak Lounge is smaller and more characterful, with chandeliers and forest views, taking 65 seated or 80 standing. The Beach Club brings a lighter, poolside feel, holding around 60 to 75 for dining and 90 standing.

The clever part is how they join up. Bi-folding doors open between the Kings Room and the Beach Club to create the Kings Suite, a single connected space that seats 200 and holds 300 standing. That gives you room to grow the day without ever feeling like guests are stranded in separate rooms.

And then there is the setting. Epping Forest wraps around the hotel, so your photographs have ancient woodland in every direction and the arrival feels a world away from the M25 a few minutes up the road.

Sound, Lighting and the Dancefloor

From a DJ's point of view, a flexible space is a gift, but only if it is set up with the layout in mind. When the Kings Suite is open in its full configuration, I position the setup so the dancefloor sits at the heart of the connected rooms, keeping the energy in one place rather than letting it drift across a long space. Guests flow naturally from their tables to the floor, which is what keeps a room full once the dancing starts.

The Kings Room being air conditioned and fully enclosed helps the sound stay controlled and the atmosphere stay focused, and its built-in lighting system gives me a base to build on. I layer in warm uplighting to lift the room without fighting the existing tones, then shape the brightness as the night moves from dinner into dancing. For speeches, I plan microphone technique and speaker positioning so every word lands clearly before the music takes over, whichever suite you choose.

Practical Details for Your Day

Kings Oak is genuinely well placed, close to the M25 and within easy reach of London, Hertfordshire and the wider Essex area, with stations not far away, so guests travelling in from different directions reach it without much fuss. There is parking on site, which keeps arrivals and load-in straightforward in a forest location. The hotel has bedrooms, so a good number of guests can stay over, with more rooms available nearby in Loughton and Waltham Abbey for anyone who needs them. One thing I always do with a venue this adaptable is confirm the final room configuration early, because how the suites are arranged shapes where the setup goes and how the evening flows. It is easily sorted, and getting it right means the space does exactly what you want it to on the day.