Most away days fail for the same reason: everyone goes home at the end of it. The useful conversations happen after dinner, not during the session. The Briers is an exclusive-use country house in Newcastle, at the foot of the Mournes, where your team has the entire property to itself, stays the night, and gets the part that actually changes how people work together. The dining room sits open to the bar, with the group around one table — a boardroom without feeling like one. The snug gives you a second room, so you can run parallel workstreams and pull everyone back together without leaving the building. WiFi throughout, and the Mournes and Tollymore Forest are minutes away if you want to send people out in pairs with a question to answer. You bring in whoever you need — your own facilitator, trainer or coach — rather than accepting a venue's package. Full-day meals can be arranged through our local catering partner. There's a licensed private bar you stock yourselves, which is where most teams find the evening does its work. From £700 per night midweek for the whole property, subject to availability. At full occupancy that's around £30 a head, including the beds. Worth running against a day delegate rate plus bedrooms plus dinner.
Nine bedrooms, every one en suite, sleeping up to twenty-three. That matters more than it sounds — nobody is sharing a bathroom with a colleague. Pricing is per property, not per head. £700 per night midweek subject to availability, £2,000 for a weekend. At full occupancy midweek that's around £30 each, and the invoice doesn't change when two people drop out the week before. Corporate away days almost never need to be at a weekend, so midweek is usually free money you can spend on the facilitator instead. In Newcastle, five minutes from Royal County Down, under an hour from Belfast, Newry and Lisburn. Free parking, licensed, dog friendly, with two hot tubs and a barrel sauna in an acre of grounds for the wind-down. Self check-in, with a door code sent on the morning you arrive. If anyone in your group has mobility requirements, raise it with us early and we'll tell you exactly what the layout allows — we'd rather tell you now than have you find out on arrival. Tell us your dates, your numbers and what the two days need to achieve, and we'll come back with availability and a total price. If the house isn't right for what you're planning, we'll say so.
At The Briers, we are here to help. Email us or fill in the form with your dates and we will come back to you.
