Karen Blixen Coffee Garden and Cottages is a boutique hotel at 336 Karen Road in Karen, Nairobi, set on land that was once part of the coffee farm where the Danish author Karen Blixen lived and worked between 1917 and 1931. The property combines garden cottages and rooms with four restaurants and bars, a spa and a souvenir shop, and sits about half a mile from Karen Country Club.
Its event spaces range from very small to fairly large. The Atrium, a glass-walled room looking onto the gardens, takes up to 50 guests for a buffet or set-menu meal. Under the Canvas, a canvas tent in the grounds, is promoted for up to 300 guests, with parking for around 30 cars. The Bloom Ground is an open-air lawn for ceremonies, parties and photoshoots, while The Promise Enclave is a secluded stone patio under a natural foliage arch, intended for proposals, private vows and micro-weddings. A small conference room comes with three breakout spaces of up to eight people each.
The hotel markets these spaces for weddings, birthdays, graduations, baby showers, proposals, conferences and corporate events, and it also takes bookings for photoshoots in the gardens, with changing rooms on request.
Catering is handled in-house through named packages. The Atrium packages offer a buffet or set menu, and the more generous option adds a cocktail reception with wine or draught beer, a four-course menu and sparkling wine. Garden packages for 35 guests or more include a buffet, and smaller groups can ask for a tailored menu. Full-day and half-day conference packages cover tea breaks, lunch, Wi-Fi and secure parking for up to 20 vehicles, and the meeting room has an 85-inch screen and flip charts. Guests can stay overnight in the cottages, and the Karen Blixen Museum and Giraffe Centre are a short drive away. The hotel doesn't publish event prices, so packages are quoted on enquiry.
The Atrium is a glass-walled room facing the gardens, offered for weddings and private celebrations with a buffet or set menu for up to 50 guests. Under the Canvas is a canvas tent in the gardens that the hotel says hosts up to 300 guests; no layout is given for that figure, and parking for about 30 vehicles comes with it.
The conference room is a small, fully equipped meeting room with three breakout spaces of up to 8 people each; the hotel's page doesn't give the main room's own capacity. The Bloom Ground (an open-air lawn) and The Promise Enclave (a stone patio under a foliage arch, for proposals and micro-weddings) have no published capacities.
Ask the venue for pricing
336 Karen Road, Karen, Nairobi