When checking out possible barn dance venues, please do consider all the logistics, and think about how it will be for the time of year you will be holding your event. Parking, access, directions and heating (I've seen guests crying with cold in a marquee are all important. Check for any major events happening nearby - one wedding was held near to a Robbie Williams concert, causing a few problems with the travelling.
Depending on your event and guests, you will probably require a venue accessible for those of us not driving Land Rovers, where there is no queue for a portaloo in the next field and where there the floor of the cowshed on a working farm is not still covered with reminders of Daisy and Buttercup.
Good venues share some other characteristics as well. It is usually better to go for a location that has character rather than something bland or insipid. Having guests a bit packed in will tend to work better than rattling around in a sports hall - hard to build up an atmosphere.
Efficient, friendly and competent staff help, as well, especially those relaxed and experienced enough to cope with any last-minute problems. For any major purchases, I always try to be a bit awkward and ask a few difficult questions in the early stages, just to see what kind of response I get - considerate and thought out, or terse and ill informed. For important events, you may wish to do the same...
I've hosted details and links to some excellent venues on our sister web site, medieval-jesters.com. Rather than copy everything out over again, or risk missing updates to either site, I'll just keep updating the details there. Please click on the link for information about some of the barn dance venues we have been to.