Why book?
For a quintessential English wedding in one of the Cotswolds’ most handsome private houses. There is no hotel circus at Cornwell Manor to contend with, no external variables to manage and every inch of the grounds and interiors are almost too good looking to decorate. There’s also the exclusive use aspect, with a degree of privacy and creative freedom you’d have from owning the manor yourself, but (and best of all) the option for a three-day celebration, putting up 24 nearest and dearest in the main house (a boon for international couples after the classic English country wedding… without the extra hotel headache).
Venue style:
Sleeping 24 guests, the entire estate can be rented for weekends from June to September, ensuring a level of exclusivity most discerning couples look to prioritise. Envisage the morning of the big day amid four poster beds and thick-curtained framed views of the garden topiary, services in a traditional, honey-stone church, the emerald English gardens or The Ballroom for civil ceremonies, and Champagne-laced receptions along a terrace, with sweeping views of the lakes and formal gardens. As if it were their own home, couples and their family and closest friends have the full run of the grounds across the weekend, with lazy Sundays along the pool following breakfasts anywhere at anytime and a clever assortment of venue locations for every step of a weekend-long wedding. In fact, couples and their entourage can arrive on the Thursday from midday, overseeing the marquee and production unfold like origami as they settle in, then keep guests busy on Friday with activities (between duties) before the rehearsal dinner or welcome drinks begin. Keeping everything ‘on site’ ensures a smoother few days of celebrations, avoiding transfer chaos, moving outfits and any unnecessary stress for the bride and groom. What’s more, there’s plenty in the local area for wedding guests wanting to make a weekend of it, with nearby chocolate box villages, classic Cotswold pubs and the more chichi Daylesford estate and Soho Farmhouse. The 90-minute direct train from London to Kingham will not only be a hit with the Londoners, but a relief for those flying in from abroad.
It’s worth noting that all weddings at Cornwell Manor require the hire of a marquee and a wedding planner, as well as one of the venue’s approved caterers.
Set the scene:
Deep in the bucolic thickets of North Oxfordshire, Cornwell Manor casts its wisteria-smothered Georgian symmetry over acres of landscaped gardens and its very own hamlet, including a Norman church. As the Cotswolds switch on the sunshine and the Laurel-carved gardens glow an ethereal green, there is a sense that you have found the prettiest patch of England: undulating countryside, woodland and lakes serving as a soft, watercolour backdrop for the couple’s vision and all the photographs. Inside lies a series of grand sweeping rooms, all dressed in silks, botanical wallpaper and antiques. A wood panelled dining room nods to the house’s Jacobean history, while opulent fireplaces and pretty Georgian windows lend it its photogenic edge. Guests can’t help but sigh wistfully at the pleasing symmetry of the gardens and main, magnificent manor house – both the perfect expression of rural English romance. One of Cornwell’s winning cards for weekend weddings is its heated pool, surrounded by manicured topiary (and typically a smattering of wide-eyed friends and family ready to cool off in the twinkling water having debriefed on the wedding highlights from the previous day). There’s no rush either – check out generously stretches on until 5pm on the Sunday, there’s ample time for a game of croquet…
Event spaces:
Couples planning on a religious service have the quaint Norman Church of St Peter (seating up to 80 people and a mere 200 metres from the manor house). Should they wish to tie the knot before a larger crowd, the nearby postcard-pretty villages of Kingham, Churchill and Chipping Norton are anchored by similarly lovely churches. Those taking the non-religious route can opt for a garden ceremony, whether it’s with chairs lining the garden’s pond and trickling fountain, with the Manor house posing as a beguiling backdrop, or in the Ballroom (licensed for ceremonies seating up to 100), with its vast elegant windows flooding the jewel-box space with natural light, enormous tapestries and verre elgomise mirror. Covering the walled garden with a marquee opens creates a natural flow from the Ballroom (seating up to 150 people), where couples can add their own vision to a blank canvas – perhaps a bespoke flower arch weaving its way around one of the trees.
Drinks receptions and speeches can take place along the Brideshead Revisited flavour terrace, overlooking the lakes and velvety gardens above which the entire party is elevated. For larger weddings, Cornwell Manor suggests dropping the pegs of the cavernous marquee or tepee on the sloping parkland, overlooking the house and the lakes, Capability Brown style. Though the most spectacular ‘wedding breakfast’ spot (decoded from Debrett’s speak as the canapés, cake, lunch or full evening dinner after the altar) is in the Italianate water garden, where guests float down the stone steps, through the symmetrical topiary and past the fountain, quenching their thirst with a cool glass of Champagne.
While all weddings at Cornwell Manor require a marquee, couples are spoilt for choice on striking locations, and wherever they choose to place it tends to open up a whole host of other options for the ceremony or blessing, as well as the down-time lunches and parties that surround the big day. The sheer scale of the place and its unique yet consistently beautiful pockets are a thrill to couples to work with while curating their celebrations, and ultimately, (and rather comfortingly), all tried and tested, so whatever they they opt for, it’s going to look sensational.
Food and drink:
Cornwell Manor works closely with a handful of trusted suppliers and caterers, who are tried-and-tested (meeting the Estate’s exacting standards) and essentially know the drill. Cue a sigh of relief from the bride and groom, saving hours or trawling through wedding caterers and marquee and furniture hire companies, or sieving through endless reviews. It removes all risks of the food or service not being up to scratch, while still giving wedding planners plenty to sort and seek couples’ decisions on. These trusted caterers include Ross and Ross Events whose seasonal and locally-sourced ingredients are artfully cooked up for either three course plated wedding breakfasts or more relaxed sharing platters (bringing couples’ foodie visions to life with aesthetic panache); Quince and Clover also bangs the seasonal drum, serving up bespoke menus ranging from intricate delicate plates to rustic-yet-refined feasts (and providing all the tableware, linen and glassware); then there’s The Kingham Plough, a local pub that is able to switch gears to elegant events, serving up wood-fired steaks from local farms and spanking fresh shellfish from the Cornish coast. The Cotswolds excels at farm-to-fork or kitchen garden-focused menus, so brides and grooms can make the most of its countryside treasure for their big day. Couples wishing to enjoy a tasting in London are wise to use Lettice Events, an incredibly innovative and experienced London-based caterers.
Accommodation:
Included in the three day wedding weekend are 12 double bedrooms (sleeping up to 24), all of which embody the classic country house style. Brides can wake up on their wedding morning to views of the rolling countryside framed by four poster bed drapes, then step into a traditional bath with 100 Acre organic potions before a catered breakfast with her nearest and dearest. No one will feel short changed in this splendid house on rooms, with their rich hues, magnificent views and a home-from-home feel that permeates every corner of the property, despite the antiques and classical style. A delicious breakfast is served each morning for all guests staying in the main house (which is inaccessible to wedding guests not staying here throughout the weekend), and a daily morning housekeeping service is also included. The owners stress that this is not a hotel stay with constant service, but rather something more special – the exclusive use of a property with that unbeatable home-from-home comfort, allowing brides, grooms, their family and closest friends to relax and lean into the weekend. Extra glamping tents for up to 26 guests (totally 50 guests staying on site) can be organised by the bride and groom (at a ground rent fee of £5000) though there are plenty of local pubs-with-rooms, hotels and Airbnbs for wedding guests to bolt to after the festivities have ended. And with its proximity to London (a mere 90 minutes), there are no spicy train fees or gruelling motorway journeys to contend with.
The story:
Ensconced in 2000 verdant acres of soft English countryside on the Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire border, Cornwell Manor is pure bucolic reverie. Its surrounding fields, woodlands and streams are home to badgers, otters and Roe deer while at its centre lies a small hamlet chiselled from the same buttermilk stone. Here the Manor house lords over its Italianate gardens, designed by Clough Williams-Ellis, who was also responsible for easing the house out of its Jacobean past and into a less austere Georgian coat (see the symmetrical Georgian windows). These changes were made under the auspices of American heiress Mrs Anthony Gillson who bought the estate on the eve of World War II. In 1959, the estate was taken on by the Ward family, and remains the beloved home of Alexander Ward and his family to this day.
The need-to-know:
Budget: Weddings in excess of £100,000 for a 3-day weekend (from Thursday at noon to Sunday at 5pm)
Capacity: Marquees (not included in the price) for up to 200 people. Church service up to 80 seated, up to 100 for ceremonies in the Ballroom and up to 200 in the gardens. There is an additional charge of £3,250 + VAT for events with over 200 guests (capped at 300 guests).
Extras: To protect the Estate’s wildlife and its patient neighbours, Cornwell Manor does not allow fireworks. Music can play in the Ballroom or Marquee until 1am, with set volume levels. Bringing in a wedding planner is a necessary requirement here.
Location: Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire
Website: cornwellmanor.com
Contact: By email charlotte@cornwellmanor.com or by telephone 01608 698673
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