Arley Hall stands in its own village between Lymm and Northwich, and it has been in the same family for a very long time indeed. The house you see today was built between 1832 and 1845 for Rowland Egerton-Warburton, who asked his architect George Latham for what he called ‘Queen Elizabethan’ — every feature, the story goes, had to have an exact model in a genuine 16th-century building. The result is a Grade II* listed Jacobethan house of enormous character, full of carved timber, tall chimneys and mullioned glass, with Anthony Salvin’s Gothic Revival chapel of St Mary consecrated alongside it in 1845.
The gardens are the other reason people fall for the place. The double herbaceous border here was the first of its type in England, laid out in the 1830s as four pairs of beds backed by walls and dark yew hedges, and in high summer it is one of the great garden set pieces in the north west. Beyond it there are walled gardens, a woodland walk and long views out over the Cheshire plain. And then, west of the hall, there is the Cruck Barn: a timber-framed building of 1471 with seven great cruck trusses arching overhead, Grade I listed and quite unlike any other room you will be offered in this county.
Couples can marry in the Drawing Room or the Library inside the hall, in the Cruck Barn, or outdoors in front of that famous herbaceous border. Wedding hire brings exclusive use of the hall, Olympia, the courtyard and the Tea Lawn, with catering by Barretts Event Caterers, free reserved parking and a two-bedroom cottage thrown in for the wedding night. Six further cottages on the private estate — Chapel House, East House, West Gables, Laundry Cottage, West House and the Brewhouse Flat — can sleep another 37 guests, which turns the wedding into a weekend without anyone needing a taxi.
Where a band fits in
Olympia is the evening room, taking up to 150 guests, and it is where the dancefloor and the band end up. The hall itself seats up to 100 for dinner, and larger weddings put a marquee on the grounds, which opens up the numbers considerably. The Cruck Barn is a magnificent space and a wonderful one for a ceremony or for drinks with a string trio or an acoustic set, though its 15th-century timbers mean it is best treated gently; a full band with amplification is happier in Olympia or under canvas.
The shape of the evening
The classic Arley day starts in the hall or the barn, moves out to the Tea Lawn and the borders for drinks and photographs while the gardens are still open to the light, and finishes in Olympia with the doors to the courtyard open. Evenings here typically run through to around midnight, so the band can take the room from the first dance all the way to a genuine last song rather than winding down early. Sparklers are allowed, giant Jenga and croquet are on the lawn during the afternoon, and load-in through the courtyard is about as civilised as an historic estate gets — but do confirm your finish time and any sound arrangements with the estate when you book.
Bands available in Cheshire and perfectly at home in a venue like this.
More live music in Cheshire.
- Cheshire Wedding Bands
- Cheshire Events Bands
- Tribute Acts in Cheshire
- Wedding DJs in Cheshire
- Corporate Entertainment in Cheshire
Worth reading before you book: Sound Limiters Explained. More questions answered on our England & Wales FAQs.