Combermere Abbey began life as a Cistercian monastery in 1133, and something of that long, unhurried history still hangs about the place. After the Dissolution the abbey and its lands passed to Sir George Cotton, whose son Philip built a Tudor house that folded the old Abbot’s Hall into it; in the early 1800s Viscount Combermere reworked the whole thing in the Gothic style and added the stable block, the entrance lodge and a ballroom. The house looks out across a large mere fringed with parkland and ancient trees, and the present custodian, Sarah Callander Beckett, has spent three decades restoring the estate, which is why it reads as cared for rather than merely grand.
The Victorian Walled Gardens are the reason most couples fall for it. Restored over many years, they run to almost 6 acres across three linked sections, with an avenue drawing your eye down to a fan-shaped Glasshouse at the end of it. The fruit tree maze, laid out in 1992 by the celebrated maze designer Randoll Coate, is the only one of its kind in the world and frames the Glasshouse beautifully; the Geometric Garden alongside it is divided into a series of green rooms. Ceremonies happen in the Glasshouse itself, drinks spill out into the maze and the gardens, and photographs take you off to the Rose Garden, the Pleasure Garden or the honeyed stone of the North Wing.
It is an exclusive-use estate, yours from midday, and the accommodation is unusually generous — the North Wing with butler service, Stone Lodge, and courtyard cottages sleeping up to 49 between them, plus Keeper’s Cottage for a slow morning of getting ready with grazing boards and something cold. The food has a relaxed, generous streak to it too: a bespoke wedding breakfast in the Pavilion, then the Garden Kitchen firing up later for wood-fired pizzas, barbecues, paella or wok food while the dancing is under way.
Where the band plays
The Pavilion is the heart of the celebration — it seats up to 150 for the wedding breakfast, looks straight out over the walled gardens, and comes with its own bar, a lounge area, a dancefloor and an al-fresco terrace for anyone who wants air between songs. Because dinner and dancing share the room, the band sets up discreetly at the side while the meal is being served, which spares everyone the sight of a stage being built during the speeches. The terrace doors make a real difference on a summer night, letting the sound breathe out into the gardens rather than bouncing around a sealed room.
How the evening unfolds
Combermere publishes its own timeline, and it is a sensible one. Evening guests arrive at 7.30pm to prosecco, the cake is cut and the first dance happens at 8pm, and the floor is busy from about 8.15pm, with the Garden Kitchen serving from 8.30pm so nobody has to choose between eating and dancing. Last orders are called at 11.15pm and the last song lands at 11.30pm, which means a band’s final set plays to a room that is still full rather than to stragglers collecting coats. Guests who are not staying head off through the main gates by midnight, and the couple are walked back to the North Wing.
Bands available in Cheshire and perfectly at home in a venue like this.
More live music in Cheshire.
- Wedding Bands in Cheshire
- Events Bands in Cheshire
- Cheshire Tribute Acts
- Cheshire Wedding DJs
- Cheshire Corporate Entertainment
Worth reading before you book: Sound Limiters Explained. More questions answered on our England & Wales FAQs.