Ettington Park is the sort of building that stops conversation. It stands in 40 acres of private parkland at Alderminster, a few miles south of Stratford-upon-Avon, on land the Shirley family held from the time of the Domesday Book — the site counts more than 900 years of history, and it wears them well. What you see today is the house John Prichard remodelled between 1858 and 1862: a High Victorian Gothic tour de force in banded yellow and grey limestone under a stone slate roof, with turrets, carved detail wherever you look and a Ruskinian confidence that has earned it Grade I listing and a reputation as the most important and impressive Victorian house in the county.
Inside, the earlier house survives in the staircase hall and the library, while Prichard’s work gave it the Long Gallery and the Great Drawing Room — wondrous ceilings, ornate chandeliers and floor-to-ceiling windows that pull the parkland indoors. In the grounds there is an orangery, lawns running down towards the River Stour, and the estate’s ancient Norman church, a small and very old building that lends itself both to photographs and to a quiet five minutes away from everybody. The house has a film history too: it played Hill House in the 1963 version of The Haunting, and its chapel appeared in The Watcher in the Woods.
As a hotel it holds four red stars, with more than 40 bedrooms, a swimming pool and kitchens that cook properly, building menus around the day rather than lifting them from a folder. Exclusive use of the whole house is available, which for a building like this is the version most couples daydream about. Around 100 guests can attend the ceremony and sit down to dinner, with up to 150 in the evening, and ceremonies can be held indoors or outside in the gardens, with the old church and the orangery both in the picture.
Where the band plays
A historic house asks a little more thought from a band than a purpose-built suite, and repays it with a room no modern space can imitate. The great reception rooms have the height and the ornament to make music sound occasion-sized, and a band set up beneath those ceilings looks as good as it sounds. Live music and discos are permitted and there is a dancefloor, and with the house to yourselves there is nobody to disturb but your own guests. Do talk to the team early about which room the dancing happens in, how the gear reaches it and whether any restriction on volume applies — in a Grade I building those answers shape the evening, and they are far better known in advance than discovered on the day.
The shape of the day
Ettington lends itself to a slow, unhurried wedding. A ceremony in the house or beside the old church, drinks on the lawns with the turrets behind you, dinner in one of the great rooms, then the lights down and the band on. Because guests can stay on site, the evening does not end in a scramble for taxis — people drift up to bed, come back down for one more song, and the party keeps its shape right through the last set. Confirm the finish time with the hotel when you book, since it can vary with the package and with whether you have taken the house exclusively.
Bands available in Warwickshire and perfectly at home in a venue like this.
More live music in Warwickshire.
- Warwickshire Wedding Bands
- Warwickshire Events Bands
- Warwickshire Tribute Acts
- Warwickshire Wedding DJs
- Corporate Entertainment in Warwickshire
Worth reading before you book: Sound Limiters Explained. More questions answered on our England & Wales FAQs.