Fanhams Hall makes a first impression that is hard to shake. Approached through the quiet northern edge of Ware, the house presents itself as a great Jacobean pile of gables, mullioned windows and tall chimneys, though the truth underneath is rather more interesting. Inside that shell sits an 18th-century Queen Anne house, encased and extended in 1901 into the mansion you see now, and the Grade II* listing takes in the Arts and Crafts craftsmanship within as much as the silhouette without — carved oak, elaborate plasterwork, and stained glass by Morris & Co.
Then there are the gardens, which are the reason most people lose their hearts to the place. There are 27 acres of them, arranged around a Japanese garden made for Lady Brocket by Japanese gardeners brought over for the purpose, complete with teahouse, stone lanterns, bridges and follies, and counted among the finest of its kind in the country; its restoration won the Landscape Institute’s President’s Award in 1993. Beyond that there is a second, Austrian teahouse, a wisteria walkway, formal terraces, and then woodland and meadow that feel genuinely rural. It is a garden that transforms itself between April and October, which is well worth bearing in mind when you settle on a date.
Indoors the house gives you real choice rather than one room and a fallback. The Great Hall is the grand one, with a high beamed ceiling, lattice windows, a stone fireplace and an original minstrels’ gallery; it seats 130 for the wedding breakfast and takes 200 in the evening. The Long Gallery, with its hand-carved oak panelling, ornate ceiling and original chandeliers, holds 130 for a ceremony, as does Sakura, while the Oak and White Hall suits smaller gatherings of 25 to 45. Outdoors you can marry beside the Japanese teahouse or on the Gazebo Lawn, and the Croquet Lawn will carry a tipi or stretch tent for up to 300 if you would rather the whole celebration happened under canvas. Guests stay the night on site, which changes the feel of a wedding entirely.
Where the band plays
The Great Hall is where the evening ends up, and it is a genuinely good room for a live band: height enough for the sound to open out, and enough timber and soft furnishing to keep it from turning brittle. The gallery above is a gift to photographers, who tend to shoot the first dance from it. Dinner for 130 clears neatly into an evening layout for 200, so the dancefloor ends up in front of the band rather than squeezed between tables, and the room fills from the middle outwards as it should.
How the evening runs
The rhythm here is a relaxed one — ceremony in the house or the garden, drinks wandering out among the lanterns and the wisteria, then dinner and dancing through to around midnight, which gives a band two full sets and still leaves time for a last song everyone actually stays for. Load-in is straightforward from the house side, and if you are taking the marquee route on the Croquet Lawn it is worth asking early about power out on the lawn and how late music can run outdoors, which often differs from the hours inside the hall.
Bands available in Hertfordshire and perfectly at home in a venue like this.
More live music in Hertfordshire.
- Hertfordshire Wedding Bands
- Hertfordshire Events Bands
- Tribute Acts in Hertfordshire
- Wedding DJs in Hertfordshire
- Corporate Entertainment in Hertfordshire
Worth reading before you book: Sound Limiters Explained. More questions answered on our England & Wales FAQs.