Hawkstone Hall stands at the end of a long drive near Weston-under-Redcastle, a great red-brick mansion with sandstone dressings looking out across 88 acres of north Shropshire towards the Welsh hills. The house was begun around 1701 for the Hill family and grew handsomely through the 18th century before Lewis Wyatt enlarged and reworked it in the 1830s, and it wears all of that history rather beautifully — gilded ceilings, a richly decorated rococo saloon, staircases that were plainly designed with an entrance in mind. It is Grade I listed, and it has had an unusual life for a country house, spending much of the 20th century in religious hands as a retreat and study centre before its restoration into the hotel it is today.
What that restoration produced is a place you can take over completely and simply live in for a couple of days. There are 35 bedrooms, from the classic rooms in the Orangery wing up to the principal suites with their four-posters and free-standing baths, so the people closest to you wake up where the party happened. The gardens are the other great pleasure here: a lily pond, a rose garden, an orchard, a walled garden and a secret garden, all of it wandering and generous, with a buggy on hand to ferry a bride in a long dress between the good backdrops. There is a spa and an orangery gym for the slow morning after.
The food is cooked in-house by the executive chef and leans seasonal and British, running from canapés through to something as grand as a seven-course banquet, and couples are invited to bring a few people along to the tasting. Weddings are exclusive use, with numbers anywhere from 10 to 170.
Where the band sets up
You have a genuine choice of rooms here, which is rarer than it sounds. The Refectory is the workhorse for a full-size wedding, seating up to 170 for dinner and holding 200 in the evening, so it is the obvious home for a band and a dancefloor once the tables have been cleared or turned. The Ballroom is the more decadent option, taking up to 150, and it is exactly the kind of proportioned, high-ceilinged room that flatters live music — a horn section sounds enormous in a space like that. Worth walking both with the events team and deciding where you want the noise to be.
Ceremony, drinks and the rest of the evening
The chapel added in 1934 licenses ceremonies for as many as 170, and the Saloon and Tapestry Room each take 100 for something smaller. Drinks tend to drift outside, or into the Winter Garden if the Shropshire weather is being Shropshire weather, and for the very largest parties the gardens will carry a marquee. Because this is a Grade I listed house with bedrooms above the party, it is worth asking early what time music has to finish and how a band gets its gear in, rather than assuming; the answers are straightforward, but they shape how you run the last hour.
Bands available in Shropshire and perfectly at home in a venue like this.
More live music in Shropshire.
- Wedding Bands in Shropshire
- Events Bands in Shropshire
- Shropshire Tribute Acts
- Shropshire Wedding DJs
- Shropshire Corporate Entertainment
Worth reading before you book: Sound Limiters Explained. More questions answered on our England & Wales FAQs.