Hornington Manor sits down a quiet lane at Bolton Percy, in the flat green country between York and Tadcaster, and it is a working farm before it is anything else. The house is Grade II listed and Georgian — pinkish-brown brick with red brick dressings under a pantile roof, sash windows in canted bays, and a dog-leg staircase inside with turned balusters and a wreathed handrail. Around it are some 300 acres of North Yorkshire farmland, and the livestock are part of the charm: a flock of sheep, alpacas and angora goats wandering about in the middle distance while your guests drink fizz on the lawn. Dogs stay at home here, which is the one price of a farm that is genuinely farmed.
The wedding buildings are two barns and they divide the day neatly. The Russet Barn is the newer of them, an oak-framed ceremony barn raised in 2022, hung with chandeliers and finished with characterful beams and a bespoke ceremony arch; it is one of three licensed spots, alongside the Lych Gate in the courtyard and the Manor Lawn for anyone hoping to marry under an open Yorkshire sky. The Dining Barn takes over afterwards and is the bigger room, seating up to 160 comfortably for the wedding breakfast and holding up to 200 once the evening guests arrive.
What really sets Hornington apart is that everybody stays. There are 20 bedrooms across the Manor House, the West Wing and Stables, the Servants Quarters and Hornington Lodge, sleeping 44 between them, with hot tubs and a pool table scattered about, and 8 individually designed shepherd huts adding beds for another 16. Exclusive use comes with taking all 20 rooms, so the farm is emphatically yours. Catering is brought in rather than done in house, which lets you choose your own caterer, though drinks for the barn come through the venue’s own bar and there are wine tastings laid on to help you decide.
Where the band plays
The Dining Barn is where the evening happens, and with 160 seated and up to 200 standing it is a proper barn party rather than an intimate one. There is a house PA, but it is there for background music and a microphone for the speeches rather than for a band, so anyone you book will bring their own rig — worth saying plainly when you are comparing quotes. The Russet Barn deserves a mention too: an oak-framed room like that flatters an acoustic duo, a harpist or a string trio during the ceremony without any amplification at all.
Getting set up, and how late you can go
Suppliers can get into the barn from noon until 5pm the day before, which takes a lot of pressure off the morning and means a band arriving on the day is not competing with the florists for the doorway. There are around 50 parking spaces on site, and access is straightforward farm-track-and-yard rather than a long carry. The barn is licensed until midnight, with a late licence to 1am available for £250, so if you want the band to play a third set and the party to run on afterwards, it is worth adding that at the point you book rather than discovering it on the night.
Bands available in North Yorkshire and perfectly at home in a venue like this.
More live music in North Yorkshire.
- Wedding Bands in North Yorkshire
- Events Bands in North Yorkshire
- North Yorkshire Tribute Acts
- North Yorkshire Wedding DJs
- North Yorkshire Corporate Entertainment
Worth reading before you book: Sound Limiters Explained. More questions answered on our England & Wales FAQs.