There is a particular kind of Lakeland wedding that no country house can quite replicate, and Loweswater Village Hall is where you have it. The building went up in 1839, put there by John Marshall, MP and Lord of the Manor, as the village school, and it has served as the hall since 1956. It stands in the Vale of Lorton with views out over Crummock Water and the fells behind, about a mile from the lake itself, with the Kirkstile Inn and the church as neighbours. As settings go, it is hard to beat and impossible to buy.
The hall is a proper working village building rather than a polished venue, and that is precisely the point. The main room runs to around 100 square metres and takes 90 seated at tables, or up to 120 sitting closer together, with an adjoining smaller room of about 36 square metres for whatever needs its own corner — a bar, the cake, somewhere for children to be children. The kitchen has been refurbished recently and comes properly equipped with a catering cooker, fridge-freezer, dishwasher and coffee machine, so a caterer can work in it without improvising, and the hall supplies 110 padded chairs, 20 tables and crockery for 90.
What you are really hiring is a blank canvas in an extraordinary place. Everything — the food, the drink, the flowers, the shape of the day — is yours to decide, which is liberating if you want a wedding that looks like you and daunting if you would rather someone else made the decisions. There are around 25 parking spaces with room to overflow, and the hall is well used and well loved by the community that keeps it going.
Where the band plays
Usefully, the hall owns portable staging — three foldaway platforms, each around 2.44 by 1.22 metres, at adjustable heights — which means a band gets a proper raised stage rather than setting up on the floor and disappearing behind the front row. A hall of this size suits a three, four or five-piece very well: it is a lively, contained room where a compact line-up sounds full, and a very large band with a big horn section would simply run out of floor. Do check the power supply and socket positions in advance, as with any village hall.
Ceremony, drinks and the view
Many couples marry at the church nearby or elsewhere in the valley and come here afterwards, which puts the emphasis on the reception rather than the ceremony. Either way, an acoustic act suits the building — a guitarist or a small string group carries easily in a room this size without amplification. When the weather behaves, the drinks hour happens outside with Crummock Water in the distance, and that is the moment for a single roaming player rather than anything plugged in.
How the evening runs
Evenings here tend to run to around midnight, and because you are building the whole day yourself the running order is entirely in your hands — which in practice means getting the first dance in promptly so the band plays two full sets to a busy floor. Load-in is simple enough, with parking right by the door, and it is worth confirming the hall’s own conditions on amplified music and finish times with the bookings administrator when you reserve the date.
Bands available in Cumbria and perfectly at home in a venue like this.
More live music in Cumbria.
- Wedding Bands in Cumbria
- Events Bands in Cumbria
- Cumbria Tribute Acts
- Cumbria Wedding DJs
- Cumbria Corporate Entertainment
Worth reading before you book: Sound Limiters Explained. More questions answered on our England & Wales FAQs.