Selly Manor is a genuinely medieval building — a 14th-century timber-framed hall, moved and rebuilt in Bournville by George Cadbury in the early 1900s as part of the model village he and his brother Richard were building around their chocolate works. It stands today as a museum, with the neighbouring Minworth Greaves hall, another rescued and rebuilt medieval building, used for ceremonies alongside it.
Where the band plays
Ceremonies are held inside Minworth Greaves itself, a cruck-framed medieval hall with ancient oak beams and a flagstone floor, where couples exchange vows in front of a 400-year-old oak table. It's a genuinely small, intimate room, holding up to 40 guests, so this is a venue for a quiet acoustic moment rather than a full band set-up — worth knowing before you book live music here, and worth asking the venue directly about what's possible given the age and scale of the building.
How the day flows
After the ceremony, Selly Manor's own cottage garden — fruit trees, traditional borders and wildflowers — gives couples a genuinely pretty setting for photographs, with Bournville's own village green a short walk away for more. Because the museum's rooms are small and historic, most couples hold their reception, evening meal and dancing at a separate venue nearby, using Selly Manor for the ceremony itself. Staff here have more than twenty years of experience running weddings and are used to guiding couples through exactly what the building can and can't accommodate.
Bands available in Bournville and perfectly at home in a venue like this.
- Mirror — a Midlands mainstay, worth booking for whichever venue hosts your Selly Manor reception.
- Juno — polished and adaptable, a strong fit for a Bournville reception venue nearby.
- Third Wheel — a compact three- or four-piece for a smaller reception following an intimate Selly Manor ceremony.
- The Tommy Guns — a confident function band to close out the evening at your chosen reception venue.