Tissington is the kind of Derbyshire village people drive out of their way to see — a broad green, a duck pond, pale limestone cottages and, at the top of it all, the gabled Jacobean front of Tissington Hall. The FitzHerbert family built the house more than 400 years ago and they are still in it, which is a good part of why the place feels the way it does: a lived-in home rather than a venue dressed up as one. The village is the estate, and because you take the hall exclusively, all of it is yours for the day.
Inside, the Main Hall does the heavy lifting. It’s the room everyone photographs — a theatrical entrance, a great Jacobean fireplace, panelling and family portraits — and it holds up to 80. The East Drawing Room is the quieter choice at up to 30, while the Terrace Arcade, which opens onto the west terrace and its rose garden, takes up to 100. All three are licensed for civil ceremonies, and if you’d rather say your vows in a church, the Norman church of St Mary stands a minute’s walk across the grass. Larger parties head out into the grounds to the Arboretum Pavilion, a beautifully finished semi-permanent structure with crystal chandeliers, a starlit ceiling and panoramic windows onto the parkland; it seats 150 and takes 200 in the evening. Smaller weddings often prefer the restored 18th-century Carriage House.
There are 5 acres of gardens to disappear into for photographs, and up to 17 of you can stay on site between the bridal suite and the estate cottages — which changes the feel of an evening more than you’d think.
Where the band plays
The Arboretum Pavilion is where almost every band ends up, and it’s a generous room for one: a proper run of floor for dancing, a lined ceiling high enough to give the sound somewhere to go, and enough width at one end to take a five or six-piece without stealing space from the tables. Because it sits away from the house in its own bit of parkland, there are no neighbours to think about and the volume can sit where a party wants it. The hall itself is a different proposition — lovely, but hard-surfaced and full of the angles of a 400-year-old house — so it tends to suit a jazz trio or an acoustic duo during drinks rather than a full rig.
Ceremony, drinks and the shape of the evening
The usual run of the day has a ceremony in the hall or the arcade, drinks and canapés spilling out onto the terrace and the lawns while the light is good, then dinner and dancing in the pavilion. Live music and DJs are both welcome, so there’s no obstacle to a ceremony singer or a string duo earlier on and a band later. Tissington doesn’t publish a fixed finish time for music, so it’s worth settling that with the team when you book, along with the point at which the bar closes — it’s an easy conversation, and it lets a band plan two sets that land properly rather than rushing the end of the night.
Bands available in Derbyshire and perfectly at home in a venue like this.
More live music in Derbyshire.
- Derbyshire Wedding Bands
- Derbyshire Events Bands
- Tribute Acts in Derbyshire
- Wedding DJs in Derbyshire
- Corporate Entertainment in Derbyshire
Worth reading before you book: Sound Limiters Explained. More questions answered on our England & Wales FAQs.