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signature pasta dish – Vincisgrassi served with homemade crusty bread – is the perfect carb-filled treat to soak up all those lemonades!” ✱ Barnsley, Gloucestershire GL7 5EE; 01285 740000;
www.barnsleyhouse.com
CALCOT MANOR This 14th-century manor near Tetbury, sitting golden in more than 220 acres of parkland, is perfect for the more high-end event: think posh suites for all the guests, assorted central spaces to chose from – perhaps The Conservatory Restaurant, or meeting space The Barn – and a morning after spent luxuriating in the spa. If you’re having music at your event you’ll need to book the whole place: great for the well-heeled with lots of friends – or enough to fill the 35 bedrooms at least. ✱ Tetbury, Glouestershire GL8 8YJ; 01666 890391;
calcotmanor.co.uk
THE CLOSE HOTEL This Tetbury hotel and restaurant sits in a fine 16th-century town house, comes with a private chapel and beautiful walled garden, offers a number of set wedding menus (think £36-58 per head) and the likes of a hog roast in the evening. You get complementary use of the Doves Room bridal suite, too. “We find roast lamb is the most
popular dish,” says The Close’s Sarah Potts, “or perhaps chicken wrapped in bacon; Eton mess is a favourite for pud, while hog roasts and BBQs go down well for the evening guests.”
✱ Long Street, Tetbury, Gloucs GL8 8AQ; 01666 502272;
theclose-hotel.com
COTSWOLDS 88 Intriguingly named, and hidden away in the picture-postcard perfect village of Painswick, this 18th-century mansion is a clever mix of the classical and the contemporary – stripes are everywhere, and monochrome is very much in – and offers bespoke ceremonies for up to 120 guests. There’s a wedding planner too.
✱ Kemps Lane, Painswick, Gloucs GL6 6YB; 01452 813688;
www.cotswolds88hotel.com
CRIPPS BARN This 18th-century barn can accommodate civil weddings and partnerships in the main building, the Oak Room next door, or outside at a glade in the woods – perfect for the fullRobin Hood: Prince of Thieves experience. It’s all in an isolated dell near Bibury in the Coln Valley, with rotisserie and BBQ food available from the Cripps Kitchen and a bonfire area; this is the perfect place more informal, romantic, rural sort of wedding, with guest camping, kids running about and partying ’til you drop.
✱ Fosscross Lane, near Bibury, Gloucestershire GL7 5BA; 01285 740035;
www.crippsbarnbibury.com
GUYERS HOUSE This charming, two AA-Rosette country house hotel near Corsham has 37 bedrooms, six acres of garden, and has become a popular year-round wedding venue: it’s licensed to hold civil ceremonies and partnerships, there’s a wedding planning team on site and the photo potential is endless. “We held a humanist wedding
last year in our beautiful gardens,” says the hotel’s Sally Swift, “which is perfect for couples with no religious beliefs who want to get married using words and music that are personal to their life together. In terms of the food, most couples go for an elaborate starter – such as cured salmon with potato and crème fraîche salad – then plump for a main course that everyone will like, such as braised leg of lamb with dauphinoise potatoes, rosemary sauce and a vegetable panache. Last year we had a Crispy Crème wedding cake, which would have worked brilliantly – except Crispy Crème sent the wrong size doughnuts, and we had to get the correct ones in a taxi on the day!” ✱ Pickwick, Corsham, Wiltshire SN13 0PS; 01249 713399;
www.guyershouse.com
HATTON COURT Just three miles outside Gloucester, this luxury hotel is famed for its huge marquee and special offers:
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the current ‘Complete Wedding Plus Honeymoon’ option for £5,000 includes a civil ceremony in their Cotswold room, master of ceremonies, three-course wedding breakfast for 60 guests in the day and evening finger buffet and disco for 80 in the evening, plus a two- night ‘mini-moon’ at a sister hotel on Jersey. Result! ✱ Upton Hill, Upton St Leonards, Gloucs GL4 8DE; 01452 617412;
hatton-court.co.uk
THE INN AT FOSSEBRIDGE At a tiny hamlet where the Fosse Way drops into the Coln valley, this early 17th-century coaching inn has nine bedrooms, a four-acre garden with a lake and a slice of the River Coln; weddings held here have a private house party feel, we’re told.
✱ Stow Road, Fossebridge,Gloucestershire GL54 3JS; 01285 720721;
www.cotswolds-country-pub-hotel.co.uk
LUCKNAM PARK This 17th-century Palladian mansion near Bath, set in 500 acres of land, offers wedding packages for 40-60 guests – or an ‘Exclusively Yours’ deal where you get the whole hotel, 42 bedrooms and all. ✱ Colerne, Wiltshire SN14 8AZ; 01225 742777;
www.lucknampark.co.uk
OLD DOWN MANOR Nestled within Old Down Country Park – there’s a farm shop, a café, a petting zoo, country walks, an adventure playground and more – is Old Down Manor, a Victorian mock-Jacobean mansion licensed for civil ceremonies for up to 120 guests. There are assorted wedding packages from £5,000 – and a handy list of last-minute dates available. ✱ Foxholes Lane, Tockington, Bristol BS32 4PG; 01454 414081;
olddownmanor.co,uk
THE TROUT AT TADPOLE BRIDGE Who could fail to be charmed by something with a name like that? Near Bampton, 20 miles outside Oxford and by a crossing on the River Thames (very small and lazy this far from London, of course), The Trout has log fires, cask ales,
crumbsmag.com
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