The Millennium Hall

– The old farm hall, restored.

The Hall was built in the early nineteenth century as part of the working farm. For about a hundred and fifty years it housed whatever the estate needed it to house — grain, equipment, animals at various points — and by the middle of the twentieth century it had fallen out of use and was slowly going back to the elements.

Our grandparents held the first wedding in it in [year] — [brief family story if available, one sentence]. The restoration since then has been piecemeal, generation by generation. New roof, new floor, the stone walls opened up, the original timbers kept where they could be kept.

What it is now is a long, high-ceilinged stone building with beams overhead and the original floor underfoot, a bar at one end, doors that open to the courtyard, and room for three hundred people at dinner. What it isn’t is a function room. Something of the old building has stayed in it.

THE BUILDING

The hall was dilapidated in 1999, when we set about
converting it into a venue for weddings. That summer, the first weddings were held here, followed on 31 December 1999 by a grand celebration to welcome the new millennium — and The Millennium Hall was born.

It takes up to three hundred comfortably for dinner. In our experience it feels best at somewhere between up to 250 for dinner, with room for 300 into the evening, It feels its best for a gathering of any size — intimate or full — the Hall has enough height and length that a smaller number doesn’t feel lost,
and a larger number starts to feel like a venue rather than a gathering.

WHAT HAPPENS IN IT

Most weddings we host follow roughly the same rhythm without us having to impose one. Drinks
outside the Hall or in the gardens beforehand. Dinner at long tables under the beams — some couples prefer round tables, it works either way. Speeches when people are ready. Doors opened to the courtyard as the evening goes on. Music in the Hall, and often a fire pit out in the courtyard later for anyone who wants to sit outside.

It takes up to three hundred comfortably for dinner. In our experience it feels best at somewhere between up to 250 for dinner, with room for 300 into the evening, It feels its best for a gathering of any size — intimate or full — the Hall has enough height and length that a smaller number doesn’t feel lost, and a larger number starts to feel like a venue rather than a gathering.