The Venue
The Renaissance at Kelham Hall is a wonderful stately home designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott. Scott had originally been commissioned by the Manners-Sutton family to add a conservatory to the house, which had already been rebuilt in the early 1700s and then extended between 1844 and 46.
Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately for Gilbert Scott, in 1857 a fire destroyed the older parts of the house and the architect was left with a blank canvas on which to express all the exuberance of his imagination. The result is a redbrick riot of ogival styles, with towers, gables, arcades, exquisitely carved columns and fireplaces, and more than a score of different window designs.
For 70 years Kelham Hall became home to an Anglican order of monks, gaining its impressive domed chapel, and today it remains a wonderful hidden treasure of English rural architecture and a magical setting for an event.