Wedding venue Howsham Hall near Malton on award shortlist

Howsham Hall, near Malton, which dates back to 1610, has been shortlisted in the Guides for Brides Customer Service Award 2023.

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The Grade 1 listed former boarding school, which closed in 2010, was transformed into a wedding venue in 2017 by Leeds-based weddings and events company Dine.

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Howsham Hall is a wedding venue (Image: Jane Beadnell)

The Jacobean building now hosts up to 40 exclusive weddings, events and photoshoots each year, as well as being available for private hire.

The hall is popular with actors filming in the area, and has played host to Kelsey Grammer and Vic Reeves, amongst others. A programme of afternoon teas, valentine’s day dinners and murder mystery events has also proved popular with visitors.

Frasier star Kelsey Grammer has stayed at the hall

Daniel Gill of Dine said: “We are gratified to have received this national award, especially after the difficult few years the wedding industry have experienced during the pandemic lockdowns. Our team have worked very hard to be able to maintain the standards our wedding couples expect, and this is testament to them.

"Howsham Hall is a wonderful building and a part of the history of North Yorkshire. By creating a successful wedding business at Howsham Hall we hope to secure the future of this beautiful house for many years to come.”

Vic Reeves is among celebrity guests (Image: Samaritans)

Set in about 83 acres of land on the edge of the Howardian Hills, the hall was built by Sir William Bamburgh, whose coat of arms is above the main entrance, and it is late Jacobean in style with early classical Renaissance influences.

The house is situated around a traditional central courtyard, and comprises five formal reception rooms, a staircase hall, principal bedroom suite and main guest suite, each with a dressing room, five further bedroom suites, snooker room, family and leisure wing, gymnasium, offices, staff accommodation and wine cellars.

It includes an arcade of Doric columns and cornicing in the great hall, an Adamesque stucco frieze matching the detailed marble fireplace in the drawing room, and a grand staircase supported by Tuscan columns.

There are also formal lawns, a cricket pitch, a folly and half a mile of frontage onto the River Derwent, with a boathouse and fishing rights on the river. The house is approached along a driveway which passes between two hexagonal stone lodges with arched gateways and battlements.