Plans for a brand new, luxury wedding venue have been unveiled to enhance Shropshire’s reputation as a wedding destination and showcase all of the great produce, food and drink that the county has to offer.
Nestled in 8,500 acres of countryside on the Apley Estate near Bridgnorth, Stockton House is an idyllic wedding venue that will be opening in April 2022.
This luxurious, boutique wedding venue is the exciting new project of award-winning wedding caterers Caviar & Chips in partnership with the Apley Estate. Co-founders Jonathan Carter-Morris and Marc Hornby started plans with Lord Hamilton of Dalzell and the estate team back in 2018. They saw a great opportunity to bring the exceptional wedding experience their guests were having through their bespoke catering offer and capture it in their own unique wedding venue.
The team says that booking interest is already strong with enquiries from Shropshire, neighbouring counties and across the UK, especially London and the South-East as rural weddings in inspiring settings have become increasingly popular.
Built in 1702 as a Rectory to the church of St Chads just 100 yards down the lane, Stockton House was a family home for over 300 years but has been unoccupied for five years. Owned by the Apley Estate and steeped in history, the stylish Georgian building will be brought back to life with seven luxurious double bedrooms and a 100-seat secret walled garden dining room and all expertly designed by one of the UK’s leading architects to take in the breathtaking views and scenery of Shropshire and the surrounding estate.
Created by award-winning wedding caterers
Stockton House is a Grade II* listed building has many period features and a unique character that will make it stand out a special venue. The team have recently received planning permission from Shropshire Council and, working with English Heritage, will get underway with building and refurbishment through 2021 with finishing touches completed ready for the first Stockton weddings in spring 2022.
Co-founder of Caviar Chips, Marc Hornby explained:
“It starts with a purpose built 100-seater secret walled garden dining room. This beautiful open space will be licensed for civil ceremonies and can host both the wedding breakfast and evening party. With state of the art technology in lighting, sound and heating and with a full commercial kitchen this will feel like your very own exclusive restaurant. The building will have beautiful flowers climbing its four and half meter high walls and to guests will appear as a secret garden – a design feature that was popular in the early 18th century. Open the grand, double doors and then you are transported into a large open space with a double curved ceiling, chandeliers and open windows to the gardens and grounds at the back of the house.”
Wedding menu
Jonathan and Marc say they are committed to delivering something special to meet the needs of each couple. At Stockton House they will get the chance to work with the team of chefs to create bespoke wedding menus.
Executive Chef and Co-founder, Jonathan Carter-Morris, added: “We’re really looking forward to crafting some wonderful dishes inspired by the produce and ingredients available on the on the Apley Estate as well as the abundance of fantastic food and drink Shropshire has to offer.
“We’ll have Apley Farm Shop as our neighbours for some fresh and tasty ingredients – it’ll be more a case of food steps, rather than food miles! We’re really keen to source local and showcase everything Shropshire has to offer for great produce with good provenance and a commitment to cutting down on carbon among our priorities.”
Sustainability, fostering the community and improving the local environment are all high on the agenda for this brand new, historic venue. Apley Estate Manager, Graeme Manton described how the partnership fits perfectly with the Apley Plan.
“Having the opportunity to work with an already successful business, that continues to scoop awards in its industry is a great starting point for Apley. When Jonathan and Marc approached us with their vision for Stockton House and how they wanted to work with local businesses, create exciting new jobs for the community and do the right thing by the environment we knew we had a great fit.
“For Apley, not only does it allow the sustainable re-use of a beautiful old building, it also provides further diversification of businesses across the estate and gives us the opportunity to support local businessmen. Add to that it gives us an ideal opportunity to showcase our local food offer & the best that the Farm Shop & our award-winning butcher can provide. Being Involved thoughout the design stage means we can ensure that our careful stewardship is respected, and provides the opportunity to improve fuel sustainability & mileage by installing a new wood chip boiler to heat the property with woodchip produced from our own woodlands.”
Shropshire Live is regulated by 