Callow Hall
Callow Hall Wedding Photography
Callow Hall, near Ashbourne in south Derbyshire, is a hidden gem, but there’s never a shortage of visitors! It is a beautiful venue for wedding photoraphy. At the end of a lovely sweeping ‘carriage drive’ entrance you discover a warm and glowing Jacobean style Hall. Beautiful stone mullion windows and creeper covered walls invite you to go inside and explore further, where you find wonderful Victorian interiors, high ceilings, superb fireplaces, oak staircases and overall a great feeling of spaciousness. With sixteen luxurious and contemporary bedrooms, the hotel is the perfect romantic location for small weddings and wedding receptions.
The Hall sits in its own 44 acre grounds, with gardens and woodland, surrounded by the stunning Peak District National Park. At the end of the hotel drive is the start of the Tissington Trail, a traffic-free path for walkers and cyclists which follows the route of the old Buxton to Ashbourne railway line for thirteen miles. In its heyday the line carried express trains from Manchester to London, and until the 1940s a daily train delivered milk from Peak District farms to Finsbury Park in London. Plans are now well advanced to extend the trail at its northern end through Buxton and on to Bakewell, using the recently re-opened tunnels on the fabulous Monsal Trail.
The lovely town of Ashbourne is only five minutes drive from Callow Hall. One of Derbyshire’s finest old market towns, Ashbourne has something for everyone with a wealth of high quality shops, historic buildings, a cobbled market place, hidden alleys and yards, great coffee shops and restaurants. For walkers and nature lovers, Dovedale and the Manifold Valley are very close to Callow Hall. And for anglers, what could be better than the river that Izaac Walton fished, which is almost on the hotel’s doorstep!
Callow hall is a fantastic place to get married, and we really enjoy wedding photography there. We particularly like the creeper covered walls, superb grounds and the ‘going back in time’ feeling inside.
by daveg on December 13, 2011
Eva and Steve had a somewhat unconventional wedding at Callow Hall near Ashbourne. To allow plenty of time for their wedding photography, they opted to have their photos done before the wedding ceremony. They had stayed at Callow Hall the previous evening, so we joined them on the morning of their wedding to photograph the “bride and groom prep”. Eve wore a white lace dress by Prada and Steve a very trim “mod” style black suite.
You may have noticed that Eve and Steve have been smiling right since the first photos, and thats how it stayed for the whole day.
Both Eva and Steve are serious mountain biking enthusiasts, and by pure chance they just happened to have their bikes with them. Now, as you know we do like props, so we ventured out into the grounds of Callow Hall, into the murk, for a few photos of them with their bikes.
By now it was threatening to drizzle and they really didn’t want to get the bikes wet (kidding) so we dug out our black and white brollies which seemed to fit really well with the colour theme of the day.
The grand entrance to Callow Hall . . . .
Just time for a few more wedding photographs inside the very nicely appointed Callow Hall . . . . .
Dad, meet Dad. Eva’s family had made the journey from Austria for the wedding.
More guests arrived and we even managed to get the group photos done before the wedding ceremony. A first for us!
The wedding ceremony at Callow hall takes place in a very small room, so not much space for the photographer. Then, to crown it the Registrar took them to one side and stood right in the way! Neither Di nor I could get a clear shot.
After the wedding, Eva and Steve went to their wedding breakfast – a couple of short speeches and we were finished. A fabulous and very unique wedding.
