Wedding venues in Banburyshire

This is a short list, and a thin one on detail. Five places take weddings, and they differ more in setting than anything else. We do not list packages, and give room limits only where a council publishes them for ceremonies, so treat this as where to start your calls, not as a comparison of prices.

The setting to choose it for

The Castle at Edgehill is the one with a story. It is a castellated tower of the 1740s on top of the ridge, directly above the 1642 battlefield, and it is a licensed wedding venue: Warwickshire lists ceremony rooms for 30 to 58 people. It says it was named best small wedding venue in the Cotswolds at the Cotswolds Weddings Awards 2024. It has five en-suite rooms, among them a four-poster bridal suite in the tower, so a small party can stay on site. There is a gin school too, run with Pinnock Distillery, which might do for the night before.

Furtho Manor Farm is the rural choice: a converted dairy barn on a working sheep and arable farm at Old Stratford, near Milton Keynes, with five bed and breakfast rooms on the same site. It is first of all a wedding venue, with more than 400 weddings since 2011 on its own count, and it says it is licensed for ceremonies. It sits well to the east of Banbury, so it suits a Northamptonshire or Milton Keynes party better than a Banbury one.

Hotels

Whately Hall is the town choice, a 17th-century inn turned 71-room hotel on Horse Fair, with gardens behind and an oak-panelled dining room looking onto them. Guests can walk from the station, and Zapmap lists electric car charging at the hotel for those who drive. It offers wedding packages in the house and gardens, and Oxfordshire County Council lists it as approved for ceremonies, in rooms for 40 to 120 people and in the garden.

The Wroxton Hotel is a 32-room hotel made from old stone cottages, some under thatch, in a thatched village, with free parking, its own restaurant, and the M40 a few minutes away. Oxfordshire County Council lists it as approved for ceremonies, in rooms for 94 and 30 and a garden for 60, so ask what that means for the reception. The rooms in the original house and the new wing differ, which matters when you are booking for guests.

Whittlebury Park is the large choice, with 254 bedrooms on 700 acres, a spa, 36 holes and a restaurant with three AA rosettes. Weddings take place in the Orangery. Guests can spread out and everyone can stay on site, but avoid race weekends at Silverstone, about a mile away on the map.

What is missing

Our list has no marquee specialist, and no country house to hire whole. Heythrop Park says it no longer hosts weddings, so ignore older directories. The Plough at Bodicote takes bookings for weddings by email, without being a venue as such, which may suit a small do. The Church House in Banbury has room for events of up to 150 in a restored church hall, and the Chequers in Chipping Norton a private space, both for a reception rather than a ceremony on what we can read. Broughton Castle is a family home that hires itself out for film, and our notes from its site do not mention weddings.

Before you book, ask for the licence, the numbers, what is included and whether you must take the bedrooms. Check your date against Silverstone's race weeks too, when rooms near the circuit go early and the roads fill.