It has to be said that the Butley Priory Events team (made up of myself, Daniela and Libby) are looking forward to a slightly quieter November with just a handful of weddings, after what has been an extremely busy Summer!

That said, we’ll be using this time to schedule in some project work and our Winter maintenance jobs including the installation of some new outdoor lighting between the Priory and the Farmhouse, which means our guests can navigate the track late at night more safely. We’re also midway through plans to host an event for a small group of wedding industry folk later this month, which we’re very excited about. You’ll be able to hear all about it in next month’s post.

October saw the launch of our Festive Wreath Making workshop which is taking place on Wednesday 7th December with two sessions in place for morning and afternoon. Tickets are selling well and we’re looking forward to welcoming our guests who’ll be greeted on arrival with a glass of fizz and a homemade mince pie.

We’ve teamed up with Lucy from Hall Lane Flowers, a local eco-florist & grower who offers a sustainable and eco-friendly approach to wreath-making. Lucy will be providing everything you need to create a beautiful wreath for your front door this Christmas. The Events team are 100% on board the Christmas train, so the tunes will be ringing loudly and there’s currently talk of festive jumpers…

Tickets are £75 per person, to include refreshments and a self-guided tour of Butley Priory. To book your place, head straight to our website.

Speaking of flowers…

Recently, we welcomed the lovely Emma Powell from Thea Lily Loves to Butley Priory for her self-styled photo shoot with photographer, Emily Fae. A joyful afternoon saw the Great Hall bedecked in splendid array of bright autumn colours. We look forward to seeing the fruits of their labour. Here’s just a few from the shoot.

Meanwhile, there has been great discussion in the office over what to wear for the Event team’s Christmas party. Our loyal, core team of bar managers, evening supervisors and glass collectors have been a wonderful support to us this year, working well into the wee hours and always with a smile, we look forward to treating them to a festive feast in December!

Looking ahead, we’ll be getting creative once again for another wedding styled shoot from Evie at Naya Bridal. We’ve already seen the mood board and there’s some incredibly talented wedding suppliers taking part – we’re looking forward to meeting some new faces and saying hello to some familiar ones too.

Some striking images from Emma and Aaron’s autumn wedding have just landed in our inbox and we couldn’t resist sharing them with you. Emma, a senior graphic designer, created a rich and vibrant terracotta colour scheme for their marquee wedding at Butley Priory last month, it was the perfect choice to celebrate the Autumn season and we loved the unusual collection of succulents used on the tables. All beautifully captured by Laura Williams Weddings

Later in November, the Friends of Orford Museum will be hosting a talk at Butley Priory on Tuesday, 29 November 2022 at 6.00pm.

Gary Battell, Woodland Advisor at Suffolk County Council, will talk about the trees and woodlands of Suffolk. There will be a follow-up walk through Staverton Thicks in the New Year which is included in the talk ticket price. The date for this will be subject to the weather and will be confirmed at a later date. Numbers will be limited to 60.

‘a famous and awesome place of Tolkienesque wonder and beauty’ and ‘one of the best-preserved uncompartmented medieval parks.’  

Oliver Rackham, The History of the Countryside, 1986  

Price: £15.00 for Friends of the Museum, £20 for non-Friends

Payment by cheque or bank transfer. Please email info@orfordmuseum.org.uk to book.

Come and enjoy a fascinating evening with mulled wine and log fires in a wonderful location.

Finally, we hosted a surprise visit for 15 year-old Aimee, whose dad secretly got in touch to ask if she could visit to have her photo taken outside the Priory with her brand new Arctic Monkey’s vinyl album ‘The Car’ (released on October 21st).

Well, we thought we could do better than that and invited them inside for a peek into the Great Hall, where band members had previously recorded tracks for the album in the Summer of 2021. Aimee is only now discovering the joy of vinyl records and dad says he’s very happy to have earned a good stash of ‘brownie points’ because of the visit. Well done dad!