November News; Photo Shoots, Autumn weddings & Festive Wreaths

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!

June News

We’re heading into the Jubilee weekend with a bang – with a wedding for Lucy & Adam on Thursday which looks to be a corker, featuring plans for an outdoor ceremony in the South garden. We’re all keeping our fingers crossed for sunshine and there has been meticulous planning to ensure the music timings are correct for Lucy, as she arrives to meet her groom. Coming from a musical family, we’re expecting something orchestral for the bridal entrance – all very exciting!

Over the Jubilee weekend, we’ve noticed an abundance of garden fetes taking place in the local area – one of my absolute favourites has to be Bredfield Church Fete. It’s the epitome of this wholesome, much-loved British Summertime tradition. If you haven’t been, you must go. It’s held in the gardens of The Old Rectory on Saturday 4th June from 2pm.

Speaking of all things pretty, we recently hosted a styled wedding photo shoot at the Priory. This is where a team of wedding suppliers collaborate their efforts to produce a range of images for self-promotion.

Our thanks go to the team, and you can discover more of their work on Instagram here…

Photography: @maephotography_uk
Florist: @valefloraldesign_uk
Hair: @heavenlyhair_amayaspa
Make-up: @clarabo_uk
Dress: @lilychristina_bridalcollection
Suit: @coes_stores
Stylist: @pammystyles
Models: @crootrebecca, @jacoblevismith93

As part of our own self-promotion, we’re excited to announce that we’re now a featured venue on Coco Wedding Venues – the UK’s original style-focused wedding venue directory, showcasing a carefully curated selection of the very best wedding venues in the UK and beyond – and we’re proud to be selected.

This Friday 3rd June sees the start of the 73rd Aldeburgh Festival. This year they are back with an especially extended, 24-day celebration of music and the arts. Programming strands include Britten and Women and a celebration of the Britten Pears Young Artist Programme at 50, and there are also events marking the Platinum Jubilee.

Browse all the Festival events here and you can also download a copy of the Aldeburgh Festival Brochure

I must show you the glorious display of Lupins in the Butley Abbey Farmhouse garden, I happened to walk through just yesterday and was greeted by this striking rainbow of colour. I just love them! What a fabulous flower they are. Huge thanks to Baz for his tireless work in this spectacular garden – our guests next weekend are very fortunate to have timed it just right!

Lastly, we offer our heartfelt congratulations to Melissa and Mike, who held their wedding with us last month. They enjoyed beautiful sunshine on their day, where guests were greeted with a deliciously cool Fisher’s gin & tonic on the terrace before being ushered into the Great Hall for their ceremony. Drinks & croquet on the lawn, followed by a hearty wedding breakfast from Peter Harrison and then dancing into the wee hours with cool tunes from The Rustiques.

Have a happy & glorious Jubilee weekend and we’ll see you next month!

May News

Spring has definitely sprung here at Butley and we’ve enjoyed seeing the daffodils, tulips and now a glorious sea of Bluebells in the surrounding woodland.

As ever, we’ve been welcoming many lovely couples to Butley, showing them around the Priory, Cottage and Farmhouse, with viewings booked midweek, evenings and weekends – keeping us very busy indeed. 

April saw our first wedding of the year for Emily & Marie who enjoyed fantastic weather throughout their wedding weekend, albeit a little blustery.

Their ceremony took place inside the Great Hall, followed by a confetti line outside the Church gate where Emily’s father rang the church bell with gusto! Many of Marie’s family had travelled over from France to join in with the celebrations.

After canapes in the South garden, our guests were welcomed back into the Great Hall for a delicious four course dinner, complete with cheese course – interestingly served before dessert in traditional French style. After dinner, guests adjourned to a tipi on the front lawn for music and dancing until the wee hours – we wish them our hearty congratulations!

Butley Priory Cottage enjoyed its first influx of guests over the Easter holidays for midweek and weekend breaks. We’ve had wonderful feedback and many 5 star reviews. Guests particularly enjoyed its great location for visiting the Suffolk Coast and tourist hotspots, plus that it’s dog friendly, with plenty of safe outdoor space.

“Beautiful cottage in an amazing location. We had a great time as did our dog!” - Darren

“Great house and grounds. Great for dogs to run around safely in the grounds” – John

Meanwhile, Brian has been beavering away at repairing our stone wall just outside Butley Abbey Farmhouse. It’s taken a while, but he’s so nearly there and it’s looking fantastic, we particularly love the gargoyles he’s installed and don’t the red and yellow tulips look striking against it?

Our new venture ‘Suffolk Sandlands’ is gathering some attention with a brilliant feature in the East Anglian Daily Times. We’ve had a good response from the metal dectorists favourite magazine, the May edition of Treasure Hunting.

Suffolk Sandlands provides metal detecting enthusiasts with an incredible opportunity to enjoy a three-day detecting holiday on prime farmland with unrivalled archaeological interest, with evening talks from our local expert historians. You can read more about our tour dates for September HERE

Lastly, a couple of birthdays have been celebrated in the Events office for both Kimmy & Donna, where ample supplies of delicious cake were provided by Libby – too tasty for words, thank you Libby.

MARCH NEWS

In February we saw a visit from our retail friends at Snape Maltings. If you haven’t been, it’s well worth a visit for a spot of retail therapy. Their home store is divine and very difficult to walk away without a purchase or two! Conversations revolved around our ongoing partnership with the ‘wedding gift list’ leading to potentially curating a range exclusively to Butley Priory, most of which you’ll see within The Farmhouse and Butley Priory Cottage. We’ll keep you posted as to how this exciting prospect develops.

On a more solemn note, we helped a local family say goodbye to their loved one by hosting a wake in the Great Hall. A warming log fire and a glass of Prosecco greeted our guests, with delicious finger food from Jake’s Kitchen.

Over at the Farmhouse we welcomed our first guests of the year for their half term family holiday, swiftly followed by a big birthday celebration for another charming family. It really is a warm and welcoming family home for large group stays in Suffolk.

Another two wedding viewing days saw many newly-engaged couples immediately falling in love with Butley Priory. Cupid clearly very busy working his February magic!

This time of year, although relatively quiet for events, is extremely busy with the general maintenance required in keeping our beautiful venue ship-shape. Nigel and Baz have been busy re-laying the terrace in the South Garden and we can’t wait to see our guests enjoying this area in the Summer with a glass of champagne in hand.

Electricians, plumbers, chimney sweeps, alarm guys and carpenters – we’re struggling to think of a service that hasn’t walked through our doors this month!

And for all their hard work, #TeamButley were treated to a delicious lunch at The Butley Oysterage. Homemade fish pie, moules mariniere, whitebait – it all looked so good and hard to choose what to feast upon! – Thank you, Edward and Clare.

We had perfect weather conditions for our Home-Start charity event, grey drizzle. What better way to spend a dank afternoon, than a game of bridge with friends, followed by a delicious a tea in beautiful Butley Priory in front of roaring log fires in the Great Hall and Drawing room.

Everyone deemed it a great success; we raised £3000 for the charity. The event was organised by Clare Greenwell, ambassador for Home-Start. Anthony Horowitz patron of the charity spoke to us about Suffolk Home-Start and drew raffle prizes included lunch for two at The Crown & Castle in Orford, a £100 voucher for brunch, lunch or dinner on the Lady Florence from Orford Quay, two overflowing hampers with smoked fish from Pinney’s, treats from Orford General Store, Fishers Gin , chocolate from the Pump Street Bakery, a handmade bridge cloth and cards from Catherine Pickthorne, a signed copy of Anthony’s book Moonflower Murders, while Hilton Macarons provided the prettiest and tastiest macarons for the event in various scrumptious flavours and a box for a raffle prize. Thank you everyone for your support and generosity for a fantastic cause.

Tree planting is going well, willow, copper & green beech and silver birches. Alas we lost a few in the storm, yet the Priory gardens are looking lovely with crocus, snowdrops and the wild daffodils are turning the woods yellow.

We look forward to welcoming Libby Pearson next week as our new assistant manager. Libby ran her own florist business Myrtle & Mint in Ipswich. She has been operational manager at the stunning florist Scarlet & Violet in London for the last four years. Libby is a keen gardener so we are excited that under her influence our gardens at Butley will blossom.

JANUARY NEWS

Happy New Year!

We have an exciting and packed year ahead, starting with the arrival of our new General Manager Donna Stockley. Our trusty Emma Thomas-Abbott is handing over the reins after four impressive years, and is setting up her own business. We wish her every success.

Emma has taken Butley Priory to dizzy new heights. It’s all thanks to her (24 hour) hard work, style and charm that we have weddings booked from April to December for 2022. Donna has many years of experience with weddings and events, we are eager to see her ideas and plans blossom, and take us to new level.

We wait with bated breath for our planning decision developing the Monks’ Barn to create a larger venue, which can be used instead of a marquee for larger weddings and functions.

December closed with a full Christmas programme. Our party was a rip-roaring success, mulled wine, sausages and mince pies – with children scampering about. Kimmy and Nigel, our head housekeeper and handyman/Mr Fix-it shared a few funny highlights/lowlights about working in the Priory over the years, from rock stars to blocked drains, and maybe the odd ghostly tale.

Butley Priory Staff Christmas Party

Sophie and Henry’s magnificent wedding on the 18th December was a blast with Christmas carols and dancing until the small hours. We had a series of family Christmas gatherings in Butley Abbey Farmhouse and Butley Priory Cottage. Intrepid guests made it all the way from Mougins in southern France, with Moose their Bernese Mountain dog to stay in the Priory. Some of our guests enjoyed the Christmas quiz at the Oyster Inn in Butley. In total 46 guests over the festive season. Thank you Kimmy for changing all those sheets, mopping floors and Nigel for keeping it ticking over and making everywhere snug for our guests.

Alas we have had to cancel our charity Home-Start bridge afternoon on 5th January due to covid, but we are rescheduled for Wednesday 2nd March. Currently we are fully booked (grand total of 92 participants) but do get in touch to see if we have any cancellations. We have some excellent raffle prizes including lunch for two at The Crown & Castle in Orford, a £100 voucher for brunch, lunch or dinner on the Lady Florence from Orford Quay, a hamper filled with goodies with Fishers Gin, chocolate from the Pump Street Bakery, smoked fish from Pinney’s and treats from Orford General Store. Special thanks also go to Hilton Macarons who are donating some delicious and pretty macarons for the event. Thank you all for your generosity.

Lady Florence at Orford

Hilton Macarons