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!

March News

It’s been a crazy year for so many of us but the owners of the Priory, the Greenwell family, custodians for four generations of the 14th century Priory, are delighted to have taken over and now trade as Butley Priory.

We have kept on the brilliant team, our manager Emma, supported by Nigel, maintenance/gardener/Jack of all trades and Kimmy our housekeeper, and Baz (also a dab hand with the camera in the garden) fine tuning the lawns at the farmhouse, are all working flat out for our open day April 17/18th April, and then to welcome back our brides, grooms and guests.

We’ve spent a year refurbishing Butley Abbey Farmhouse (helped by Georgia Mann Interiors), a 12 bedroom Georgian farmhouse, from top to toe (including the tennis court) which can be used for wedding accommodation, or just a spoiling holiday. We are really pleased with the result; quite challenging in lock down, scouring country sales (hours on line, some disaster purchases) car boot sales (Sunday mornings at Friday Street, our favourite haunt) when we were allowed, good old John Lewis for bathroom and kitchen stuff, and a mad day trip to fabric emporium A.Shufflebothams in Derbyshire made it all happen. The farmhouse has an idyllic rustic, thatched summerhouse in the grounds, also licensed for weddings.  We are very excited, as our first wedding in the gardens using the summerhouse will be Isla and Matt’s 19th June. 

At the Priory, we’ve been super busy these last three months: ancient buttresses have been repaired by master stone mason Kim, it’s a privilege to watch his flint-knapping skills. We’ve replanted the garden with English blooms, lavender, roses, geraniums, alliums and delphiniums, soft pinks, blues and creams. We’ve added some freestanding baths to the already majestic white and cream bedrooms with their enormous arched mullion windows and stone window seats. Not an easy task furnishing a grade one listed Gothic house in a second lock down – hours and hours spent on the Internet searching for the right fabrics and pieces. 

But we are almost ready and open for business. We’ve spruced up the vaulted Priory kitchen (kept the trusty old green aga which keeps it toasty), the four-poster is ready to be assembled, curtains hung, and our interesting collection of rugs rolled out. The tiny, secret vaulted Gin Bar (the former Pilgrims room) with a log fire, hidden behind a door in the panelling is being restocked with speciality gins. Still deliberating what to plant in the terracotta pots for the summer ahead. The snowdrop and wild daffodil woods around the Monks former ponds have been cleared and the bluebells are nearly here.

BRAND NEW!  A WEDDING LIST with SNAPE MALTINGS 
We’ve just set up an exclusive wedding list with Snape Maltings  (stunning Homeware and Furniture) for our bridal couples. To make an enquiry or book a personal appointment for their service, contact retail reception 01728 688303 or email info@snapemaltings.co.uk and visit  https://snapemaltings.co.uk/shops/