Plans to turn country house into wedding venue

Derby City Council bought Allestree Hall and surrounding land in 1946

Plans have been submitted by a property developer to convert a 19th century country house into a wedding venue.

Developer Staton Young has lodged a planning application with Derby City Council to turn Allestree Hall, in Allestree Park, into a venue that could accommodate 160 wedding guests and 85 overnight guests.

Planning documents submitted by the developer said the proposed development would increase visitor numbers to a local attraction which had otherwise been "partially derelict" for decades.

Derby City Council - which purchased the property in 1946 - said it was in the final stages of completing the sale of the 250-year leasehold of the site to Staton Young.

Built in the early 1800s on land once owned by the Mundy family of Markeaton Hall, Allestree Hall was commissioned by Bache Thornhill and designed by James Wyatt, an architect who also directed the building of Heaton Hall in Manchester.

The council acquired the property in 1946 and turned part of the grounds into an 18-hole golf course, which closed in November 2020.

Since then, the land has returned to nature, becoming the UK's largest urban rewilding project.

Planning documents said Allestree Hall was a grade II* listed building and had been on Historic England's heritage at risk register since 2010.

Documents stated: "The development will be a positive project which seeks to repair and maintain a building of historic, communal, aesthetic and local economic value."