Yorkshire Wedding Photographer Tom Roberts, of Champagne Shutter Photography, at Holdsworth House

Coming down the driveway at Holdsworth House, you’d be forgiven for missing it, tucked away around the corner.  Grand, yet cosy and intimate at the same time, Holdsworth House has a much-storied history.

There is evidence of a Medieval building on the site dating from 1272, though the present Grade II Listed Jacobean manor dates from 1633, featuring beamed ceilings and stone mullioned windows that evoke the Tudor and Elizabethan era just a couple of decades prior.

Since 1633 it has always been in private ownership and was bought in 1962 by the Pearsons, Freddie and Rita, who opened The Cavalier Country Club there in 1963.  When accommodation began being offered the following year, Freddie’s connections with London meant some of the first guests were none other than The Beatles.  Holdsworth was passed down to Gail and Kim Pearson in the ‘80s and continues to be run by a third generation of the family, now with 32 hotel rooms and several function rooms.  Restoration of the stone gazebo in the ’90s was secured through National Lottery funding, and in 2020, over the pandemic, traditional techniques were used to restore the slate roof of the Stuart Room. Holdsworth had often been used for filming.

https://www.holdsworthhouse.co.uk/3d-tour-of-holdsworth-house-hotel/

Having parked, you enter the hotel through what is the rear of the original manor, so there is a sense of this historic building just keeping on giving, with more and more to reveal as you progress.

Please note, throughout, that many of my ‘snaps’ are screen grabs from my video below.

Imagine your bridal train here…

The Stuart Room is one of several options for ceremony space, as well as reception.

Smaller, intimate nuptials mike be based in the Stone Gazebo (see the 3D Tour) and there are some screen grabs here of smaller group reception rooms.

…as well as beautiful outdoor ceremony options…

…and spots for your evening reception guests to enjoy…

Here are a few examples of backlit portraiture captured as afternoon light falls on the grounds…

Check out Champagne Shutter Photography’s video on planning for photography at Holdsworth House below: