New wedding venue planned at grade II*-listed house

The applicant for the scheme, which also requires listed building consent for the grade II*-listed country house at North Charlton, is Richard Shell, who also runs the nearby Doxford Barns wedding venue.

Over recent years, the 150-acre Charlton Hall Estate has been run predominantly as an agricultural enterprise.

However, the current owner no longer wants responsibility ‘for the built fabric of the estate’ and is disposing of the hall itself, related courtyard outbuildings to the north-west, the farm steading buildings to the west and the walled garden to the north. Farming activity will continue on the rest of the estate.

According to a planning statement, ‘the vision is to convert the hall itself and associated outbuildings to a small country house wedding and events venue and convert the farm steading to a larger wedding and events venue’. The two would typically operate independently, but could be operated jointly.

The statement concludes: ‘The wedding and events venue at Charlton Hall is a development proposal that will bring significant opportunities to strengthen the rural economy both in respect of diversifying the traditional agricultural base of the Estate but also to bring job opportunities and visitor spend from a new wedding tourism business.’