London and the Home Counties are full of wonderful places to celebrate a wedding. Country houses, converted barns, ancient monuments, five-star hotels — you pays your small fortune, you takes your choice.
But for my money (and I mean this quite literally, since it's where my wife and I held our own wedding reception) few can beat Pembroke Lodge. Tucked away in an 11-acre enclave within Richmond Park, this delightful, wisteria-clad Georgian building on the outskirts of London has beautiful gardens, wonderful views and endless charm.
Understandably, it's become very popular, meaning that hundreds of couples each year, plus all their guests, get to walk the pretty lawns and paths around the building itself, both before, during and after the wedding breakfast itself. And almost all those guests have probably noticed an utterly charming cottage tucked away nearby, spotting the thatched roof peeping above the trees, or catching a glimpse through to the gardens.
I'd always assumed that the cottage would have been owned by the Royal Park itself, perhaps a grace-and-favour residence for the head keeper of grounds or similar. But it turns out that Pembroke Cottage it actually a private home — one which is about as close as you could get to a picture-perfect country cottage while still keeping within the M25 — and right now, it's up for sale via Knight Frank at £5 million.
Pembroke Cottage was built in the late 19th century, originally as the gatehouse to Pembroke Lodge itself. Twenty years ago it wasn't in good shape, but it had a major refurbishment and redevelopment, sympathetically extending and improving the old place.
That dragged this fabulous old building into the 21st century, while keeping many of the original beams, windows and other features that you can see on this page.
The centrepieces of the house as it is today are the kitchen-diner and the huge, vaulted reception room with large picture windows that look out over the garden — and the gardens really are worth looking out over.
There's almost half an acre of space here, and despite the public access it has plenty of privacy, being ringed by mature trees and shrubs. Those aforementioned peeked glimpses are all that the wedding guests and other users of Richmond Park will get.
The house is a little under 3,000sq ft, set over three floors, with three bedrooms and four bathrooms — though if you need more sleeping space, it's worth noting that there are two studies on the floorplan which could be used for other reasons.
Moving between the floors is lovely, thanks to a spiral staircase that's flooded with natural light from the dome above.
Did we mention the balconies yet? Or the granite tops in the kitchen, or the Aga, spacious bathrooms and patio space? Well, consider them mentioned, but if you've any sort of romance in your soul you've probably already fallen for this gorgeous home.
And if you have the romance in your sould, but not the £5 million in your bank account? At least there's a lovely spot a couple of minutes' walk away where you might like to get married.
Pembroke Cottage is for sale via Knight Frank at £5 million — see more details and pictures.
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