How North Yorkshire historic Grassfield Hall became a luxury wedding venue and holiday rental

So bought it they did, in 2010. It took several years to achieve their dream, but they did it, and now this beautiful country house, set within three acres of private grounds, is available for weddings and celebrations, private group stays, photoshoots, wellbeing weekends and retreats.

The history of the hall was a huge part of its appeal. Grassfield Hall was built by entrepreneur Teasdale Hanley Hutchinson, who had lead mines in the area. Construction began in 1801, and in 1810 Teasdale moved in with his wife, Elizabeth. In 1845, he died aged 77, leaving the house to their son, Hanley. In 1883, the estate was sold to John Yorke of the Bewerley Estate - and the first Pateley Bridge Agricultural show was held there in 1895.

In 1896 it was leased by the Collins family from Knaresborough. Major Collins, a Royal surgeon, and his wife, Olympe Amelie, who was from Mauritius, had seven children. Daughter Amy took many photographs documenting their life there, and these can now be seen at the hall.

The Yorkes sold Grassfield in 1925 and in 1928, Father Hammond moved in while his church, The Lady Immaculate, was being built. From 1939 until 1945, it was a base for the 69th Field Artillery, there to protect the reservoir. The house was later turned into apartments, but in 1975, it was bought and run as a successful hotel, and remained so until it closed in 2001.

It then stood empty for nine years, under various owners, until it was repossessed in 2009. The following year, when Lisa and her husband, Alex, bought it, they were determined to pay tribute to its history.

“It's been really important to us because my husband, he's a real historian, he loves history, and that's what attracted him to the building in the first place,” says Lisa.

“So when we were renovating it, it was really important, especially to him, that we got the interior just right. It's quite challenging sometimes, because it's a Grade II-listed building and also because you want to get all the modern amenities that people want in this day and age. But you also want to keep the character.”

It was a tough time for the couple, with Lisa’s parents affected by ill health and Alex's father having died. They were working shifts and had young children, but still they thought, let’s give it a go. “When you've not got that much to lose, the risk seems to be a little bit less,” Lisa says.

“I was cabin crew for many years, then I was a trainer for them as well, so I've done a lot of customer service in my time. I grew up in various pubs. My mum and dad used to buy pubs, renovate them, get them back on the map.”

Alex, who is from Harrogate, worked in customer service and finance, but says Lisa, Grassfield Hall has allowed him to find his true career calling. “When something's in that much of a mess, you can see the potential and you can see what you can do to it, and how you can bring it back to life,” she says.

The pair gave Grassfield Hall their everything. “I get comments like, you're really lucky to have this, and I can absolutely tell you there's no luck involved. We worked crazy, crazy hours. We still do, if I'm honest,” says Lisa.

The first job was to underpin the building, and there were plenty of other issues - the staircase collapsed, windows blew out, ceilings were missing, rubble was everywhere and looters had stripped out fireplaces. “The first few years, we saw no progress at all. It was all hidden,” she says.

“We had quite a clear vision. We’d mapped it all out and I'd created mood boards. I'm not an interior designer. It was just something that I decided to do so that I wouldn't forget where we were going with it.”

They first renovated a Victorian wing to create three bedrooms and a dining kitchen to do Bed & Breakfast to create extra income. That opened in 2014 and within 18 months they had won a Welcome to Yorkshire Highly Commended award. In 2017 they finally opened as a private country house rental, wedding and event venue, shoot location and retreat (they no longer operate as a B&B).

Grassfield Hall specialises in small and intimate weddings, seating up to 32 guests for the wedding breakfast, and a further 25 guests for the evening. There is exclusive use of the hall and its grounds, and the double-height hallway with marble checkerboard floor is ideal for an indoor wedding ceremony (and can be transformed into a dance-floor later).

Marble fireplaces came from a reclamation yard or were handmade. There is an aviation-inspired bar for pre-dinner drinks, and a cosy and super-cool lounge, both designed by Lisa’s friend, Katie Twiss of KLT Interiors, in Harrogate. “She brings something completely different to the table,” says Lisa. “She's a lot more daring than I am.” The bar features a mural from By Haleys, a family-run company near Halifax. There is also the Hanley Room, with its ornate chandeliers, for the wedding breakfast, and a modern kitchen complete with Aga.

The Nidderdale Room has an And So To Bed Brodsworth Bed, and other pieces have been sourced by Alex, who finds and restores furniture. Most of the lights are from a Spanish company called Libra.

The hall sleeps 17 in eight grand ensuite bedrooms, with TVs at the end of the jacuzzi baths. “We look after them all weekend, and we have a number of caterers they can choose from,” Lisa says, adding: “A house rental can be as little as £1,400 a night, which, when you break that down per couple, is a lot cheaper than going to stay in a hotel, and you get the use of the entire house and grounds.”

Private dining, takeout services, hot tubs and more can also be arranged, with Lisa using her “little black book” of local suppliers.

grassfield-hall.co.uk.