Up to 250
Swedish Hall
Two large rooms under high ceilings, neutral décor and a great deal of natural light, with a large private bar of its own. The estate’s principal room: weddings, conferences, gala dinners.
The Venue
Catthorpe Towers
A manor house in twenty-six acres of woodland garden, on the Leicestershire and Warwickshire border. To a few thousand people in Britain it goes by another name: Straumēni.
The estate sits a few minutes from where the M1, the M6 and the A14 meet, which is the unromantic reason guests driving in from three directions tend to arrive within minutes of each other. What follows is the estate as it stands — the rooms, the lawns, the bars and the beds — so you can picture the day before you come and walk it.
The estate
Twenty-six acres, and a house with thirty rooms
There has been a manor here since 1630, when Thomas Calcot bought it; the Caldecott family held it through most of the two centuries that followed. The house standing today was built in 1925, after fire took the one before it — three floors and thirty rooms.
Around it: twenty-six acres of woodland garden and open field, walking paths, a lake and a park. Seventeen bedrooms are let across the Manor House and Baltic Lodge, with further houses and flats around the grounds and camping out in the field. That is the difference between a party that ends at closing time and one that ends when people decide to go to bed.
Photograph · V2
The grounds looking back at the house — lawn in front, trees framing. Landscape.
Photograph · V3
The lake, or a woodland path under the trees. Landscape.
The spaces
Ten spaces, one set of grounds
Everything below stands on the same estate, a few minutes’ walk apart. Capacities are the estate’s own figures.
Under a roof
Up to 40
Restaurant & Lounge
A bar and lounge in a setting the estate calls elegant but relaxed. Birthdays, family celebrations, private dinners, business lunches.
Up to 20
Drawing Room
Warm and elegant, for something smaller and more personal — the room you take when the guest list is a table rather than a hall.
Indoor
Garden Room
Light-filled, with direct access to the gardens. The natural place for a drinks reception that wants to spill outside.
Indoor
The Old Library
Rich in character, quiet and intimate. Suits a board meeting and a private dinner about equally.
Indoor
Green Hall
Bright and open-plan, built for children’s camps, community events and workshops rather than black tie.
Photograph · V4
Swedish Hall, empty and lit — the length of the room, high ceiling in frame. Landscape.
Photograph · V5
Restaurant & Lounge, laid up for dinner, the bar visible behind. Landscape.
Under the sky
Up to 100 seated
The Terrace
Beside the Manor House, strung with fairy lights. Al fresco dining and drinks receptions, at its best in the evening.
Outdoor
Top Lawn
Open green beside the woods, looking out over the estate. An outdoor bar, a fire pit and picnic tables — barbecues, family days, company picnics.
Outdoor
The Field
Open ground for festivals and concerts, marquee weddings and large-scale camping.
Outdoor
The Glade
A clearing inside the estate woods — scout groups, youth clubs, outdoor workshops and campfires.
Photograph · V6
The Terrace at dusk, fairy lights on, tables laid. Landscape.
Photograph · V7
Top Lawn — the outdoor bar and the fire pit, woods behind. Landscape.
Bars
Indoors and out
The Swedish Hall has a large private bar of its own. The Restaurant carries a bar and a lounge beside it. Out on the Top Lawn there is an outdoor bar next to the fire pit. Which one opens depends on where the day is actually happening — and on a long summer day that is usually more than one of them.
Staffed bars run alongside the kitchen at the estate, so drinks and food keep the same rhythm through the day.
Straumēni
The Latvian chapter
On 29 May 1976 the Latvian Welfare Fund signed for Catthorpe Manor — £124,000 — and gave it a Latvian name. Around 1,800 people came to the opening.
Much of what the estate runs on today, that community built. The Swedish Hall was paid for by Latvians in Sweden, which is where its name comes from. Baltic Lodge followed. A documentation centre and archive opened in 1988, and for years part of the estate was a home for elderly Latvians.
Fifty years on, it is still the place the community comes back to. The midsummer festival — Jāņi, the most Latvian night of the year — has drawn up to 1,800 people onto these grounds, and the 3×3 camps run a week at a time.
That is why our Baltic Table is not a theme. Here it is the local menu.
Photograph · V8
Something that shows the Latvian side — the Swedish Hall from outside, Baltic Lodge, or a sign in Latvian on the grounds. Landscape.
Getting here
Easier to reach than a country estate has any right to be
Catthorpe is about three miles from Rugby, which has a mainline station, and a few minutes from the M1, the M6 and the A14. There is parking on the estate.
And if the day is going to run long: seventeen bedrooms across the Manor House and Baltic Lodge, houses and flats around the grounds, and camping in the field. Guests who stay are guests who are not watching the clock.
EFV at the estate
The kitchen, not the venue
We are preparing to work from a kitchen at Catthorpe Towers. The arrangement is being finalised; we will say more once it is signed.
Two things worth being plain about. The estate is its own business, and your date is booked with them rather than with us — we are the kitchen and the bar. And the food is cooked a short walk from where it is served, which is the whole difference between a hot plate and a reheated one.
Come and see it
Walk the grounds
A photograph of a room and standing in it are different things. Tell us the date you are thinking about, and we will talk you through which of the ten spaces actually fits it.