Leeds Castle

About the venue

Island castle near Maidstone, first built in stone in 1119 and restored by Lady Baillie in the 1930s. Weddings for 100 in the castle, 80 in Maiden's Tower and 30 at Battel Hall, with evening parties for 180 in the Fairfax Barn and marquees for more than 200.

In 1119 Robert, grandson of the Norman lord Hamo de Crevecoeur, built the first stone castle at Leeds on two rocky islands in the River Len. The manor already appears in the Domesday Survey of 1086 as Esledes, an old English word for a slope. Seven queens feature in the castle's history. In the 1930s Lady Olive Baillie restored it and entertained guests including Charlie Chaplin, Errol Flynn and a young John F. Kennedy.

The castle stands in more than 500 acres near Maidstone and is run by the Leeds Castle Foundation, a registered charity. Visitors come for the maze and its underground grotto, the Culpeper Garden, falconry displays and a museum of dog collars. Lady Baillie began the golf course in 1931, and it is now a nine-hole, par 33 course around the moat.

Weddings for 100 take place inside the castle, with the banquet in the Salon beside a 16th-century French Caen stone fireplace. Maiden's Tower, a 16th-century building on Castle Island, takes 80 with exclusive use until midnight. Battel Hall, an early 14th-century manor house, suits ceremonies of 30. The 17th-century Fairfax Barn hosts evening parties for up to 180, and marquees on the Cedar Lawn take more than 200.

Guests can stay in the castle itself, in Maiden's Tower, at Battel Hall or in the Stable Courtyard bedrooms. The estate also has holiday cottages, lakeside lodges and Knights Glamping.

Stone castle on two islands, built 1119

Restored by Lady Baillie in the 1930s

Castle weddings for 100

Maiden's Tower for 80, exclusive use

Battel Hall ceremonies for 30

Fairfax Barn evening parties for 180

Cedar Lawn marquees for 200+

Team days with falconry, £179 + VAT