Shillingstone House is a beautiful country house set in 30 acres of stunning Dorset countryside. Built in 1879, it is the much loved home of the Salt family and is nestled in a secluded world of its own, making it the perfect place to hold your unique celebration. Exclusively yours for four days, we like to feel that Shillingstone House becomes your home - we hope that you'll love it as much as we do.

As we only hold six weddings a year, yours will be a truly individual event. We offer you a blank canvas to create the wedding of your dreams. With the run of the gardens from the Thursday before your wedding and the whole of Friday and Saturday morning to set your personal stamp on the celebrations, you have time to fully enjoy the run up to your ceremony. Our flexibility enables each wedding to be totally different, beautiful, creative and relaxed; an unforgettable experience for you and your guests.

We've seen every type of wedding over the years including festival themes and hard rock bands, to stately and formal affairs. We've even accommodated 8 traction engines puffing away for an "All the fun of the Fair" wedding!

The gazebo in the garden is licensed for civil ceremonies and is set on beautiful sweeping lawns with uninterrupted views of the countryside beyond. Here you can seat several hundred guests and the gazebo can be incorporated into a marquee if you wish.

Receptions and dancing takes place in a marquee, the shape and size of which is entirely your choice – traditional pole to Tepees, all have graced the lawns here. Where you site your marquee is also your choice - you have five acres of stunning gardens and grounds to choose from. The gardens here are made for parties. Herbaceous borders surround the house and a white walk leads to a walled garden filled with flowers and rambling roses. Young guests have a playground to explore, complete with tree house, full sized tractor and motor boat.

We have no “preferred” suppliers, leaving you free to make your own choices but we are very happy to give you advice if you wish it. Past catering suppliers have varied from formal three course wedding breakfasts to pizza ovens and fish and chip vans. In addition to this, we do not charge corkage, leaving you free to take a trip to France to choose your wine without any added expense.

There is no accommodation in the house but the inner walled garden provides a secluded hideaway for a wedding night bell tent - fully furnished, with two different styles to choose from for the wedding couple. There is also "Glamping" space for your guests in the outer walled gardens, where you can fit up to twenty bell tents. You can party in the marquee until midnight and then continue quietly chatting till dawn round the fire pit in the camping grounds.

Sunday brings the chance to party again with brunch or a lunch party for friends or just time to relax in the grounds, play cricket or football in the fields or croquet on the lawns.

We are conveniently situated in rural Dorset between Blandford Forum and Sturminster Newton.

Photography credits: Jason Perkins / Creatrix Photography / Darima Frampton Photography / Peppermint Love Photography / Watkiss Photography / Tokyo Magic Photography / Belinda McCarthy Photography / TP Photography