Foxtail Barns Wedding Photography

Award Winning Wedding Venue in Churnet Valley

Being a Best Day Ever recommended supplier means I often get booked for weddings at Foxtail Barns and I absolutely love it. The space is so diverse and can often be used as a blank canvas for any wedding day. It’s always hard returning to the same wedding venue a lot and being expected to create fresh work but I find this ever so easy at Foxtail Barns. The sprawling landscaped gardens are so much fun to wander with my couples but the venue staff are always on hand to bring us back in a flash and keep the party going.

It’s also rare to get a wedding ceremony space which lets in so much light and isn’t a dark secluded space. It makes it so much easier to take in all of the environment during your wedding ceremony and so much easier for me to capture it. Every time I drive to Foxtail I get excited to see what the day will bring so if you’re getting married there I’d love to hear from you.

A Local Favourite Photographer at Foxtail Barns

I live just 22 minutes (exact I know) from Foxtail Barns in my home in Stoke-on-Trent near the University Hospital of North Staffordshire. For this reason, my enquiries have already begun to fill up with weddings planned for Foxtail Barns. Barn wedding venues are my favourite and of this niche, I particularly love those of the modern variety like Foxtail.

My style of wedding photography is built on a great relationship with my couples. All of my weddings are different and unique; even those due to be at the same venue like Foxtail Barns. Time on your wedding day is really important to me. So if I can help it I don’t really want you to miss a thing and would love you to remember as much as possible. This caring and relaxed approach to my wedding photography is the reason why so many couples recommend me. They always say it feels like a friend is taking their photographs and not a photographer.

Planning your special day at Foxtail Barns?

I’d absolutely LOVE to book some more weddings at Foxtail. My excitement is evident for this venue and I’d love to get excited together and have an awesome day so give me SHOUT! and we can talk about your day.

SHOUT!

updated for 2023

1 Man & His Consall Hall Gardens Dream

Foxtail Barns has an albeit small history so far but the surrounding gardens it has been built within tell a tale of determination surrounding the creation of beauty where there was once blight.

Back in the 1960s, Mr William Podmore OBE had a dream for his family homestead, Consall Hall. His parents, William Senior and Alberta who’d brought him to the Staffordshire Moorlands as a newborn in 1918 had started what would go on to become Mr Podmore’s life mission. To convert this disused medieval colliery which sat around his family estate into a beautiful ecological masterpiece.

The Churnet Valley area was home to many a disused colliery back in the day due to the rich resource-filled ground. The Consall Hall Estate backed 3 huge old pit banks. Mr Podmore’s mother and father spent many a year developing the landscape and managed to convert a huge section whilst leaving most of it hidden by a tree line. It was only when Mr Podmore took over the restoration project that the landscape really started to shift at Consall Hall.

Having studied landscape photography at University Mr Podmore was keen to create a garden which naturally framed photographs as you walked through this fantasia of the English countryside. With 6 lakes, several follies, a packhorse bridge, a tower, a romantic ‘ruin’ and 2 fossil trees this is unlike no other. Fossil trees, for example, were only known through fossils until in 1930 they were grown in China. Upon hearing this Mr Podmore brought one over and whilst cultivating it within his garden also grew another from a cutting. It really is a magical place and almost like Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory of Gardens.

Once the garden reached a certain point Mr Podmore began to open it up to charity functions before it was then made accessible for the public to enjoy for 2 days a week.

Unfortunately, Mr Podmore passed away in March 2018. Knowing the importance of the natural landscape and having deep pride for the area the Gardens have now been taken on by two local families who’ve joined forces to carry on Mr Podmore’s legacy. Ben & Sarah Reeves of Ashes Barns (Ensarb Estates Ltd) are working alongside Scott-Moncrieff of Basford Hall to responsibly renovate the area and bring amongst other things, Foxtail Barns, a new premier wedding barn venue to Staffordshire.

As well as opening a purpose-built wedding venue within the Walled Gardens of Consall Hall they’re also extending and transforming The Lady Park Garden folly at the south end of the gardens into a luxury spa facility with treatment rooms and a plunge pool. On top of this, the main Hall will be converted into a bar and restaurant which will be open to the public.

A Wedding Day at Foxtail Barns

Sitting within the already incredibly popular Ensarb Estates group of family-run privately owned wedding venues Foxtail is for sure turning out to be a hit ever since it opened its doors. Its sister venues, Ashes Barns, Mill Barns and Pendrell Hall all run every wedding day with care and love for their brides and/or grooms taking notice of their wants, loves and ideas to bring them the greatest of wedding days. So with this in mind there’s no question whether Foxtail Barns will continue to be a hit, it just will.

Being purpose-built with the wealth and experience of three existing wedding venues behind them allows this rustic barn in Wetley Rocks to be the most perfect fit for any wedding day. It is compromised of a few carefully designed unique spaces for your day to unfold within.

Foxtail offers a private space for the morning of your wedding complete with mirrors and all the amenities to relax whilst being pampered on the morning of your wedding day.

The ceremony space features red brick which ties in with the surrounding walled garden whilst also bringing the outside in with a beam-supported glass ceiling and large glass windows along the side. Faux foliage climbs the walls throughout really bringing a garden vibe.

The big Dutch party barn brings a whole new vibe to your day with a focus on stylish industrial features which bring a modern edge to your wedding decor. As always these stylings are neutral and non-invasive for couples looking to add their own spark to their wedding decor planning or those looking to bring in an external wedding day decorator or florist.

A private courtyard adjoins all of your spaces together to really keep the atmosphere flowing through your drinks reception and into your evening under a beautiful Staffordshire sky. A nearby pool on the end of the Dutch Barn brings tranquillity to your wedding day whilst those looking for a bit of time out can explore the walled garden right alongside your courtyard.

As with all of their sister venues, Foxtail Barns will boast a no corkage fee. This means you’re welcome to bring along the perfect accompaniment to your day to be served during your drinks reception, your wedding breakfast and your toast following the wedding speeches. A fully stocked bar will then serve your guests for the remainder of the day.

Continuing the theme of using tried and tested methods Foxtail uses their usual incredible catering partner, Jenkinsons Caterers to deliver incredible wedding food for your wedding day breakfast. Prices start from £39.75 for a three-course meal per person. Their tasting experiences are always a great occasion. You’ll be invited to wine and dine whilst choosing your wedding menu. Following this, you’re free to get as creative as you like with your menu or simply leave it to the professionals.

With onsite accommodation always being a priority to Ensarb, Foxtail Barns will boast something completely different from Foxtail Barns’ sister venues. Guests will be invited to stay overnight in lodges responsibly nestled amongst the beautiful woodland overlooking one of the 6 lakes. Brides and/or grooms will be able to stay within the Wedding Night Lodge. The 20 Woodland Lodges are exclusively available to your wedding guests with a range of sleeping arrangements to accommodate couples and families with small children. As part of the Exclusive Use Promise Foxtail Barns offers your guests an invite to book a stay amongst the woodland and they’ll have special access to do so via an individual code linked to your wedding day.

As part of the proposal to open up the magnificent 70-acre gardens to the public, there is also a public offering for accommodation called The Tawny Hotel. You’re welcome to fill this extra accommodation but the public will be allowed to book also for an unforgettable stay in tree houses, shepherd’s huts and boathouses.

Once your wedding day is over you can explore the beautiful local culture and landscape. I strongly recommend a visit to Hetty’s Tea Shop also in Churnet Valley for a spot of lovely lunch by the canalside. Or if you really feel a need to explore the local history then you can ride the Churnet Valley Railway.

Photographing Amongst a 70 Acre AONB

As was Mr Podmore’s dream all those years ago the layout of Consall Hall Gardens is purposefully designed to appease his landscape photography dreams so when it comes to wedding photography at Foxtail Barns you can guarantee you’ll get stunning photographs to remember your big day by.

Coupled with this incredible 70-acre AONB you also have a purpose-built rustic wedding barn venue within Foxtail which is very much designed with the photographer in mind.

The ceremony space is one I personally love to photograph within. With light pouring in through the beam-supported glass ceiling you can guarantee a beautifully bright and airy wedding ceremony photograph collection. An abundance of light always means I can focus completely on all of the moments which are unfolding before me.

I always love my photographs to show a contrast of backdrops throughout space to show the development of the story within your photographs. The uniquely designed spaces at Foxtail really do echo my love for this and as we wander through them you’ll see a great contrast of backdrops of photographs.

The party barn’s large LED circular chandeliers are one of my main excitements for shooting weddings at Foxtail Barns. I love to get super creative with these within the backs of your speeches and first dance photographs. making them a really stunning backdrop to remember such a special moment.

What else can I say, being a Foxtail Barns wedding photographer is at the top of my most looked forward to events of the coming years. With Foxtail opening its doors in Summer 2021 you won’t be able to contain my excitement enough.

Foxtail Barns Wedding Photographer