For many folks who have been driving up and down Dunston Road in Chesterfield, it’s hard to believe that a few yards from them there is a 17th century mansion hidden behind a tree-lined driveway and a series of gates.
Behind those gates is Dunston Hall, which has been a private family home for more than 300 years, with its own garden, Grade II listed barns, fantastic sized rooms, nine bedrooms and four bathrooms.
Now the owners have received permission from Chesterfield Borough Council to modify the interior of the hall so that it can be used as a vacation rental and wedding venue.
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Plans submitted as early as June 2021 envisage converting the existing garage building into a room suitable for wedding ceremonies and creating a parking space in front of the property gates.
The garage building, in which the work on the wedding ceremony room has already been completed, is located away from the main hall itself.
The roller shutters on the front of the building were removed and replaced by windows with a wooden frame construction.
The building application document states that the renovation work in the main hall will reduce the number of bedrooms by one, with five bedrooms either demolished or, more likely, their use changed and four bedrooms integrated into the building.
After the work is completed, a total of five people will be employed at Dunston Hall, one of them full-time and four more part-time.
There is no suggestion of “casual staff” that may be required at wedding functions in the proposal.
Chesterfield planners gave the plans the go-ahead but incorporated a number of conditions.
This includes that “the number of guests who take part in an event is limited to no more than 120 at the same time”.
“Fireworks may not be held at wedding events in the hall” and “the number of wedding or similar events taking place in the premises is limited to a maximum of 2 per week on a single day”.
Most of the development work, which has already been completed, must also be completed within three years of the approval being granted.
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