This week we were involved in a event for a corporate client, which was held at English Heritage site Wrest Park, Bedfordshire. It was an absolute pleasure to provide our full bar support services, and mobile bar hire in such a beautiful and historic setting.

Wrest Park House was built in 1834–39, to designs by its owner Thomas de Grey, 2nd Earl de Grey, an amateur architect and the first president of the Royal Institute of British Architects, who was inspired by buildings he had seen on trips to Paris. He based his house on designs published in French architectural books such as Jacques-François Blondel’s Architecture Française (1752). The works were superintended as clerk of works on site by James Clephan, who had been clerk of the works at the Liddell seat, Ravensworth Castle in County Durham, and had recently served as professional amanuensis and builder for Lord Barrington. Although Nikolaus Pevsner previously stated that Clephan was a French architect who designed the present house instead of De Grey the amateur architect, as Charles Read has shown in his biography of De Grey, Clephan (born Clapham) in fact only produced drawings of the service infrastructure, such as plumbing and drainage. The decorative layout and features of the house were produced by De Grey’s own hand. You can see the incredible house above.

Our corporate client was holding a fantastic event in Wrest Park’s historic grounds, and here at Ace Bar Events we were tasked with ensuring everyone was well watered, and in good spirits! We drafted in many of our best mixologists and cocktail flairers to provide the drinks and a little entertainment for the guests of the corporate event. Dressed head to toe in formal attire the bar support staff even looked the part in amongst their surroundings. As did our mobile bar, here is our view from the terrace – not bad…