How many couples can say they’ve had their wedding photos taken on a jungle themed staircase? Everyone loves the stairs that lead up into the house, but do you know the history behind it?
Escot House was built in 1837 by Sir John Kennaway and as the family home of Sir John-Michael and Lady Kennaway (Mish and Lucy) has been a popular wedding venue for over 25 years.
One of big draws for wedding couples is the striking main staircase leading into the house, which is decorated like a jungle. It’s a unique backdrop for wedding photos and always results in really vibrant images.
The staircase has a connection to the 1940s when a relative in the Kennaway family started a rubber plantation in Malaya and named it ‘Escot’ after the house. Fifty or so years on in 1999, aspiring young designer Marek Spencer needed to undertake a project to support his application for a design course at Leeds College of Art and Design, and the idea of recreating the Malayan jungle was born.
Marek, his Japanese partner Yukiko and his brother Oliver painted the stairwell – which was already home to a number of oversized plants given to Mish and Lucy by friends when they’d become too big for their homes.
The vista is ever changing as more plants and new accessories are added, including a set of butterflies gifted by The Prop Factory after a styled shoot at the house.
Marek has gone on to become a lead designer for Apple working around the world, and he and Yukiko held their wedding at Escot House!
Despite his obvious talent for painting, Oliver became an International human rights lawyer, and is now working for the UN and various charities in Mayan Mar and other Asian countries.
