July 24, 2026
Candlelit Comedy: In the Gardens at Coughton Court
Spend a summer's evening among the blooms and borders of one of Warwickshire's most extraordinary heritage gardens.
Coughton Court - seat of the Throckmorton family for over six hundred years and one of England's great historic houses — opens its walled garden and herbaceous borders on Friday 24th July for an al fresco evening of stand-up comedy. As the sun sets over the borders, three of the UK's most exciting comedic voices take to the outdoor stage.
The Lineup:
Aurie Styla is one of the most dynamic performers on the UK circuit. An award-winning comedian, actor and writer, his Edinburgh Fringe special won the Spirit of the Fringe Award and his writing credits include a BAFTA Award-winning television series. Warm, sharp and utterly commanding on stage.
Garrett Millerick is an acclaimed stand-up, writer and director - creator of the BBC Radio 4 sitcom Do Gooders, starring alongside Frank Skinner, Fay Ripley and Ahir Shah, and a performer whose work has taken him to US late-night television. One of the most honest and original comedians of his generation.
Dane Buckley - the world's only Irish, Indian, gay comedian (probably) - delivers charm, camp mischief and warmly personal storytelling. A BBC New Comedy Award finalist and tour support for Tom Allen, Josh Widdicombe and Rosie Jones, Buckley is one of the most exciting rising voices in British comedy.
The Setting
Coughton Court's gardens are among the finest in the country - currently shortlisted for the 2026 Historic Houses Garden of the Year Award. The Rose Labyrinth holds the distinction of being the first British garden to receive the Award of Garden Excellence from the World Federation of Rose Societies. In midsummer, at dusk, there are few more beautiful places to spend an evening in England.
Practical Information
đź“… Friday 24th July
đź•– 7pm
đź“Ť Coughton Court, Alcester, Warwickshire, B49 5JA
🎟 Tickets available below
Food and drink will be available on site throughout the evening. Guests are welcome to bring a blanket or garden chair.
Lineups are subject to change. In the event of a cancellation, we will always do our best to provide a like-for-like replacement.
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MORE ABOUT THIS LOCATION
COUGHTON COURT
Still home to the Throckmorton family since 1409. A great Tudor house where six hundred years of faith, defiance and daily life unfold in every corner.
Coughton Court
For more than six hundred years, Coughton Court has been the home of the Throckmorton family: a lineage that gives this house an extraordinary sense of living continuity. Peering through the Warwickshire countryside, its magnificent Tudor gatehouse tower, built around 1530 by Sir George Throckmorton, announces a story shaped by faith, courage and unwavering devotion.
Few English houses are so deeply woven into the nation's religious history. Hidden within Coughton's walls are priest holes used in secret during the Elizabethan persecutions, when Catholic worship meant risking everything. The family chapel still stands as a quiet testament to endurance. The Throckmorton's family ties to the Gunpowder Plot remind us that life here was lived dangerously close to the edge - where principle and peril met.
Now home to Magnus and Imogen Birch Throckmorton and their two young children, Coughton remains, unmistakably, a family residence. Portraits gaze down from panelled walls, letters document distant dramas, and family heirlooms accumulate meaning across generations. In the Great Hall and Long Gallery, oak panels seem to hold the very breath of those who walked there before.
The gardens rank among England's most romantic. Designed by Magnus’ mother Christina Williams, they flow from formal elegance to wild, natural beauty: rose-covered walls giving way to tranquil riverside walks and a walled garden humming with life from spring through autumn. Every view feels both deliberate and effortless, as though house and landscape have grown together over centuries.
Whether you come for the gardens, the layered history, or simply the particular stillness that old houses hold, Coughton rewards those who take their time. Coughton Court isn't a monument frozen in time - it's a home still filled with life, where the past feels close enough to touch and every corner speaks of courage, continuity and quiet grace.