Choosing a matchmaking agency is a considered decision, and it is natural to have questions before you speak with us. Below we have answered those we are asked most often, from how introductions are selected to how confidentiality is maintained and what membership involves. If your question is not covered here, our team would be glad to talk it through with you in confidence
Our story
A personal approach, since 1983.
The County Register is a professional matchmaking agency, established in 1983, that arranges hand-selected introductions for discerning single people across the UK who are seeking a serious and lasting relationship. Every introduction is chosen personally by an experienced matchmaker; there is no app, no online profile and nothing searchable. Our founder, Heather Heber Percy, remains personally involved in the business to this day. You can read more about our history on our About page.
A matchmaking agency replaces browsing and algorithms with human judgement. Rather than presenting yourself to a public audience, you have an in-depth conversation with a matchmaker who comes to understand your life, values and what you are looking for, and who then selects introductions on your behalf. At The County Register the service is conducted entirely offline, so your search remains private from beginning to end. Our How It Works page explains the process step by step.
Our members are accomplished, discerning people aged between 30 and 80 who are single and looking for a committed relationship. They include senior professionals, business owners, landowners, academics and retired executives, many of whom have concluded that online dating is neither appropriate nor safe for someone in their position. What they share is a preference for discretion, quality over quantity and a properly considered approach.
We introduce members throughout the United Kingdom. Our matchmaking headquarters is in Warwickshire and we also have a London office in Mayfair, so we are well placed to serve members in London, the Home Counties, the Cotswolds and the countryside alike. Face-to-face consultations can take place at your home, at one of our offices or, at Cameo level, by video call.
The County Register was founded in 1983 and has been arranging introductions continuously for more than forty years, which makes us one of the longest-established matchmaking agencies in the UK. We are a founding member of the Dating Options Group and have been named Dating Agency of the Year at the group's annual awards for four consecutive years.
The personal process
Considered introductions. At every step.
The process begins with a private, no-obligation conversation to establish whether membership is right for you. If you decide to proceed, your matchmaker conducts an in-depth profiling interview, after which your profile is prepared and approved by you before the service commences. Your matchmaker then hand-selects Recommendations, put forward one at a time, and where both parties agree to be put in touch, the Recommendation becomes a Confirmed Introduction. After each introduction we gather your feedback so that subsequent selections become ever more finely judged.
The initial consultation is a genuine conversation rather than a questionnaire. Your matchmaker will want to understand your background, your life as it is now, the qualities you value in a partner and the kind of relationship you hope to find. At most membership levels this takes place face to face, either at your home or at one of our offices, so that you feel entirely comfortable and can speak freely. Everything discussed is held in strict confidence.
Every introduction is chosen by your matchmaker on the basis of compatibility, shared values, lifestyle and the preferences you have described to us. We do not use software to generate matches. Your matchmaker draws on our existing membership and, at most levels, on headhunting beyond it, and presents one Recommendation at a time so that each can be given proper consideration.
Headhunting means actively searching for a suitable partner for you outside our existing membership. Where the right person is not already among our members, your matchmaker will seek them out. Anyone introduced to you in this way is interviewed and identity-verified in exactly the same manner as an existing member before any details are shared. Headhunting is included at Bespoke, Executive and Portfolio levels.
A Recommendation is a profile your matchmaker puts forward to you for consideration. A Confirmed Introduction is the point at which both you and the person recommended have agreed to be put in touch with one another. Only Confirmed Introductions count towards the number included in your membership, so a Recommendation you decline does not reduce your allocation.
The number of introductions depends on your membership level and is set out clearly before you join. Higher levels include a greater number of introductions, a longer membership term and a more senior matchmaker. Details of each level are on our Services page, and your matchmaker will help you choose the level best suited to your circumstances.
Once your profiling interview is complete and you have approved your profile, your matchmaker begins the search straight away. We do not set a fixed timescale, because finding the right person is worth doing properly; a considered introduction is always preferable to a quick one. Your matchmaker will keep you informed throughout and will be candid with you if a particular search is likely to take time.
In complete confidence
Your privacy is personal to us.
Yes. Confidentiality is the foundation of everything we do. Your details are never published online, never placed in any searchable database and never shared with anyone outside the matchmaking team, other than as set out in our Privacy Policy. Introductions are managed personally by your matchmaker, and every member is in turn bound to keep their own membership, and the people they meet through it, confidential.
Every person we recommend has been interviewed by one of our matchmakers and has had their identity verified before their details are shared with anyone. This applies equally to existing members and to individuals we have headhunted from outside the membership. We also reserve the right to decline any application where we do not believe the fit is right, for the protection of the wider membership.
No. The County Register does not operate an app, a website-based profile system or any public-facing platform. Your profile is shared only with the individuals your matchmaker selects for you, one at a time, and only after they too have been interviewed and verified.
Every member receives our Dating Safety Handbook, and your matchmaker is available throughout your membership to offer guidance on meeting people for the first time. Because everyone you are introduced to has been interviewed and identity-checked, you can approach each introduction with a degree of confidence that is simply not possible through online dating.
The finer details
Everything considered, before you join.
We offer four membership levels: Bespoke, Executive, Portfolio and Cameo. All include a dedicated matchmaker, a relationship expert session and interviewed, identity-verified introductions. The levels differ in the number of introductions, the length of membership, the seniority of your matchmaker and additional elements such as professional photography and, at Bespoke, the involvement of our founder, Heather Heber Percy. A full comparison is on our Services page. Beyond these four levels we also compose a small number of individual memberships each year under Carte Blanche, described below.
We do. Carte Blanche is our bespoke membership: rather than a defined service at a defined fee, it is composed individually in consultation, with the term, the reach and the depth of the search shaped around one person. Every Carte Blanche search is overseen personally by our founder, Heather Heber Percy, supported by a dedicated senior matchmaker, and it is the only County Register membership in which introductions extend internationally. We accept only a small number of these memberships at any one time so that this level of involvement can be properly given. The fee is set out in a written proposal following a private consultation. Discover Carte Blanche.
Membership fees are set according to level and reflect the depth of personal service involved: the seniority of your matchmaker, the number of introductions, headhunting and the length of your membership. Fees are published on our Services page and are discussed openly during your initial consultation, so that you can make an informed decision without any pressure. There are no hidden costs and no charges per introduction.
Yes. Every membership includes a freeze facility that allows you to place your membership on hold, for example if you are travelling, dealing with a family matter or wish to give a particular introduction time to develop. The maximum period varies by level, from three months at Cameo to eighteen months at Bespoke. When you return, your matchmaker simply picks up where you left off.
You have a statutory fourteen-day cancellation period from the date of your first payment, in line with the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013. Beyond that period, membership is a considered commitment to the full service term and fees are not refundable. We are transparent about this before you join, and it is one of the reasons we take such care at the consultation stage to ensure membership is right for you.
No. Membership is personal to you and cannot be transferred to a third party. Because your matchmaker's work is built around your profile, your preferences and the conversations you have had together, a membership could not meaningfully be passed to anyone else.
We do not offer outcome guarantees, and we would be wary of any agency that did. What we promise is care, judgement and the right introductions, selected by an experienced matchmaker who has taken the time to understand you. Our forty-year history and the loyalty of our members speak to the quality of that approach, and you can read what members have said about us on our reviews page.
Finding the right fit
A new chapter, at your own pace.
We welcome members aged between 30 and 80. Our core membership is typically between 45 and 70, and we have particular experience in introducing people in their fifties, sixties and seventies who are seeking companionship and a serious relationship later in life.
No. Membership is open only to those who are single and free to pursue a serious relationship. This protects the integrity of the service and, above all, the trust of the people you would be introduced to.
No. We reserve the right to decline an application where we do not believe we can genuinely help, or where the fit with our membership is not right. This is never a judgement on the individual; it reflects our responsibility to every member to introduce them only to people who are sincerely seeking what they are seeking.
Very often, yes. A great many of our members come to us after the end of a long marriage or the loss of a partner, and approach the idea of a new chapter thoughtfully and sometimes cautiously. Our matchmakers understand this and will never hurry you. The process moves at your pace, and the first conversation carries no obligation whatsoever.
The first conversation
It begins with a conversation.
Simply call us on 0800 644 4110, seven days a week between 9am and 5pm, or complete our confidential enquiry form and a member of our team will be in touch at a time that suits you. The initial conversation is entirely private and there is no obligation to proceed.
None at all. The first conversation exists purely to establish whether The County Register is right for you, and whether we believe we can help. Many people find it useful simply to talk through what they are looking for; if you then decide membership is not for you, that is entirely your decision.
Our team would be glad to answer it personally and in confidence. Call 0800 644 4110, seven days a week from 9am to 5pm, or send us a brief message and we will call you back at a time of your choosing.
The County Register website uses cookies to improve your experience. View Privacy Policy
