Hello Everyone!!

I know that I have not been posting for a while and that I have an awlful lot of catching up to do – so here goes!

Wedding News

Since my last post there have loads of weddings at Brympton – so congratulations to Naomi and Steve, Rachel and Giles, Amy and Steve, Vicky and Andy and Robert and Simon. Each of these weddings was wonderful but the one that I have chosen to highlight is the weekend wedding of Rachel and Giles.

Rachel and Giles – 24.3.12

Rachel and Giles arrived on site [as instructed!] for 3pm in the middle of a heatwave! It seems funny to say this after the weeks of torrential rain that we have just had but the weather was so warm in late March that the house guests were greeted with tea on the terrace. Giles nominated himself as chief bell hop and wore a very nifty multi coloured skiing jacket whilst escorting guests to their bedrooms - [the jacket had been involved in his stag do - I didn't like to press for any more details!]

After a rehearsal in the Castle House everyone got glammed up [dinner suits and long dresses] for a grand adults only dinner in the State Dining Room. Ellie had decorated the space with hundreds of tea lights  and the library bar then opened.

The wedding day dawned as hot and sunny as the day before and as the ceremony wasn’t until 4pm guests spent the time lazing in the garden.

Ellie had decorated the ballroom with silver candelabra and Bee had produced a wonderful display in the silver punchbowl which sat behind the top table.

Rachel and Giles partied the night away with all of their guests and left the next morning after enjoying a full English breakfast!

Animal News

Rollo [son of Ernie] has moved with the girls into the farm garden. Although this is hard to believe he is actually bigger than Ernie! Steve – one of the registrar’s – has taken a lovely picture of Rollo and as soon as someone shows me how to attach it to a post I will share it with you!

Hope that you all have  a good week

Sara

Good Morning Everyone!

Wedding News

Sunday saw the wedding of Naomi and Steve; after a bit of a cloudy/rainy week the sun shone and the bride looked beautiful in  a lacy cream dress with a bouquet of cream roses and dark green foliage. The theme of cream/green  was carried on throughout the house with garlands of foliage weaved though the posts on the Great Stairs – which looked amazing!! Although we had planned to have the beer and pimms drinks reception in the Great Hall, on the day the weather was so mild that we moved it to the terrace before a wedding breakfast in the Ballroom of asparagus tarts. loin of venison and lemon curd cheesecakes [Steve is a chef so I think he had a big hand in designing the menu!]

I wish Naomi and Steve all the very best at the start of their married life.

Ernie…and he drove the fastest milk cart in the West!

Now some of you may be wondering why I have begun the ‘Animal News’ bit with a reference to our much loved Buff Orpington cockerel and the theme tune that gave him his name [Benny Hill was my dads favourite comedy show]

Well Ernie has had a traumatic couple of weeks to say the least. He was first molested by a fox [the fox came off worst and Ernie lived to see another day but he was shaken up and refused to come out of his coop for 3 days]. Then just as he was getting over this trauma he was roughed up by some visiting dogs. I was sitting in my office typing away and I knew the dogs were about but assumed they were on leads. I even heard Ernie squawk but ignored it believing the dogs to be on leads so I wasn’t prepared for Tad [one of the gardeners] coming to tell me at ‘shutting up time’ that Ernie was missing/presumed dead.  A tell tale trail  of feathers was all that was left in the medieval Ladies Garden.

We all believed that this time the fox had got him and were going to bed with heavy hearts when Ernie was spotted with his head sticking out of the bell tower! How he got up there we will never know – can  a bird of that size/weight actually fly?!

Dogs of whatever shape/form/size are needless to say now banned – apart from Ava the stylists tiny Jack Russel cross – who has known Ernie since she was a puppy and is actually quite frightened of him!!

House News

The finishing decorative touches are going into Home Farm next week with the arrival of Sue our interior designer – although work will continue on that range for some time to come as the guttering looks very shakey and gravel needs to be laid on the parking area.

Sara

Wedding News

Taking down the bunting in the Great Hall this week brought back happy memories of Sam and Richards wedding last week – with the sun shining through the hall windows today though it is hard to believe that it was freezing cold last Sunday and that we had to keep the fires roaring in every room!

The weather didn’t dampen Sam and Richards day last week though – and the bride looked absolutely stunning in  a vintage inspired dress with diamente details and an upswept hair do.

House News

Painiting started in Home Farm this week – a nice warming Farrow and Ball palette of tallow, pointing, Dutch pink and ringwold ground. My plan to create a giant chessboard in the farm garden though has been vetoed by the gardeners who have pointed out that the only way it could work is if we used astro turf – which they are not prepared to do!!!

Animal News

The vet visited this week – he always has to come to us because the pigs are to big to move, the cats are terrible travellers and the chickens try to fly up in the trees when they spot the travelling cages!

After innoculating everyone and ticking off the names we suddenly realised that Lily [the lavender point tabby siamese] was missing – which was odd as I had locked all 3 cats in my bedroom the night before; so I knew that she had to be in that room somewhere. We looked under the beds/behind the chests/even on top of the curtain pelmet, but Lily could not be found! It was then that we heard a little shuffling noise that appeared to be coming from inside the wall – and lo and behold Lily was found. She had actually climbed up the chimney and was sitting on a ledge behind the firebreast and it took an awlful lot of coaxing before she could be persuaded to come down into the waiting arms of the vet!

Sara