A week in the country, the wedding of the year and a trip to London part 2

The wedding of the year was between Clarissa and Phil (son of Helen's sister Jo) and my nephew and godson (although I am not sure I have done a good job in that respect!). This blog is all about faces and those interested in our travels should feel free to go no further – it may upset Phil but that is no big deal and is a regular (and some may say desirable) outcome.

Phil opted for two “best men”  so that there were twice as many people to talk about him when it came to the speeches. Son Michael and very good friend Ben flank shiny top Phil.

Our younger team looked particularly well turned out and were largely attentive. From left to right Aimee, Sonia, Kellan, Baeddan, Tieve and Seren. Young Daelin and his Dad Glen are on the next row.

Clarissa’s eldest son Louis gave the first reading in the service and set a very high bar for all subsequent speakers. Both parents look justifiably proud.

Clarissa looked stunning and even Phil scrubbed up OK and almost looked presentable when sitting alongside in his (forgotten) brand name suit.

Mum Jo was determined to be noticed and the hat made sure of that. The outfit was brilliant but the appropriate notch or two below the bride.

There seemed to be a lot of this over the course of the day. No comment other than some of the youngsters were suitably embarrassed so it was a good idea.

The venue was purpose designed for weddings and was stunning. The only stress over the months since booking was whether it would be ready given this was the second wedding since opening. The ground floor floats over a pond while the wedding party looked down from the royal balcony on their rowdy invitees. It took quite a while to get everyone to listen to instructions and face outwards.

 Some although well turned out just had mischief in mind.

And this trio were no different (daughter Lianne, daughter in law Sonia and Helen’s very good school friend Ann).

Now here are some posers (Tieve, Daelin and Seren). The young ladies looked good in their matching dresses.

I’ve got a bigger one has been a theme that has cropped up with Jo on a few occasions (but I won’t go there).

So who is going to speak first and are you going to talk about when Phil…..

The Clarissa mob.

The young lads got on well (Kellan, Baeddan, Louis and Ben). Ben was not sure he should listen to some of the banter either that or he had heard the joke before.

The other half of the younger table.

This shot from an overlooking balcony really captures the architecture with its vaulted ceilings and oak structure. Some wonderful workmanship with mortise and tenon and wooden pegs…..

A bit of quiet time to run through the speech one more time. The key is to tell “the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth”

Mind you quiet time was hard to find particularly when two of the waiters suddenly burst into opera.

So saying all the speeches went very well and we all learned quite a bit more embarrassing stuff about Phil and this is a KPI of any Best Man speach. I went over to congratulate a much more relaxed Michael while Lee (a very bad influence) decided to take command of my camera.

Now here is someone clearly having a good time. The apron was a gift to those nominated to carve the roast beef on their table. An essential bit of attire and a wonderful bit of memorabilia which will be used for future cooking events thereby precipitating discussion on what was a brilliant day

A week in the country, the wedding of the year and a trip to London

The title rather says it all – a hectic week so I have compiled two blogs. This one is for the non-family reader who are interested in our travels rather than family photos. The second is for those interested in faces rather than places.

After some quick packing and the collection of a 9 seater rental car we left the boats and headed off for a week in a farmhouse in Shropshire. Great location on top of a hill with large lawn that really got a work out from mainly six of our younger team playing tag.

The view was spectacular and ever changing. The evening light and grazing neighbours made for a feel good ambiance. 

Others of course could not sit and watch the view – not when there was a much too tempting climbing wall

 And bedroom windows that were just made for a Romeo balcony.

The younger members of the family are into most things intergalactic and Dr Who is no exception. The display in Cardiff was not to be missed. You may think there is one Tardis but in fact there were quite a few on display.

I had not seen the car before but it is clear who came out on top.

Some spent quite a bit of time trying to assess what various levers and buttons did. (An enjoyable but fruitless pastime.)

I and some of the gang were taken by this “life sized” Lego Dalek which took four people some 328 hours to build. (157,460 pieces and 280 Kg… may be useful for a Trivia quiz somewhere!)

Inside was a lot of fun – but outside the weather was very Whitbyish. The exhibition is housed in a huge sculptured warehouse.

The old imposing building in the precinct is called Pierhead – maybe it was at sometime but now it is well behind the sea front.

The sculpture to lost sailors was one of the best I have seen. The weather also helped.

As soon as we got away from the sea the weather improved. Helen’s cousin Brian arrived for a meal much to the excitement of the younger team members who were more interested in accosting him than letting him through the gate.

However, Kell, Baeddan and Tieve (with a little guidance from Sonia) had arranged a lavish and varied meal with hand made individual meat pies, pizza, kebab and salad. The farmhouse type kitchen and table had ample room.

Needless to say Brian enjoyed a bit more alcohol than was appropriate for driving and decided to watch the sunset and have a sleep over.

Helen had decided that a trip to Cirencester was appropriate given its Medieval attractions and most of the team spent a few hours meandering around the local museum. I had been before so spent my time in a local garage replacing a worn and leaky car tyre!

The town is well kempt with its flowers, pedestrian ways

 And recently refurbished church.

One wedding photo that is appropriate for this blog is of a view of Mills Barn. It is a new wedding venue (this was their second since opening and was very well run – mind you with a wedding a day the processes had to be slick). The structure comprises oak vaulted ceilings with mortise and tenon joints held together with wooden pegs. The workmanship was superb and nice to see these skills have not been completely lost.

After the wedding we headed of to London as a precursor to Michael’s team heading home and the rest of us heading to the continent.

The Children and grandchildren did their own thing as Helen had a plan….

We were going straight to Kensington Palace to see Princess Di’s dresses. The palace is quite plain compared to the gates

And recently added entrance canopy celebrating the Queens diamond jubilee.

The outlook to the gardens from the first floor went on forever only interrupted by a statue of Queen Victoria.

The dresses were not what I expected but I was then told I was in the wrong chamber and that this mantua was appropriate to the 1740s.

The Lady Di’s dresses were in a transformed chamber with patterned walls which were back lit to give a soft but bright ambiance. For some a close inspection was essential.

Di had a range of designers. Some of the drawings on display had annotations by Di.

What I really had not appreciated is the imagination of the designers. The dresses on their own were really quite boring. It was only when Di was wearing them that they came to life. Conversely the dresses set the tone Diana wanted to achieve given the particular function. In short they set each other off. The smaller pictures with Diana wearing the dresses underpins how they come to life.

The other must see was the White (almost) garden arranged on the 20^th anniversary of Diana’s untimely death.

It certainly improved the view to the palace.

We then set off to the other side of Kensington Gardens to the Italian garden. The small cafeteria (which can be seen in the background) was a meeting point for some friend from Canberra at 15:00 and then for Canadian cousin Pam, Robin and Raymond at 17:00. Helen was determined to demonstrate her Project Management skills in arranging the day!

Upon Pam’s arrival we set off back across the park as we were going to the Proms. On the way was Dianna’s fountain which was more of an enormous slide for children. Great fun and very popular albeit somewhat removed from what Helen had imagined.

The walk to the Albert Hall took us past his spectacular memorial.

And adjoining gardens

We opted not to promenade but to book seats.

Dinner on the first floor was a pleasant Italian meal (although some children never grow up)

Overlooking the very well ordered queue of promenaders.

From our box (shared due to ticket re-seller issues – a story for another time) the size and clear span of the Albert Hall could start to be appreciated.

We listened to pieces from Sibelius, Rachmaninoff and Chostakovitch. A wonderful experience – which would be worth repeating. The last night of the Proms is now on the bucket list!

We returned back to site somewhat later than planned due to a goods train breaking down and the line being closed. We did find a taxi driver who had never been to the area……

The following day it was time to do some re-packing and say good by to Michael’s family. All packed and ready to go.