Country Treat!

by Peter Lampard
(London)

We got married this year at Huntstile Organic Farm in the beautiful county of Somerset - our 'legal' bit was taken care of in the local registry office but our fabulous ceremony took place at the stone circle in the open countryside on top of a hill with the most amazing breathtaking views! The weather was sunny and it was simply a perfect day.

We were taken up the hill on hay trailers (very Thomas Hardy!) and some of us chose to walk down afterwards, others hitched a lift back with the tractor & trailers. We were greeted with glasses of chilled champagne & a wonderful (home-grown)strawberry tea which was eaten in Lizzie & John's beautiful farmhouse garden. The resident jazz band gently played in the background. All my friends and family chatted & drank & milled around the garden - then we had a delicious buffet, prepared by Lizzie & her team from locally grown food, and we did the speeches & toasts in the marquee.

Later on we moved into the farmhouse dining hall, where we enjoyed the sounds of 'Snappa', a great local band from Bridgwater & a disco until 2am. There are about 6 or 7 rooms in the house and they also have a camping area meaning lots of people could stay in & around the house - so we could all have breakfast together on Sunday in the marquee.

We had 96 guests. Our parents bought the wine & bubbly (thank you) and rest was as follows:

Farmhouse hire for whole weekend, accommodation, marquee, camping + all food (cream tea, buffet, breakfast): £4875
Wedding Rings: antiques from Marlows £290 + £200
Sandra's Dress & Shoes: (re-cycled from dress agency) £150
Peter's Suit: (as above dress agency) £65
Band & disco - Snappa: £600
Flowers (locally sourced): £550
Misc. extras: £500
Total......................£7230
BARGAIN!!!!

They couldn't have been more helpful at Huntstile, in fact they went out of their way to make sure everything went smoothly & to ensure all had a great time. The food was lovely - excellent vegetarian choices (not a veggie lasagne in sight!!) and best of all there was no stress, no anxiety, just very relaxed and lots and lots of fun!