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| Lauren, my beautiful 28-year-old daughter |
As most of the children were
staying with us for the weekend, we had hired a manor house, so we could all be
together. At first, we turned up at a
large stone building which actually turned out to be the gatehouse to the manor
and not the manor house itself! We found
the right place in the end and were soon settled in with some good fires
roaring away.
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| Our family weekend retreat |
Lauren & Lewis had hired St
Tewdrics in Chepstow for the weekend to hold their wedding and it was a brilliant
choice. The house is owned and run by
Geraint Thomas and his wife and they have done a wonderful job converting the
house to a wedding venue. It overlooks
the River Severn and we were reminded of our abortive attempt to get up the
river on our boat from Bristol to Sharpness a few summers ago.
On Friday evening the girls from
the family and the bridesmaids had dinner at St Tewdrics while we boys all went
out for a few drinks and a meal at a pub in Chepstow.
The wedding went off without a
hitch on the Saturday and it didn’t matter that it hardly stopped raining all
day. As it was a winter wedding, Sophie,
Jo and Karen had knitted shawls for the bridesmaids. Sophie did a great job organising
the yarn and the patterns and ensuring they were produced on time and with the
same tension.
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| The shawls ready for the bridesmaids after the ceremony |
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| One proud father |
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| The happy couple |
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| The siblings table - most of our children made it |
It was great to meet up with lots
of people we haven’t seen for a while and especially good to spend time with my
oldest friends (as in friendship length), John and Miranda.
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| Not sure what we were doing but it was late in the evening – with John and Miranda |
Karen and I stayed in St Tewdrics
on the Saturday night and it was strange knowing our children were staying back
at the Airbnb without us. As Lauren
& Lewis had exclusive access to the venue, we could let Buddy stay in our
bedroom during the ceremony and we were able to take him out for the odd walk
around the grounds every so often during the rest of the day.
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| Buddy dressed for the day |
Lauren & Lewis hosted breakfast
for the family on Sunday morning and most of the children left for their
respective homes during the day. Poor
Matthew had a nightmare of a journey back to Norway as his flight from Cardiff
to Amsterdam was delayed by three hours and he ended up missing the following
connections. He had to stay overnight in
Amsterdam and then catch three more planes and a ferry before getting home 24
hours late ☹
On Sunday evening, Lauren &
Lewis took us and Lewis’s parents, Richard and Kim, out for a lovely Italian
meal on Cardiff Bay before we retired to an Airbnb nearby. We were spending a couple of nights in Cardiff
before heading home and had booked an Airbnb near the rugby stadium.
I had said that the wedding day
went without a hitch, but I had forgotten that during the speeches I had
received a message saying that the Airbnb host had cancelled our booking. This was the first time in what is now almost
30 Airbnbs that we have stayed in that this has happened. After the speeches I had managed to get on
the internet and find an alternative house to stay in. It turned out to be really nice and close to
the city centre, so we were quite happy if slightly disgruntled that we were
only offered £10 as compensation for the last-minute cancellation.
We were feeling shattered on
Monday and I was really impressed Karen still went for a run around Bute Park and
along part of the Taff Way. I took it easier
and just walked Buddy around the local area a few times during the day.
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| Crossing the Taff with the stadium in the background on one of our walks |
Cardiff has a fair selection of Victorian
post boxes still in use including this disused one that is being engulfed by a
tree!
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We will probably meet up with Lauren & Lewis for a while on Tuesday morning before heading back home.
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