A Wedding in Hampshire

Well, what a hectic few days we’ve had.  We arrived in Portsmouth on Friday afternoon and checked into our B&B in Southside – The Birchwood.  The area is a little seedy and rundown, but there is much activity with renovations going on everywhere.  The Birchwood is a fully and beautifully renovated 3 level terrace and the owners, Ken and Heather are rightfully proud of what they’ve achieved.  They have spared nothing – the bedrooms are comfortable and well furnished, the bathrooms are beautifully finished with power-showers and plenty of space and lots of hot water.  We explored the area for an hour or so and decided where we’d eat that night – lots of little pubs around with good menus.  Later we had a main course at “The Florence” of Three Little Pigs – 3 ways with pork, lots of chips and veges – the black pudding was deep fried and oily but the rest was great.  Saturday was a day off – Jules and Kate were off to the hairdresser & I walked to the D-Day Museum and thoroughly enjoyed some time out for a couple of hours.

Sunday dawned fine and clear – a great day for a wedding and in the early afternoon we drove to The Tithe Barn in West Sussex.  The Tithe Barn is quite spectacular – “tithe” means tax which is the crop tax paid by farmers on a rented property and stored in the barn of the landlord.  It is beautifully restored and converted to an events venue.  The groom, Dan and his two brothers Matt and Paul were ready & waiting whilst champagne was served outside, then we all (some 70 guests) were ushered inside for the arrival of the bride, Emma and mother Kate, who both looked fantastic – I heard a little catch in the Princess’s throat.  The wedding went off well and the luncheon was amazing – catered by the company both Dan and Emma worked for when they met – Dan being a chef and Emma an events coordinator.  The after-party and dancing was excellent and the food kept coming – a great day.

The following day, the drizzle began again and kept up and the planned BBQ at Kate’s was moved indoors (as is often the case in the UK) and the party started all over again.  Dan’s parents and brothers and a sister all attended with partners and another great day was had by all.  After two days of partying, we needed an early night, so we said our good-byes at a reasonable hour and drove back to Birchwood.

Tuesday morning we retrieved our car from street parking some hundreds of metres away – parking is a major problem in Portsmouth, in fact in most places – and headed off north to Coventry where we visited the cathedral, which has been built and destroyed a number of times – first by Henry XVIII when the Benedictines were tossed out in the early 1600’s, then during WWII when the re-built cathedral was destroyed by bombing.  There is now a new and spectacular cathedral on the site next to the bombed predecessor, but the remains of the old cathedral have been kept as a memorial.  It is quite a moving sight and old timbers from the bombed cathedral form the cross in the old alter space.  After a bite to eat we returned to the road for our drive to the Princess’s birthplace – Derby – and our visit to childhood friends, Kay and Steve.