WHAT A RUSH- BUT THE WEDDING WAS WORTH IT

I couldn't believe it! We had actually booked a wedding for the coming June , it was already February, and there were two huge areas which needed complete renovaton, the long gallery and the Grand Salon. The reception hall was where work had already begun, so we decided to continue with that first of all. Archie continued with the walls and Victoria, my daughter, and I decided to tackle the original floor tiles. They were beautiful, the pattern in cream and rust colours, but the condition was not good with thick layers of old varnish and spattered with paint here and there. We spent at least two weeks on our knees and gradually cleaned back the tiles to their original brilliant colours. Mum helped too, particularly with providing tea breaks!

The long wood panelled gallery was 60 feet in length, with large windows and french doors opening out onto the south facing terrace over-looking the rear grounds down to the lake. The flooring was herring bone parquet which needed stripping back and re-staining and waxing. Some cracked windows needed replacing, and the panelling needed re-staining. We decided to live with the wallpaper, and just hang pictures.

This the end part of the gallery when we first moved in, unfortunately it doesn't show the lovely l windows .

So, over the following months we all worked so hard, the men more than the 'gals because of the 'nature of the beast'! Alex needed to go and buy a mobile scaffold to enable the decoration of the ceiling in the grand Salon! The work needed was so intricate, with all the garlands of flowers, and of course, the ceiling height was just short of 5 metres . He came back , proud as punch, delighted that he had got a real bargain for this 4 metre square "échafaudage" with wheels- saying that it had only cost £150 !!! When they went to collect it in a borrowed van the next day he came down to earth with a bang-- it was really £1500!! After getting over the shock, we laughed a lot and all decided that Alex had better swot up on his french! So, little by little the work progressed and it was hard but fun. Finally the Grand salon was finished....
We decided on different shades of green, with multi-coloured garlands.

The floor had been restored beautifully by Archie ...

Finally June arrived and everything was ready. Our only commitment was the hiring of the rooms, all the catering was being provided by a company of caterers who would staff the occasion and also provide 'le vin d'honneur' which would take place in the reception hall. Guy had also taken care of the music which was to set up in the Grand Salon; the wedding breakfast was to be in the gallery. To our surpise and great pleasure we had been invited to join the wedding party.

This is the gallery set up for the wedding breakfast, as you can see it leads into the G.salon

The bride at the ' vin d'honneur. Bizzarely I do not have a photo of the bride and groom together;also the quality of my photos are poor - sorry!

Some of the wedding party gathering for a photo on the steps from the terrace.

Like all french weddings, the food was superb --10 courses-- we were still eating at 1am. The ambiance was fantastic and we joined in the dancing. It continued until 5am ( we had not put a time restriction on as we were attending) when the onion soup was served! YUK! But it is a traditional french custom sometimes observed at french weddings and is supposed to have a sobering effect. After this the marital couple left for their honeymoon! AAAAHHHHH bless!