WHEN one of Jess Brooke Thom’s three daughters gave a speech at her wedding, she raised a peal of laughter by asking ‘third-time lucky, eh, Mummy?’ The setting, on a beach in Kenya, couldn’t have been more different from the country church in Hampshire where she had first tied the knot 30 years before.
Whatever the circumstances, any subsequent wedding should be dramatically different from the previous one. At her second, Jess battled morning sickness in a homemade dress. Her third wedding, however, struck an altogether different note: the barefoot ceremony was held on a beach at Watamu and followed by beach parties, a barbecue and an impromptu fertility ceremony (the couple, who are in their fifties, have nine children between them). ‘It was idyllic. We did it just how we wanted and with the people we wanted and the vows were our own.’
Francesca Leon and Rufus Hirsch took another route when they tied the knot last year in Old Marylebone Town Hall. They organised a no-frills event with only two witnesses and Francesca’s nine-year-old son as a ring bearer. Rufus had the rings made from salvaged gold. ‘It was a very simple ceremony, which was purely about the vows,’ says Francesca. ‘We had no readings or music—there was no one to entertain.’ They celebrated with lunch in a restaurant nearby.
Denne historien er fra March 11, 2020-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra March 11, 2020-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Tales as old as time
By appointing writers-in-residence to landscape locations, the National Trust is hoping to spark in us a new engagement with our ancient surroundings, finds Richard Smyth
Do the active farmer test
Farming is a profession, not a lifestyle choice’ and, therefore, the Budget is unfair
Night Thoughts by Howard Hodgkin
Charlotte Mullins comments on Moght Thoughts
SOS: save our wild salmon
Jane Wheatley examines the dire situation facing the king of fish
Into the deep
Beneath the crystal-clear, alien world of water lie the great piscean survivors of the Ice Age. The Lake District is a fish-spotter's paradise, reports John Lewis-Stempel
It's alive!
Living, burping and bubbling fermented masses of flour, yeast and water that spawn countless loaves—Emma Hughes charts the rise and rise) of sourdough starters
There's orange gold in them thar fields
A kitchen staple that is easily taken for granted, the carrot is actually an incredibly tricky customer to cultivate that could reduce a grown man to tears, says Sarah Todd
True blues
I HAVE been planting English bluebells. They grow in their millions in the beechwoods that surround us—but not in our own garden. They are, however, a protected species. The law is clear and uncompromising: ‘It is illegal to dig up bluebells or their bulbs from the wild, or to trade or sell wild bluebell bulbs and seeds.’ I have, therefore, had to buy them from a respectable bulb-merchant.
Oh so hip
Stay the hand that itches to deadhead spent roses and you can enjoy their glittering fruits instead, writes John Hoyland
A best kept secret
Oft-forgotten Rutland, England's smallest county, is a 'Notswold' haven deserving of more attention, finds Nicola Venning
