We travelled by bus, train, plane and hire car to arrive at
Birdsgrove House in Mayfield near Ashbourne, a town in the south of the Derbyshire
Peak District National Park. Laura found the house for this special weekend when we expected a total of 21 guests arriving from all over England and from Switzerland.
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| Birdsgrove House in Ashbourne |
Grandma Joan was the first to arrive. The house was cold, and fires were not lit but the heating was turned on. Not what we expected for July! On our arrival, via Sainsbury's to stock up with food, we had a quick tour of the house and its systems from Kerry Rasdall, who manages the place. We had been in regular contact for weeks beforehand and I was pleased to meet her at last. We saw the extensive reception rooms, the kitchen and scullery, learnt about the door keys and entertainment system - quite complicated - before viewing the
bedrooms. There were 11 of these upstairs and 1 downstairs, each
named after a bird, with various bathroom facilities. I had worked out the sleeping arrangements beforehand to meet everyone's needs, and hoped it would work. Our room was
Kingfisher, small but with a bathroom. Then we had to rush off to Derby to meet the first of the arrivals by train - Matthew, Sarah and Laura. Finding the station was not entirely straightforward.
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| The grounds were beautiful and very green! |
We arrived back at the house over an hour later to find that Lesley, David and the Kings Heath Clixbys - Hugh, Julie, Jess and Joe - had all arrived. Rooms were quickly allocated and bathrooms noted and food and wine stashed in the fridges and cupboards. The kitchen took a day or two to get used to. It was large with a centre island and a dining table seating 10. The wedding dinner would be held in the Dining Room and the table arrangements needed some revision - a job for later. We started preparing the
buffet supper - it was a bit chaotic with everyone contributing skills and suggestions. Meanwhile Richard returned to Derby to collect Sam, Frannie and the
wedding cake. After our ham, cheese, tomatoes, hummus and various drinks, we sat down in the sitting room to chat. Kathryn arrived later by taxi. I was exhausted and we all had an early night.
