The Last Leg: Cambridgeshire

The third and last leg of our venue search was in Cambridgeshire and we had seven of them to see including a 'mystery' venue that Tom's mum and dad sorted out for us.

We arrived on Friday afternoon and had a lovely evening with Ann and Tony, some sparkling red wine, steak and lots of cheese - a great start to the weekend.  We chatted lots about the wedding and it was a really enjoyable evening.

Up early on Saturday morning to see the first batch.  We started with Hinchingbrooke House; Tom's old school.  It's a beautiful Tudor country house and homed Queen Elizabeth I, Richard and Oliver Cromwell and The Earl of Sandwich - well if it's good enough for them then it's good enough for the Elliott/Amos Wedding!

There was one problem and that was whether Tom could get over the fact that it was his school.  He was worried that throughout the day he's be distracted by memories - the place where we'd have the evening buffet was where he took his Maths A Level for example and it's hard to get past that fact I think.  So we put this to one side to make a decision on it once we'd visited everywhere.

Next up was Bassmead Manor, a rustic barn really near to Tom's mum and dads - I had high hopes for this, having really liked Cripps Barn in Gloucestershire but we felt let down by it to be honest.  The actual barn was gorgeous, a good shape and size but the gentleman showing us around really wasn't interested.  Basically they just hire you the barn and expect you to do everything else - which is fine, but would leave me feeling nervous and just not in control.  They also didn't have a bar licence for the evening which would mean we'd have to pay for all the guests food and drink - all day and night.  With our guests that may turn out to be costly! - so that one was out.

We then had a meeting with Revered Ally Barrett in the afternoon.  She is a really nice, a bit scatty, but friendly and approachable vicar.  I say approachable because when you are going for tea with the vicar you are never too sure what it's going to be like.  Was she going to grill us on our religious preferences?  Ask us why we don't attend church regularly?  Preach to us about the importance of marriage etc.. We didn't really know what to expect.  So we were a little bit relieved when she was really lovely - talked us through the marriage service, what we need to do next, we chatted about hymns and readings and music and it was a very pleasant hour.  She's penciled us in for the dates we requested and we'll take it from there.

The Old Bridge hotel at Huntingdon was our last venue visit of the day - better than I thought being a hotel but not right for us.

We had a lovely evening with Dave and Kim, they got married in July this year so it was great to catch up with them, get their thoughts on their special day and advice on the run up to our day.  They looked so happy as Mr and Mrs Sacker and it was very exciting to think that we'll be next!

Sunday came and was a beautiful sunny day - perfect for driving round Cambridgeshire.  South Farm in South Cambridge was our first visit and we were in for a treat!  A privately owned, beautifully restored country house and barn.  A working farm since the 19th Century, South Farm is a little bit different.  It really had the WOW factor as we drove up to the venue.  They grow, rear and catch, harvest vegetables, fruit, eggs and poultry, geese and pigs from their fertile gardens and paddocks, monster trout from the lake, and game from the surrounding estate!  Its a complete little gem and we both adored it!

I won't mention too much because we haven't decided yet but it's very high on our lists.  We left, veggie bag in tow, (how cool!) feeling very excited!

We still had three venues left to see.  Ann and Tony's mystery venue turned out to be one of the hotels that had cancelled on me earlier in the week and they had managed to get us in to have a look.  We saw this and another hotel and, although they were both lovely venues, I think it confirmed me and Tom's decision that we just wanted somewhere a bit different.

The last place we saw was Kimbolton Castle - another stunning country house!  For us however, it was a bit too school like, unlike Hinchingbrooke it was a bit too formal and school-esque.  Although how cool would it be to get married in a castle!!

So that concludes our venue search!  For us there are two clear leaders and now me and Tom have to sit down, glass of wine in hand preferably, and go through numbers and options - then we can finally book and have a date!

Helen xxx