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Charlie

A rustic and friendly wedding venue surrounded by rolling countryside – a visit to Huntstile Organic Farm in Somerset

Charlie

A few weeks ago Mr Rigg and I were lucky enough to be invited to spend a night at Huntstile Organic Farm in Somerset. Hunstile is one of the beautiful wedding venues listed on The Natural Wedding Company directory – it’s a gorgeous organic farm run by some of the loveliest people I’ve ever met.

We were warmly welcomed to Huntstile by Lizzie and John (the farm has been in John’s family since 1951 but dates back to the 15th century!) after making our way down lush green winding lanes. The farmhouse is breathtaking, a mixture of warm stone, mullioned windows, and white wash – the ancient front door thick and full of secrets.

Surrounded by rolling farmland, stunning views and a lovely menagerie of goats, ducks and pigs, Huntstile Organic Farm is a tiny piece of heaven and I can’t imagine a more lovely setting for a relaxed country wedding.

Huntstile even has its own stone circle where you can hold a marriage ceremony atop a hill overlooking the farm, a magical spot on the edge of a small copse with views all around. To get you and your guests to the stone circle, Lizzie and John have a wedding tractor and trailer, or if you’re getting married locally in church you can also arrive by tractor.

Charlie

Inspiration for a spring wedding menu featuring foraged wild leaves and edible flowers

Charlie

Sometimes emails land in your inbox that totally inspire you, I had one such email last week from Sarah at Eat My Flowers with her ideas for floral inspired menu. Immediately I was dreaming up a spring wedding picnic based on her menu ideas and thought that you all might like to be inspired as well.

Why not serve your wedding guests a slightly different take on the English afternoon tea, starting with dainty sandwiches filled with organic free range egg and wild hedgerow leaves. Almost too pretty to eat!

Sarah suggests “Swap one layer of the free range egg mayonnaise with a selection of wild leaves such as sorrel and hedge mustard, and edible flowers such wild rocket, violas and mustard. The peppery leaves and flowers make a novel alternative to cress.”

Charlie

New Wives Club #6: how to grow your own cut flowers – equipment and how to grow

Charlie

Last week on the New Wives Club we started this two part feature on how to grow cut flowers by looking at what to grow. If you missed the part one, make sure you catch up by reading ‘how to grow your own cut flowers – what to grow’ first.

Today I have the concluding part of this lovely feature by Chloe from BareBlooms, looking at the equipment you need and a step-by-step guide on how to grow your chosen flowers. You’ll also find some top tips from Chloe at the bottom of the post, along with a glossary like we included in part one. So without further ado I hand you over to Chloe…

Equipment

There is a lot of choice out there (seed trays, modules, pots etc) but as a lover of thrift I’m going to concentrate on the budget options. I like to sow larger seeds into Jiffy 7s – these are little dehydrated compost pellets – and the advantage of these is that you don’t need to buy bags of seed compost, which is handy if you’re short of space. For those who are environmentally-minded you can get peat-free ones made from coir.

Charlie

Book a place on the Blooming Green wedding flowers course in Kent

Charlie

For all of us who want to get ‘stuck in’ with our wedding days, we really are spoilt with fantastic opportunities to learn how to do a multitude of things, from making vintage inspired bridal headpieces to learning how to put together a bouquet. And even if we decide in the end not to use the skills, they are wonderful fun.

Blooming Green, one of the florists from TNWC directory, is running a course especially for brides wanting to learn how to do some of their wedding flowers. The course is taking place on Sunday 13th May 2012 at their farm in Kent. You’ll get to learn how to make a hand-tied bouquet, buttonhole and a stunning, yet simple, table centre, using fresh flowers from their plot.

Run by cousins Jen and Bek, the Blooming Green wedding flowers course is perfect for brides-to-be who have chosen to arrange their own cut flowers for their wedding. Also included is a delicious lunch using local produce, prepared by Chef Nicci Gurr, who trained with the Roux Brothers.

Charlie

Celebrate with a 10% discount from Little Cherry wedding products

Charlie

To celebrate joining the directory and as a thank you to all those lovely TNWC visitors who’ve been on their website, Little Cherry is offering our readers an exclusive 10% discount on all their products. Little Cherry sells a variety of items that are perfect for a more natural wedding, so take a look at some of them below and head over to their website to claim your discount.

Charlie

A spring open day and photoshoot to celebrate the new cathedral size wedding yurt from Hooe’s Yurts

Charlie

The Easter weekend saw a fabulous open day hosted by Hooe’s Yurts in deepest, most beautiful Devon. They were celebrating the completion of their huge new 44ft yurt – a cathedral sized structure that can seat 120 wedding guests, or even linked to smaller yurts to create an even bigger space.

Charlie

Put your money where your heart is with the new Etsy wedding gift list

Charlie

I have long been a fan of Etsy for its incredible choice of beautiful handmade items – both mine and Mr Rigg’s wedding rings (engagement and his wedding band) came from Etsy sellers around the world. In the past I have featured all kinds of wedding goodies from Etsy sellers, but now Etsy has launched a fabulous new feature for brides- and grooms-to-be.

The brand new Etsy Weddings website allows you to find the latest weddings trends, how-to’s, expert advice and inspirational stories from real couples. They have also launched the Etsy Wedding Registry, so you can put together a wedding gift list from all the fabulous independent Etsy sellers around the world.

Charlie

Book your place on our cut flower growing and arranging workshop with Catkin Flowers

Charlie

Back at the beginning of April I ran a competition in conjunction with Catkin Flowers to win a place on an upcoming (and exclusive to The Natural Wedding Company) cut flower growing and arranging course. The very lucky Nik won the competition, but for those of you still keen to come there are an additional 8 places now available.

If you’d like to join myself, Nik, and Rachel from Catkin Flowers for a lovely day of learning how you can start your own cut flower garden and how to arrange with homegrown flowers, then read on…

Who’s the workshop for?

Have you ever dreamt of starting your own small cut flower garden? A little patch where you can pick your own, homegrown flowers to put in bunches around your house? Have you ever dreamt of learning how to arrange them in pretty bouquets, perhaps to give as gifts to family, or maybe for yours or a friends wedding?

If you answered yes to any of those then we’d love you join us on this workshop. It’s also a great opportunity for readers of The Natural Wedding Company to get together for a fun day with like-minded people – whether you are married, engaged or just a lover of seasonal cut flowers.

Charlie

New Wives Club #5: how to grow your own cut flowers – what to grow

Charlie

The idea of growing your own cut flowers seems to be popular at the moment, with many of us dreaming of a small patch of ground dedicated to our own supply of pretty blooms that we can raid to decorate ours homes. The most difficult part, I find, is translating that dream into a reality.

In a bid to get myself a small patch of cut flowers, and to encourage and help you to as well, I’ve enlisted the help of Chloe from BareBlooms to share some of her tips on how to start your own cutting garden. Chloe grows many of her own flowers for her business BareBlooms, which provides beautiful seasonal flowers for weddings, you may well have seen some of her work when I featured Rhiannon’s wild September bouquet on the blog.

Charlie

The Oxfam Wedding Auction coming this weekend!

Charlie

You might well have already heard about the fantastic Oxfam Wedding Auction project via Annabel at Love My Dress, but I wanted to share details and show my support for this wonderful project.

Starting on Sunday 29th April and running until Wednesday 9th May 2012 Oxfam Weddings will be hosting an online auction of incredible wedding items totalling over £70,000. All the funds raised from the auction will go to support Oxfam’s charitable causes.

There is an absolutely fantastic line up of wedding items to bid on, and reading through the list I was delighted to spot a number of TNWC businesses involved. Those TNWC businesses who have donated items to the wedding auction are:

Sabina Motasem Bride – three wedding dresses up for grabs

The Vintage Wedding Dress Company – a choice of any of their wedding dresses at a value of £1,500

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