Village wedding

Vernham Dean could be the dashing hero of a Mills & Boon novel. It’s actually the Hampshire village where my friend Steve grew up, and where he and Tanya are having their wedding.

Steve and Tanya both sing with the London Bulgarian Choir, which is decamping en masse to the countryside, turning one of the village’s cricket fields into a campsite.

Best wedding accommodation ever

With tents pitched and gladrags donned, it’s time for the do. The ceremony is a blessing, held in the village pond – now drained thankfully. Our friends have already tied the knot officially, but want all their friends and family to seal the deal, spiritually. This involves reading declarations out loud together, which has the bride dissolving into fits of giggles as she thinks of Life of Brian. ‘You are all individuals,’ she says. 'We are all individuals,' we reply. 

Here comes the bride

'We are all individuals'

True to country tradition, the reception is at Steve’s uncle’s pub, The George, with a hog roast and lashings of local cider. 

Chris takes on the cider challenge

Me and Tanya

Then it’s off to the village hall for a knees-up to a live ceilidh band and a slice of a wedding cake that four different people have baked remotely and assembled on site.

First dance

Wedding cake – with figs!

Next morning, breakfast for the campers is in the cricket pavilion that Steve’s father built, to do something positive for the community following the loss of his wife. It’s a lovely place to sing as we munch on our toast.

Mr East's pavilion

Breakfast tunes

A walk takes in a glimpse of the newlyweds at the window of their room above the pub, the atmospheric grounds of the local church – at the gate is an old water pump hailing from the river Clyde in Scotland – tree-lined brideways and rolling Wessex downs.

The newlyweds are sighted

Et voila!

Sunshine and graves

Pump it up

A last yomp before we head for home on the M4 takes us up to an ancient hill fort at Fosbury, for a little more singing and one hell of an album-cover shot.

Climbing up on Fosbury Hill

Walking the fort