Holmbush House, Country House and Wedding Venue
Holmbush House
Holmbush House is a Grade II* Listed Country Mansion built in1823 for the Broadwood family. The property is approached via atree-lined drive and occupies an elevated position with rural viewsand is surrounded by open countryside. Middle Holmbush House,as its name suggests, comprises one of the middle portions of thisformer country mansion and provides a generous house with elegantaccommodation with numerous period features and many of therooms benefitting from attractive views to the front or to the rear of theproperty. Of particular note are the kitchen/breakfast room which wasthe kitchen to the original country house and the drawing room withits high vaulted ornate ceilings and tall twin sash windows which wasthe billiard room to the original house.The accommodation is arranged over three levels with the ground floorbeing accessed via a hallway leading to the reception hall featuring agrand staircase with attractive turned spindles, half panelled walls anda colourful original tiled floor. The ground floor comprises a diningroom with views to the front of the house, the family room with accessand views to the private and communal gardens and the generouskitchen/breakfast room with windows overlooking the shared innercourtyard garden. In addition to the bedroom accommodationarranged on the first and second floors there are two further receptionrooms, the first floor sitting room with views over the rear garden andthe first floor drawing room with views to the front of the house as wellas a generous landing which could provide a bright study area. Theproperty also benefits from having a small cellar and a double garage.SituationThe village of Faygate with its railway station is ½ a mile distantand Colgate with its primary school and church is about 1½ milesdistant. The major commercial centre of Horsham is about 3miles away and provides a wide range of shopping, recreationaland entertainment amenities together with schools for all agesand a main line railway station with a fast and regular service toLondon (Victoria) and London Bridge.
Country House
The English country house is generally accepted as a large house or mansion, once in the ownership of an individual who also usually owned another great house in town allowing one to spend time in the country and in the city. Country houses and stately homes are sometimes confused-while a country house is always in the country, a stately home can also be in a town. Apsley House, built for the Duke of Wellington at the corner of Hyde Park ('No. 1, London' it was called), is one example. Other country houses such as Ascott in Buckinghamshire were deliberately designed not to be stately, and to harmonise with the landscape, while some of the great houses such as Kedleston Hall and Holkham Hall were built as "power houses" to impress and dominate the landscape, and were certainly intended to be "stately homes". Today many former "stately homes", while still country houses, are far from stately and most certainly not homes.
The country house was not only a weekend retreat for aristocrats, but also often a full time residence for the minor gentry who were a central node in the "squirearchy" that ruled Britain until the Reform Act 1832 (as documented in The Purefoy Letters, 1735-53 by L G Mitchell). Even some of the formal business of the shire was transacted in the Hall.
Weddings and Venues
The Western custom of a bride wearing a white wedding dress came to symbolize purity in the Victorian era, not virginity. Within the "white wedding" tradition, a white dress and veil is not considered appropriate in the second or subsequent wedding of a widow or divorcee. The specific conventions of Western weddings, largely from a Protestant and Catholic viewpoint, are discussed at "white wedding."
A wedding is often followed or accompanied by a wedding reception, which in some areas may be known as the 'Wedding Breakfast', at which an elaborate wedding cake is served. Western traditions include toasting the couple, the newlyweds having the first dance, and cutting the cake. A bride may throw her bouquet to the assembled group of all unmarried women in attendance, with folklore suggesting the person who catches it will be the next to wed. A fairly recent equivalent has the groom throwing the bride's garter to the assembled unmarried men; the man who catches it is supposedly the next to wed.
The Wedding Breakfast is one occasion where every member of the family who has had at least some role in the wedding is present. It is also important as the first time the newly married bride and groom share their first meal together as a lawfully wedded couple. The word Breakfast comes from a more ancient tradition of fasting before the wedding ceremony, the Wedding Breakfast is therefore 'breaking that fast'. The modern Wedding Breakfast includes the service of food to guests that can range from traditional roasts, buffets, or regional treats such as in the case of a London Wedding in the 'East End'.
A modern tradition is for brides to wear or carry "something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue" during the service. It is considered good luck to do so. Often the bride attempts to have one item that meets all of these qualifications, such as a borrowed blue handkerchief which is "new to her" but loaned by her grandmother (thus making it old). Another addition to this custom is to wear a coin in one's shoe to bring prosperity.
The full text of the verse is:
Something old, something new,
Something borrowed, something blue,
And silver sixpence in your shoe.
Hedsor House, Stoke Park and Leeds Castle are some of the most famous and used wedding venues around London.