Our Wedding

Where

The marriage ceremony itself will take place under an ash tree (weather permitting!) in the churchyard of St Andrew's, Great Rollright, Oxfordshire, UK.

A winter view of St Andrew's church, Great Rollright. More views of the church are here.

Latitude: 51:58:43N (51.9808)
Longitude: 1:31:48W (-1.5247)
UK Grid Ref: SP323312

• Great Rollright is about 20 miles (c. 30 km) north-west of Oxford, and about 10 miles (c. 15 km) south-west of Banbury (see this map).
• The nearest airport is Birmingham International, about 35 miles (c. 60 km) away. However, it is easy to get from London Heathrowto Oxford.
• The nearest railway station is Kingham, about 7 miles (c. 10 km) distant.
• The nearest motorway junction is M40 junction 11 (Banbury), which is about 11 miles (c. 18 km) away.
• Take the A361 towards Chipping Norton, then minor roads to Great Rollright (better directions to follow!)
• Here is an aerial photograph of Great Rollright, showing the church.
• Finally, this map shows street names in the village.

When

Saturday 18^th June 2005

More about the ceremony

• Our Best Man will be Dr Tony Guerra, a geomorphologist like Dave, all the way from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Thanks, Tony!
• As the ceremony will be outside, it would be good if you could bring a blanket or folding seat to sit on. (You might also want to use this afterwards, at the reception, since the grassy area around the village hall is ideal for picnic-style eating.)
• The church has a 'no confetti' policy. This because confetti is hard to get rid of, and so eventually ends up as a soggy mess in the churchyard. So please don’t throw anything at us!
• If you are driving to Great Rollright, we are putting up signs showing parking spaces. Please only park in the 'Reserved parking' area next to the church if you have been asked to do so (this is for people who might have difficulty in walking from the other parking areas).
• We are not having a professional photographer. What would be great, is if everyone who takes photos could give us their best two or three pics. We'll then put these on this website, for all to see.

The reception/party

The wedding reception will be at Great Rollright village hall, which is a five-minute walk from the church.

• Food: we have decided to have a pig roast, so if you are vegetarian (we are) please let us know. We'll provide an alternative.
• Drink: please bring a bottle! (See 'Wedding donations' below.)
• There will be live dance music from the Hookey Band, but we hope that anybody else who would like to play or sing will get a chance too… the more the merrier! So that we can organise this, would performers please let us know in advance. We will organise a running order; Frank Underwood will introduce the musicians. Dave will definitely be playing!

The next day

There are about 180 people coming, at the most recent count. Which means that, no matter how determined Jo and me might be, there is no way that we are going to be able to say very much to each guest on the day of the wedding. We thought therefore that it would be good — at least for those who are staying in the vicinity on the night of 18 June — to arrange to meet up on the next day, i.e. the lunchtime of Sunday 19 June, in the Pear Tree pub, Hook Norton.

There is a nice garden there, where (weather permitting) we can all chat to our hearts' content. (Note that we can arrange to be there then, because we are not having a honeymoon.)

Wedding donations

As we both have huge amounts of 'stuff' between us already, we would rather not have any presents. Instead, we ask that you:

• Please bring a bottle! We will not be having a paying bar.
• Please make a donation to one (or more!) of these:
  • St Andrew's restoration fund (e.g. cheque to church)
  • Greenpeace
  • UNICEF

Accommodation

For those guests who need local accommodation: first, here is a list of pubs offering accommodation, guest houses, etc.

Parking

Because Great Rollright is a small village, there are not many places to park. So we've fixed up three designated parking areas. These will be signposted.

In addition, for those with limited mobility, there will be designated parking areas. Please don't park in these unless you have been invited to do so.

More about the area

Two views of the Rollright Stones. The picture on the left is part of the main stone circle. That on the right is the Whispering Knights, originally a burial chamber.

• The village shop at Great Rollright is in Old Forge Road.
• Before or after our wedding, you might want to visit the Rollright Stones, a Neolithic stone circle, which is nearby. Here is a 360° panoramic view of the stones.
• Also very close is Hook Norton Brewery (still powered by a steam engine), which has a visitor centre and shop. Many of the pubs in the area sell Hook Norton ale!
• There are also lots of other places to visit in the Oxfordshire Cotswolds.
• If you enjoy walking, there are many pleasant walks in the area. The Ordnance Survey's Cotswold Walks (especially Walk 27, 'The Rollright Stones') and More Cotswold Walks are good guidebooks.
• For those with an interest in soil erosion, John Quinton tells me that there are a couple of eroding sites in the area which he monitored while at Silsoe. In John's words: "They were two small catchments at Cold Harbour Farm and Heath Farm. Weir locations were: 434390 230490 and 432190 231520. They both had erosion on them, the first down the talweg, while the second had really interesting little springs coming out of the hillside and causing erosion." Likely to be heavily vegetated in June, but maybe worth a quick look.