Caverswall Castle, Laura and Leo

Congratulations to Laura and Leo on their wedding at Caverswall Castle. What wonderful friends you have to come all the way from America to share the day with you. This was our first time at Caverswall and whilst the room was a little smaller than we are used to  it suited the assembly and there was no difficulty in filling the dance floor throughout the night.

During the interval we roamed around the castle and admired the fireplace with its tiles, the wooden  panelling and wacky tapestries, potted the black on the full-size snooker table and rummaged through the books in the library.

Outside in the garden, amidst the chains of fairy lights, we watched as Chinese lanterns were released  to bring good luck to one and all. They looked very pretty, rising slowly into the night sky until the wind caught them and they drifted ever higher out of sight (even though one did get caught in a tree – everyone denied responsibility for that one).

Back inside the dancing continued even wilder than before with one of the dancers cavorting with a helmet 'borrowed' from one of the household suits of armour  to protect his head from the lights on the low ceiling. Unfortunately this image, a ceili first, has been lost to posterity as Mike, who took these pictures,  was at the time making up the numbers dancing. Has anyone got a picture of this?

Later we overheard another one of the guests say that  she had always wanted  to go to a dance from a Jane Austen novel. I don't think Jane ever danced whilst wearing a metal bonnet but the elegant room, the posh frocks (daps excepted), the screams of laughter and the wild romping through the figures did remind me of a scene from Kilvert's Diary. You can read it here.

Anyway, I'm sure Jane  always had a full dance card so here's a list of Sylvia's dances for you to fill in your own:

The Cock o' the North / 100 Pipers
The Snowball
Goatland Square Eight
Discouraging Waltz / Ragtime Annie
Clopton Bridge
Old Swan Gallop
The Siege of Delhi / The Earl's Chair
Circle Mixer
Strip the Willow
Midnight on the Water / Waltz Vienna
Waterloo Dance
Shebag and Shemor / Give me your Hand
Polka Off

And finally, can anyone explain  Sylvia's cryptic comment made after after the spontaneous display of dancing during Ragtime Annie: `What a wonderful display of conkers'. I have no idea. Whilst you're all pondering that here are some pictures inside the castle.