Meet Me at Willow Hall: A perfectly charming romance for 2019!

‘Oh, okay. Fair enough. What about you, Rachel? What will you be looking for when you choose your wedding venue?’

My mouth dropped open. ‘Oh, I don’t know yet, really. Willow Hall is so beautiful, though.’

‘It certainly is. An ideal venue, I’d say. And Liz and I got married here, so I know it’s perfect. How about I give you the guided tour and we’ll see if I can tempt you into booking your wedding with us? After all, what better revenge than to get married at your ex-boyfriend’s family home?’ He winked at me and I laughed.

‘True.’ I felt my cheeks flush. What had I got myself into now? I wasn’t sure I could keep up the pretence of being engaged. I opened my mouth to tell him we really ought to be going home now, but Elena jumped in before I could get my words out.

‘We’d love to look round,’ she said eagerly, her eyes lighting up.

‘Great!’ Julian looked delighted. ‘Are you ready now?’

‘Yes!’ Elena said, before I could back out.

‘Great! Well, as you can see, we have the pavilion here laid out on the lawn,’ he said, gesturing to the marquee. ‘We call it the pavilion rather than the marquee because it’s a semi-permanent structure, with its own toilets and electricity supply. We can cater for up to one hundred and eighty guests in there, with space for a dance floor and a stage for a band or DJ. You’ve been in there already, haven’t you? What did you think?’

‘It was beautiful,’ Elena said. ‘Especially with all the lights on the ceiling.’

‘Yes, that’s our starry-night theme. Perfect for creating a romantic ambience. We’re really pleased with it.’

‘Do you conduct the civil ceremonies in there?’

‘No, we’re planning on holding them in the orangery or the library. Although only the orangery is ready at the moment. If you’d like to follow me, I’ll show you now.’ He led us to the end of the house where the orangery jutted out, surrounded by flowering shrubs. Crocuses flowered in the lawn, blue and yellow flowers poking up from the green grass. ‘It’s quite shady down here,’ he said, gesturing to the large oak tree nearby, ‘so it doesn’t get too hot in the midday sun. Ideal on a boiling hot summer’s day. Will you be having a civil ceremony or a church service, Elena?’

‘Church.’

‘And you, Rachel?’

‘Err, haven’t decided yet.’

‘Oh!’ Julian shot me a surprised glance. ‘You really are in the early stages of planning, aren’t you?’

I laughed nervously. ‘What about you, Julian? Did you and Liz get married in here?’

‘No, we were married in the parish church, which is just down the road. You’ll have seen it when you turned into the drive. It’s a lovely church and we’ve had a word with the vicar, who seems quite open to marrying couples from out of the parish, so that’s also an option if you choose to book with us. So, what’s your fiancé’s name, Rachel?’

I gulped, my mind immediately emptying of all possible names.

‘Jayjay,’ Elena said helpfully.

‘Jayjay?’ Julian turned to look at me, eyebrows raised. ‘Where did you meet?’

‘In my flower shop, The Birdcage,’ I said truthfully. I had met Jayjay in the shop, but only because he was Bobbi’s boyfriend. Bobbi worked in The Birdcage with me and had been seeing Jayjay for a couple of months now. They made a lovely couple, and Jayjay was cute but certainly not my type.

‘Lovely.’ Julian opened the door to the orangery and let us inside. It had been laid out as though ready for a wedding, with rows of beribboned chairs and an aisle left for the bride to walk down. ‘This can seat sixty guests, so obviously, if you wanted more guests, it would be best to choose to have the wedding in one of our other rooms, such as the library or the Great Hall when it’s finished.’

‘Great Hall? That sounds very grand.’

Julian grimaced and then laughed self-consciously. ‘Well, it’s possibly not quite as grand as it sounds. We’re still in the process of restoring it. We’re nearly there, though, so by the time anyone books a wedding we’ll have it all back to its former glory.’

‘How many weddings have you booked so far?’

‘One today, so far that is. But that’s for next year and we were rather hoping we’d get someone booking for this year. Probably a bit of a long shot. Most people book their weddings at least a year in advance. But still, we live in hope. If we could get someone to book with us this summer, that would be a great start.’

‘You could advertise,’ I suggested. ‘There’s bound to be someone who’s left everything to the last minute.’

‘Liz suggested that. I’m not sure it’s the best idea, though. It makes us sound a bit desperate to be so public about it.’

‘Where is Liz, by the way? Is she here or is she at home with the kids?’ Julian and Liz had two children and lived up in Scotland. ‘How are they all?’

‘Oh, Liz is fine. But this is home now. We all live here.’

‘Here? Really?’

‘Yes. It all came to a head last year. After Anthony’s accident, we realised we couldn’t stay living so far away. It put a lot of things into perspective and made us all sit up and open our eyes.’

I nodded. ‘How is he?’

‘He’s doing well. You saw him before, didn’t you?’

‘Yes. But we didn’t really speak.’

‘Oh, really?’ Julian looked surprised, as though he’d imagined Anthony and I having a good old chat. ‘Well, he’s fine, anyway. Recovering well. His accident made us see we’d been living our own separate lives, carrying on like it was fine to leave our mother here, managing this massive hall and twenty-two acres on her own. The more we visited, the more we realised Mother wasn’t coping quite as well as she claimed, and the old place was rather falling apart. So Liz and I moved back. We’re living in the east wing with Mother and Arthur.’

‘Arthur the gardener?’ I interrupted, remembering a bit of gossip from the Christmas before last where Julian and Liz were speculating about him and Cath being in a relationship. Anthony had been appalled by the idea.

Julian laughed. ‘Yes, we all live together now, like one big, happy family. It’s only temporary, though. Liz and I are renovating one of the houses on the estate to live in.’

‘Does Anthony live with you too?’

‘No, he’s moved into Arthur’s old cottage to be miserable on his own.’

‘He lives here, though? On the estate?’

‘Oh, yes!’ Julian looked surprised at the question. ‘Yes, we all live here now. Got to make a go of this place or else we’ll have to sell it.’

‘I kind of thought that was what Anthony wanted? He hates this place, doesn’t he?’

Julian shrugged. ‘Hmm, well, we can’t sell while Mother’s still alive. It would kill her. Right, I’ll show you the Great Hall if you want to see it?’

I glanced at Elena, who was looking eager and excited. ‘Oh, yes, please.’

He led us into the house through a side door, and we walked through long, wood-panelled corridors with high ceilings and threadbare carpets. It was gloomy, and the air smelt musty and stale, as though this part of the house was rarely used. Julian stopped at the end of the corridor and opened a door on the left.

‘Here we are,’ he said cheerfully, as we stepped into darkness. He flicked a switch on the wall, but the room remained dark. ‘Oops! Just a moment. I’ll open one of these curtains and let some light in.’ We watched as he wrestled a long, dark drape to one side, releasing clouds of dust as he did so. It sparkled in the air as the light poured in, revealing a large, rectangular room with mystery humps of furniture hidden beneath dustsheets. As my eyes slowly adjusted to the light, I started to make out family portraits hanging on the walls.

‘Wow!’ Elena said, looking round, impressed. ‘This is a great room, isn’t it?’

I turned a slow circle, taking in the sadly neglected room. It could be a great room, but right now it just made me feel sad. As a florist, I’d delivered many wedding flowers to venues like Willow Hall, and their rooms were all sparkling silverware and polished floors. It was sad to see this beautiful old house so uncared for and a shame they couldn’t have sorted it out before this wedding fair. A beautiful big room like this had the potential to convince people to have their wedding here. Especially a winter wedding. I imagined a roaring fire in the big fireplace at the end of the room, decorated with garlands of holly and mistletoe.