Yes it’s that time of year again … February 14 and love is definitely in the air. Everyhwere you turn the media is full of articles about how to make Valentine’s Day special.

A true romantic thinks of Valentine’s Day as THE day when they might make or receive a wedding proposal. Some even follow through and continue the ‘romance’ of the occasion by choosing February 14 as their wedding day the following year.

Here at Eastnor Castle we have the perfect setting for a romantic wedding on Valentine’s Day and numerous couples over the years have celebrated their wedding with us on February 14. However, it’s not just the romantic setting they come here for …. it’s the extra special touches that we can offer to reflect the romance of their individual love story.

A couple photographed after their wedding at Eastnor Castle

Two things generally associated with the idea of love and romance are flowers and candles.

Flowers - the choice of flowers and how they compliment the ‘romance’ of our castle wedding setting is crucial. Here at Eastnor we take great pride in the expertise of the florists who provide our wedding flowers.

Candles - at Eastnor Castle we can create a truly romantic, candlelit setting for the wedding breakfast using candles and beautiful candelabras around the State Dining Room. Being a castle we also have open fires that add a warm, romantic glow to the candlelit atmosphere.

A romantic wedding breakfast in the State Dining Room at Eastnor Castle

So if you accept a wedding proposal this Valentine’s Day and want to have a truly romantic wedding then look no further than Eastnor Castle. We will be delighted to help create the most special day … but hurry, the few dates we have left this summer will go quickly as will February 14 2011 which is STILL available! View our wedding availability and rates page for more details or call our Wedding Co-Ordinator Becky Johnson on 01531 633160.

Although it feels more like winter at the moment, spring cleaning is about to start. There is always some competition between the office, who want to take bookings, and the housekeeping side, who want uninterrupted possession to ensure our guests find a clean house, but a compromise is usually reached in February, our low season.

Over the years, we have invested in more and more new equipment and cleaning products, although for certain jobs, elbow grease, such as polishing, is still the best. We have a scaffold tower for high-level dusting and cleaning picture frames and vacuuming tapestries, and a selection of brushes, feather dusters and chemicals for marble, wood, enamel and rugs. We are more limited now on what we can use to deal with moths and beetles, but there is nothing better than the smell of traditional beeswax polish on the woodwork.

We refer to the National Trust Manual of Housekeeping which is a thesaurus of useful information, though we are not always able to follow its advice to the letter.  We just don’t have time.

I love coming into a newly-cleaned room. It smells quite different. My only worry is that Rosemary, our housekeeper, and her team will find some terrible hidden problem when they get down to business. We are still waiting for the tapestry they said needed repair to come back after nearly two years away. What will they find this year?                     JH-B   29th January 2010