Isabella's Hen weekend

Bella and Joe

Sunday, 19 June 2011

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Official first blog ever - just to test

Posted by Caroline van den Bergh at 03:40

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Welcome to Bella's Hen Party website

We are planning one hell of a Hen Party and it is hopefully going to be the Hen do of the year if not the decade

Hopefully this website will hold all the information you need to prepare and get to the venue.

Please use the blog to ask questions or of course email us. We will be updating the website up until we go

BUT remember its all a surprise for Bella

Can't wait to see you all

Caroline, Rowan, Kate and Gemma

Agenda

Friday

Arrive from 6pm

Relaxed dinner (Chilli Con Carne)

After dinner – Board games, DVDs

Saturday

Morning

Help yourself to breakfast – cereal, muesli, yoghurt, toast etc

Swimming, tennis, reading the papers, whatever you fancy

Midday - Official hen kick-off!

Champagne brunch – Smoked salmon, scrambled eggs, bagels, croissants, muffins, fruit etc

Afternoon

Pub quiz

Sports Day games in the garden – 3-legged race, egg-and-spoon race, sack race, welly wanging

OR wet weather option – Twister, giant Jenga indoors

Rest and get ready for dinner

Evening

Drinks and dinner (Moroccan feast)

More games: Mr & Mrs, Absolute Belladash

Drinks, dancing and fun

Sunday

Breakfast fry-up

Read the papers, go for a walk, general hangover recovery

Leave at midday

WHAT TO BRING

Swimmers (if you want to go swimming, which we hope you will as there is a heated pool!)
Tennis racquet (if you own one and actually want to play tennis…)
Outdoor clothes – nothing full-on but just trainers or wellies and something warm as we’ll be spending some time outside on the Saturday afternoon if it’s not pouring with rain.
Headgear/hat for our hat party on the Saturday night – it is Halloween so we thought we’d do a nod to that so please bring something Halloween themed with you and if you don’t fancy being Halloween themed you can bring any fabulous hat or wig you would like to wear.

Where we are staying

URL to the place we're going to

http://tiny.cc/5vz07

Travel

Best way to get to the venue is either by car or by train and then taxi

Now, if you can drive and are happy to car pool let us know when you plan to leave London and we’ll try to figure that out. Driving instructions are below.

If you want to come by train we’d suggest the following trains. We’d also suggest you book soon to keep tickets cheap – it looks like it shouldn’t cost you more than £40 max for a return, possibly cheaper if you book now:

Friday pm:

Departs London Paddington 17.48 arrives Stroud 19.22

Departs London 18.47 arrives 20.22

Saturday am:

Departs London 9.00 arrives Stroud 10.43

Sunday

Departs Stroud 11.55 arrives London 14.32

Departs Stroud 13.32 arrives London 16.02

Once we know more about who is travelling by train we will organise taxis to meet you (although you will need to pay for those separately on the day) or a lift. Taxis should cost £30 per cab one way so as long as there are a few people in each cab that won’t break the bank.

Directions if driving

Ellerncroft House , Ellerncroft road , Wotton – Under – Edge , GL12 7AY

If you are coming from the M5 towards Bristol

Come off at junction 14, at the top of the slip road turn left. If coming from Bristol turn right

Continue along this road to t-junction turn left go through village of Charfield.

Go straight over roundabout continue on this road to Wotton Under Edge.

Pass shell garage on left turn left after garage, this is ** Bradley road. Go up this road, road narrows cottages on left side look out for a sign to Bradley Green on left turn left at sign.

Do not go down road immediately as you turn there is an opening for a gate with Ellerncroft on gate go down private drive, come to another set of gates we are inside the gates plenty of parking.

If you are coming from the A46, follow signs to Wotton Under Edge.

When coming into Wotton Under Edge you will see a war memorial go right round and up hill to the right, this is Bradley road then follow directions marked with 2 ** above.

If coming from Dursley

Follow signs for Stinchcombe and North Nibley this road will bring you into Wotton Under Edge. You will pass strawberry pickers right then slow down signs 30 mile either side of road, look out for sign on right to Bradley green turn right here opening for gate immediately.

The postcode is: GL12 7AY

If you get lost or are going to be delayed please call Mrs Orchard (Cazz) on 07966443536

Map

View Larger Map

The Hens

Bella's Hennette's

Caroline V D B

I met Caroline through BFF Leonora as they both went to boarding school together, Caroline and I found each other age 13/14 have since spent many misspent years together and many many scrapes - including eventful skiing trips, Portugal family holidays and then more grown up trips like scuba diving in Thailand ( what happens in Phuket stays in Phuket!) and a life-changing magical trip to Zanzibar with our mutual best mate Leonora . Caroline and I have grown up side by side from parents to school, discos to clubs, uni to incarceration (Caroline’s not mine), boyfriends to break ups, jobs to careers and now engagement to weddings.

Cathryn Summerhayes

I remember that before Cath arrived at WMA, we were worried she was going to be a proper grown up/scary agent , but Cath then burst into the WMA scene like a breath of fresh air , worse all her insecurities on her sleeve ( the way we like them), obsessed about her relationships, love red wine and promptly cemented her position in the gang by her marrying WMA original Jamie Groves. Not only do we spend our lives in and out of each others’ offices but she’s become a real friend who hosts multiple amazing BBQ’s on her Tuscan- style veranda- we also share a healthy competitive spirit, I’ve never known anyone who loves playing board games as much as I do.

Coz Jackson

Although I met Coz for the first time whilst interviewing her to be my assistant and am still in theory her boss (!), I feel she is the little sister I never had mainly because I’ve never met anyone who it’s more fun ( or so easy ) to tease. No-one makes me laugh like Coz ( hysterically until wee-ing myself) especially in the last hours of MIP when exhaustion sets in. We always laugh that we would never in a million years have been friends at school but we get on brilliantly now.

Fran Wightman

Fran was one of my first friends at boarding school, although in the first term I mainly remember her for sobbing so loudly with homesickness that she kept me in the next door dormitory awake- for weeks. Luckily Fran started liking school a lot more after that and became much more fun and we shared our early years planning dorm raids, doing gym routines and having midnight feasts and our later years smoking and drinking whisky in the woods- and then vomming profusely. The great thing about Fran is that we are so totally different but we have shared happy and sad times of our lives, now we have completely different lives but still get on as fantastically as ever

Gemma Knox

Gemma and I became flatmates before really knowing each other, but immediately bonded over our quite brilliant shared taste in music… We became friends at a time in my life when I really needed a new friend, (post breakup of doom) and Gems ( along with Kate) revolutionised my social and party lives. Gemma is one of the most feisty people I know but also one of the funnest, brilliant at singing/skiing and ‘being Gemma’ there is never a dull moment with her, she is moving to Holland immediately after the hen night and I will be gutted to lose her, though can’t wait to visit (natch).

Ginny Legg

Ginny and I were close friends the whole way through school and she was always that bit more sophisticated than me, she knew boys who lives locally and her parents let us drink cider in their Oast House. Ginny was present at my first drink, first joint and first kiss – she taught me to dance to pop music ,wear make- up and talk to boys.. she is brilliant at art and I always wished I was. Sadly she didn’t tell me that my crochet purple flares were a really really bad idea back when I was 14.

Holly Pye

Little did I know that when I walked into my interview at WMA aged a very green 22 that the frankly quite terrifying person interviewing me would become my boss for 7 years, and then become my mentor and now one of my closest and most loyal friends. It would be fair to say that she taught me everything I know in terms of being an agent- and has shared a lot of experiences and several gallons of wine on the way. Holly always, always knows what to do in any given situation and is the friend who will drop everything for you and be there for you whenever you need her. Holly has a huge heart and an even bigger personality- she is most likely to be the centre of the party, get everyone dancing to Take That and keep everyone up til 5am ( with Gemma!).

Kate Walsh

Kate and I were assistants together and spent a year sitting opposite each other, until I was looking for a new flat and she for a new flatmate and we decided that spending every waking minute together at home and work would not be a bad idea. Surprisingly (and I credit Kate for this), the arrangement worked incredibly well..she introduced me to Gemma and Dalston night life and then Dan ( and now a baby) came onto the scene and ruined things! Kate is the friend I will never fall out or even share a cross word with, she is calm in every situation but still an awful lot of fun to be around. Living with Joe is great but I do miss mine/Kate and Gemma’s sex meetings in the kitchen- and singing about ‘our humps and our lovely lady lumps!’.

Katharine Mirfin

Katharine and I both studied Italian at Leeds together, we had a joint friend in common who introduced us whilst we were abroad in Italy, though I think we both agree we like each other a lot more than we like her (shhh). Katharine is clever, multi lingual, well read and great at salsa and drinking Rioja. I think we really became close after uni when I visted her in Madrid several times.. having ridiculously crazy all nighters dancing with trannies, losing our possessions and then she had to go teach in a school all day when I slept it off. In Madrid I managed to get her hooked up to the love of her life, Martin who she is still with now. In honor of the both of them Joe and I are going to Argentina on our honeymoon ( where Martin is from).

Hersha Patel

What can I say about Hersh! We met on her first day at MTV when everyone else was scary and cool and I showed her where the loos were- she’s the only person I have stayed friends with from that gang. If it wasn’t for Hersha I probably wouldn’t be with Joe as very kindly she not only introduced us but test drove him for me! Hersha and I were also long term flatmates in two different flats together ,firstly our single girls pad with two giant sofas for TV viewing and edamame bean scoffing, then in my current flat where we adopted our mental cat Penelope. Hersha is my only friend that I’ve ever shared a bank account with, and she introduced me to scrabbling and concocting super healthy pig-out sessions and marathon TV viewing sessions.

Helen Goodwin

I met Helen in my first year of Uni as she was one of my randomly chosen flat mates. The first term she was so quiet we barely knew she existed but I then got to know her and her crazy party side and we never looked back. We lived together for two years and even dated guys who were best friends ( then she left him for another of their friends, and I cheated on my guy and it all went horribly wrong). Helen is someone who seems very sensible on the outside but is full of surprises .

Polly Hazlewood

Polly is girlfriend of one of Joe’s best men.. I remember meeting all the other girlfriends of Joe’s mates and thinking that I would never get accepted as part of the gang. I was wrong – all it took was one marathon session at Richard Carroll’s flat and Polly and I were officially bonded. She is the most likely hen to appear in fancy dress when there is no dress code stipulated, and the most likely to insist upon playing some kind of singing guessing game which she then royally fails at.

Rowan Lawton

There’s something about being assistants together and growing up through the ranks that makes you especially close to your friends. Superficially Row and I are chalk and cheese, books vs TV, tall vs short, crazy party animal vs a girl who is terrible at rolling joints ! However Rowan and I never struggle to find anything to talk about, although to be fair there are never any awkward silences when anyone is near Rowan. We bond over our body dysmorphia ( because we are both obviously really skinny yet always on diets together obviously!), Twin Peaks, Vietnamese take-away, love of books and folk music, obsessively talking about boys and analysing people for hours ( boys or friends so watch out!).

Sarah Hardy

Sarah is girlfriend of Matt Patrick the boy who quite honestly should be Joe’s best man (sorry Polly!). Sarah seems to be natural confident and competent at everything she does.. whether skiing , holding a BBQ in the rain , or deciding to quit her job and do a PHD. The only time I have ever seen a chink in the armour was went she knocked an enormous glass of red wine over my parent’s white carpet.. thank God her Dad didn’t have to pay for it!

Silvi Llaguno

Silvia is possibly the most gracious, kind and cultured person I know , she sat opposite me when I joined WMA, looked after me and took me out for my new girls lunch. Silvia always has time to help you with your problems no matter how busy she is, she is the most generous hostess ( the type to start cooking for a dinner party at 5am) and a great cook to boot. She is the most likely to come out with a completely unexpected story about her life whether than be having an orgy, shaving her head, marrying a sheikh!

Sophie Laurimore

Sophie and I had a fabulously co-dependent relationship at WME where she taught me how to stop being an assistant and act like an agent and I taught her how to navigate the perilous company politics. We share an office at a very rocky time in my life in terms of boys, love and stuff and she always gives brilliant advice. I find myself quoting her words of wisdom back to people who have never met her- and frankly my family is bored of hearing from me all the hilarious things Fred and wosie said. Sophie is the perfect person to get stranded in France by a volcano with and those 4 days we got stuck in Antibes (with Coz ) were like a Maeve Binchy novel that I never want to end.

Sophie Minoprio

Sophie and I were destined to be friends when our Hermes- scarf- wearing- Mum’s found each other in the playground of our not- very- posh- primary school, I don’t think we even had a choice. We know each other’s siblings and I still know her parent’s phone number off by heart. I remember learning times tables with her along to her Mr Men times table song tape. We were fat little bluebirds together in our nursery play- with big pants and sticking out bellies. We shared birthday parties with Smarty Arty and Ice Cream cakes. We still argue about who was the narrator and who was Mary in the nativity play ( I was definitely the Angel Gabriel/narrator I have photo evidence! ). The amazing thing is how we have grown up together our whole lives and still get on brilliantly, have so much in common..

Beautiful Bella

Teams for the team games

Adjudicators
Rowan
Kate

Team 1
Bella
Cath
Sophie M
Polly
Kate for quiz

Team 2
Holly
Sarah
Coz
Silvi
Rowan for quiz

Team 3
Gemma
Helen Goodwin
Katherin Mirfin
Sophie L

Team 4
Caroline
Hesha
Ginny
Fran

BelJo

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Bella and Joe

Sunday, 19 June 2011

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