The site of our wedding reception was Spring Grove House, a 220-year-old Georgian building in the grounds of the West Midlands Safari Park in Worcestershire. We had such a fantastic day there, surrounded by our friends and family, with a 3-course wedding breakfast followed by a hog roast buffet during the evening disco.
We were therefore shocked and saddened to hear that the place has been completely gutted by a fire over Christmas. It took more than 50 firefighters to control the blaze, who had to resort to pumping water out of the nearby hippo lake when their fire engines had been exhausted! Fortunately no one was hurt, but it has disrupted 100 people's Christmas dinner and New Year ball, as well as all the weddings planned for next year. For news and pictures see the local press.One thing's for sure, there isn't many wedding receptions where the guests come away with pictures of hippos on their camera film! Only Spring Grove House!
Heavens! What a horrible thing to happen, and at Christmas! Here's hoping it can be restored to its former glory.
ReplyDeleteHey, you dont know me but i am the niece of the park's owner. My mum also had her wedding reception there in 1986. We have met up multiple times as a family at the house and have enjoyed it to the full. What happend is devestating, and i really hope that it can be restored. It truley was the heart of the park. Our main concern now is that people may be put off visiting the park as a result of this, which will inevitably make things worse. What really shook me up was that, if it hadnt been detected, the fire would have spread and my uncles house is only about 50ft from the house...thankfully no one was there that evening but they still could have lost their home.
ReplyDeleteHopefully it can be restored, but we will see.
Emily
We had our wedding reception there too, in July 2000. I'm as gutted as the house! All our friends are sad too, saying they've lost the place where they went to the best wedding ever.
ReplyDeleteHope they can restore it.