Victor and Mary are getting married on Sunday, July 2nd, 2000, at Ramster in England.
Ramster is located in Surrey just south of Chiddingfold, a small village about 10 miles south of Guildford and an hour south of London. It's within easy reach of both London Heathrow and London Gatwick airports via the M25. Haywards Heath is about an hour's drive away. You can find some map links lower down on this page.
The wedding ceremony will take place around 1:30 pm, followed by drinks in the courtyard (weather permitting). The "Wedding Breakfast" ("dinner", for us Americans) will start around 4:00, followed by cake, coffee, and dancing. We expect the party to break up around 10:00 or 10:30pm.
The detailed schedule is:
Guests Arrive: 1:00 PMOn Monday, we will visit Petworth House (also see here), anybody who is interested is welcome to join us there around noon.
Ceremony: 1:30 pm exactly! Please don't be late, we must start on time...
Courtyard Reception: 2:00 through 4:00 pm
Dinner: 4:00 pm
Speeches: 6:00 pm
Dancing until 10:30 pm
If you have any questions, please contact Victor or Mary.
Useful information:
Pictures of the Wedding Venue: Here are some pictures
of the the wedding and reception site.
Ramster Brochure: Here's more information about Ramster,
from their brochure: Page
1 Page
2 Page
3 Page
4
Ramster Gardens: Ramster also boasts some wonderful gardens:
Gardens
1 Gardens
2 Gardens
3 Gardens
4
Maps: Here's a map
of the area around Ramster. Here's a location map for Ramster using
streetmap.co.uk
(this is a nice map), and another one using the UK
MultiMap (includes accomodation and tourism links). Here's maps
for Haywards Heath using streetmap.co.uk,
the UK
Multimap (Closeup), and the MultiMap
(shows access routes).
Currency: One English pound is currently worth approximately $1.60.
Travel Documents: Don't forget to get a passport
if you don't have one. Children will also need passports! This
can take awhile (especially if you need to get a copy of your birth certificate),
so start now!
Airline Information: British Airways,
Virgin, and United all have direct non-stop flights between San Francisco
(and other major US cities) and London. Virgin is nice because they
have the seat-back entertainment systems which allow you to choose which
movie you can watch. Other airlines to look at include American and
Continental. Most flights fly into Heathrow, although there's a rumor
that Virgin will begin direct flights into Gatwick. (Gatwick is only
20 miles from Haywards Heath, so it's much more convenient...) Continental
also has code-share seats on the Virgin flights. If you are flying from
San Francisco to London, I can recommend Celtic
Travel at (415) 386-7774. I've used them before. All of the standard
international car rental companies can be found at both airports.
Where to stay:
There are many hotels, B&Bs, or country manor's near to Haywards Heath
or Ramster. I've listed telephone numbers and WWW links here,
along with other geographical information. In the Guildford area,
I recommend staying in the Guildford Travel
Inn, which is a basic but decent motel chain. All rooms
are 39.95 pounds, and they are convenient to the A3/M25. Their telephone
numbers is (01483) 304932 [011-44-1483-304932 from the US]. For other
places, see my accomodations page.
Public Transportation: Haywards Heath and Guildford both
have good train links to London, and decent links to each other.
However, taxis from the train stations to your final destinations are likely
to be quite expensive! For the wedding, Haslemere may be closer
to Ramster than Guildford. Train schedule information is available
from RailTrack. The National
Rail Enquiries telephone number is: (08457) 48 49 50. Schedule and
price information is also available from thetrainline.com,
but you have to register first. Train pass information is available
from BritainByTrain.
Renting a car: Really, it's fun driving on the wrong side
of the road! As a visitor, you can drive in Britain with a valid
US driver's license. You don't need an International Driver's License
(but if you want one, they're available from your local AAA office).
All of the standard international brands are available. Based on
a quick search on Expedia, price is
similar to the US (including unlimited miles), but you'll pay more if you
want an automatic instead of a manual drive. VAT ("Sales Tax") is
17.5%, and you'll be charged a couple of other fees if you rent from airport
or some other London locations. A big gotcha is the cost of insurance
(CDW/LDW/Theft, etc), which could easily double your cost if you're not
careful. Ask your insurance company if you're covered driving over
there. Alternatively, certain credit cards may give you insurance
if you pay for the car using that card. There are also some small
local agencies, for instance Chequers of Petworth (Tel: 01798 344493),
which has several small cars for rent at 25 pounds per day.
Jet lag: England is 5 hours ahead of the East Coast, and
8 hours ahead of California. Jet lag hurts! Try to fly in a
few days before the wedding, so you won't be too tired to enjoy the party.
I haven't found any medicines that help alleviate jet lag, besides getting
some sleep on the airplane, and going out into the sunshine on the day
you arrive. If you're coming from California, I find the late afternoon
flights are better, since they don't arrive at 6 AM.
Extra activities: We will meet at Petworth House in Petworth
on Monday, July 3rd at noon. There are many other interesting things
to do in the South of England. The countryside is wonderful,
and I encourage you to enjoy it in addition to spending time in London
itself. Other outings that you can make include a trip on the Bluebell
Railway, visiting the Brighton Pier, National Trust properties, gardens,
etc. Contact me for other ideas. Here are some links to tourism
sites:
Wedding Gift Registries:
Weather: Need I say more? It rains in England in the
summer. And the rest of the year. Bring an umbrella.
I expect July to be hot, and more humid than California but not nearly
as bad as New York in August. The days are long - it'll be light
until 10 pm or so.
