Great Alne Celebrates Royal Wedding

As the nation prepared for the biggest party of the year, retirement villages up and down the country didn’t shy away from embracing Royal Wedding fever on Saturday 19^th May. Great Alne Park, the later living destination, put on a free garden party and live screening to mark the occasion, attracting over 150 guests from the local community.

Set amid 90 acres of parkland near the beautiful Warwickshire village of Great Alne, Inspired Villages gave residents of Great Alne and beyond the chance to celebrate the historic nuptials of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex with a garden party that transformed the village into a jubilant mini-festival. Guests were invited to an outdoor live screening in the summer sunshine, before enjoying a quintessentially British Afternoon Tea, consisting of finger sandwiches, scones, tea and party canapes.

Silence descended across the village as the procession began and all eyes were glued to the screen, eagerly awaiting a glimpse of Meghan Markle’s bespoke Givenchy wedding dress. As the ceremony drew to a close, guests continued to embrace the celebratory spirit and enjoyed a glass of Pimms under a cloudless blue sky. To mark the occasion, Cheshire Farm Ice Cream created a bespoke elderflower and lemon ice cream, as a nod to the Royal couple’s regal wedding cake, which guests enjoyed with a topping of ‘Markle Sparkle’ – a dusting of brown sugar and ginger flavoured gold sprinkles.

To round off the day, baking enthusiasts were given a treat as Ian Cumming, former ‘Great British Bake Off’ contestant, was on site to judge a cake baking competition. Both adults and children were able to enter and the ‘Star Bakers’ from each category bagged coveted top prizes of an overnight stay in Windsor and a trip to Legoland respectively. After the prize giving, guests were left entertained by Ian’s anecdotes from his time on the iconic television show.

CEO of Inspired Villages, Jamie Bunce, comments: “We are delighted that Great Alne Park’s Royal Wedding celebration brought everybody together and resulted in a truly memorable day. We’re committed to encouraging an enjoyable community atmosphere and the event did exactly that. The fantastic turn out demonstrated the demand for events such as this, not only at Inspired Villages, but throughout the region as well.”