Welcome to Claire & Joe’s Wedding Celebration at Wilde Lodge. Please find below all the information you will need including local accommodation, recommended Lodge kit list, directions to the venue and how to book extras such as Bell tents, Wilde Camping and Breakfasts. We look forward to welcoming you to Wilde Lodge.

Useful Links

Directions | Guest Kit List | Taxi’s

Friday 28th June

Wilde Lodge Bell Tent guests arrival from 4pm

If you are arriving on Friday and staying on site or nearby and fancy soaking up some of the pre-wedding atmosphere (chaos), there will be a bar available on site, we are in the process of arranging for The wedding pizza company to provide food for the evening. Pizza’s are £10/pizza and they will also be providing breakfasts (£8 per person) on Saturday. 

We hope to be able to provide you with a booking link nearer the time but for now if you would like this option please email: joeandclaire290624@gmail.com 

Saturday 29th June

11:30am Coach will be available from Wilde Lodge to Stokesay Church for those staying there and can also be arranged to pick up people staying in Leintwardine, Bucknell, and Bromfield (exact time tbc)

1pm Wedding Ceremony, St. John the Baptist Church, Stokesay

2:30pm Reception & Canapes at Wilde Lodge

4pm Wedding Feast (Csons) in The Arched Wedding Tent

7pm Evening Guests to arrive

7:45pm Wonderfolk Band in the Safari Tent

9pm Evening Food

10pm Wonderfolk Band in the Safari Tent

11:30pm or thereabouts last coach (Leintwardine, Bucknell, Bromfield, Craven Arms, Wistanstow)

1am Last orders & night caps in the Long Barn

Sunday 30th June

9am Breakfast - Click here to book your freshly baked warm cinnamon bun

closing date for all food orders 16th May 2024

1pm BBQ

Monday 1st July

10am Time to say goodbye for the last stragglers

Before you arrive we recommend you read our Guest kit list. This will help plan your attire and footwear, and what to bring for the whole weekend if you’re staying at Wilde Lodge or spending some extra time with us.

For the wedding day itself, the groom and groomsmen will be wearing lounge suits, so please dress formal or dressy casual. There are some uneven surfaces (including grass and gravel) at the reception venue so please bring sensible footwear (although this kind of instruction has never stopped Claire from wearing stilettos to a wedding). 

We are hoping for great weather, so we can enjoy some swimming in the river on Sunday, so please pack your swimming gear too!

PARKING & TRANSPORT

Parking is available in Stokesay Castle car park. A coach will be available from Wilde Lodge to Stokesay Church for those staying there or those that wish to park up there first, we can arrange pickups for those staying in Leintwardine, Bucknell, and Bromfield.

There will be a coach to Leintwardine, Bromfield, Craven Arms, Wistanstow and Corvedale at around 23:45, could you please let Claire know if you want a space on these. We canarrange an earlier run home if we have lots of interest.

Taxi

There are extremely limited taxis in the area. Alan Brough (7 seater taxi) will be available for the evening, from 7pm to take people home that don’t fancy sticking around until late, and for guests who live or are staying not on the coach route.

If evening guests would like to be picked up and taken to and from the venue please let Alan know (07970683126).

Accommodation

Claire has arranged some local accommodation to be available to book for 28th and 29th June 2024. These are on the coach routes.

The Lion at Leintwardine

The Clive

The Stokesay Inn

Walford Court

Further accommodation links can be found at the bottom of the page.

Glamping or camping

For those who we have already spoken with and have confirmed that you would like to camp in one of our 10 bell tents, please find the booking link below. There may be some free spaces left so please let us know if you are struggling with accommodation and would like to camp but no guarantees, sorry. Luxury Shepherds hut loos and showers are included, and a nice room to get ready in ladies.

If you’re camping with us please let us know if you would like pizza on the Friday night (£10 per pizza) or Saturday breakfast (£8) (as detailed above) and Sunday breakfasts as you require via the link provided above.

About the area

These are Claire’s home stomping grounds. This stretch of the Shropshire/Welsh border is glorious and in an area of outstanding natural beauty, so just in case you fancy a little staycation around your weekend we have put together a bit of information on the local area. As you may know Claire grew up just outside of Craven Arms (yes, it’s a place not a pub), in the parish of Stokesay. There are 3 parishes surrounding Craven Arms, Halford, Stokesay and Wistanstow (Claire’s primary school). Stokesay Church is located next to Stokesay Castle (English Heritage) a fortified manor house, with beautiful views including those of Claire’s Parents’ fields (in a couple of directions). It takes about an hour to go around with the audio tour, and in summer there are usually dozens of swallows. The church is pretty small, so be prepared to squish up, and possibly stand. The Shropshire Hills Discovery centre is a good place to start a walk, and you could literally walk past Claire’s childhood home on your way.

Alternatively, Offa’s Dyke runs close by with the Offa’s Dyke Centre in nearby Knighton. Ludlow is a national foodie hotspot, but perhaps most importantly it is the closest Park Run. A favourite place to walk is Bury Ditches, near Clun the site of a bronze age settlement, and on a clear day it has stunning views into Wales and England. Joe says he hasn’t been but he has now at least twice.

There are some great cycling routes locally too.

For the engineers on our guest list, about 20 miles away back towards the Midlands is Ironbridge, the home of the world’s very first Iron bridge.

Ludlow

There are 5 restaurants in the Michelin Guide in Ludlow. This historic town has won many accolades for its food. It has a lovely local market, and Claire’s Maid of Honour’s family run The Index Bindery, Made in Ludlow Ltd.

It is also the where CSONS (our caterers) have one of their lovely restaurants at The Green Café on The Linney, this is an idyllic spot tucked down by the River Teme (which incidentally runs through Wilde Lodge grounds), and the café is the site of the old town swimming pool (where Claire first learnt to swim).

Ludlow Castle, where Henry VIII’s older brother Arthur spent his honeymoon with Catherine of Aragon, and where he died, is another interesting site to visit, with lots of towers to climb.

Knighton (Tref-y-Clawdd)

Knighton is a market town on the River Teme, straddling the border between Powys, Wales and Shropshire, England. It lies in the traditional county of Radnorshire. Originally an Anglo- Saxon settlement, Knighton is located on Offas Dyke, the ancient earthwork that divided the two countries. Claire’s Dad Jeremy came up to Knighton with his work for County Tractors in the 1980’s and the rest as they say is history. One of Knighton’s more unusual (and fortunately discontinued) traditions was known as ‘selling the wife’. Men wishing to obtain a divorce would do so by bringing their spouse at the end of a rope to the spot where the clocktower now stands. The last recorded instance of this bizarre method of separation was recorded in 1842

Hels Bells offer a unique boutique glamping experience with a range of white canvas Bell Tents on site at Wilde lodge.

To book your tent and stay with us on site simply click the unique booking link below and use our booking password:

280624

(Bookings will close on 16.05.24)

From Air BnB to Country House Hotels, here is a selection of comfortable local accommodation.