As London was receiving a blast of monsoon weather on Friday, this town mouse was sitting in her office wondering if her house (a basement flat) was going to be flooded with unwelcome visitors from the lower rungs of the rodent kingdom. Concern mounted on the way home when I overheard someone on the Tube excitedly reporting that my decidedly less charming cousins were being pushed up through drains all over the city. Thankfully, all was in order, which is more than can be said for friends who were making the final preparations for their wedding on Saturday.
The setting, an Old Rectory just outside Princes Risborough, was classic material for an English country wedding. It was, however, due for a deluge, according to the weatherman's map. In a flash of brilliance, the bridegroom's mother went online and bought up what must have been the entire stock of umbrellas on JollyBrolly (tag line: 'Let us be on your side when the weather's not'). The rain held off for the crucial moments (it's never fun when it's too wet to leave the church), the bride glowed all day, and the dancefloor was the stage for some typically ambitious moves.
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Everything you need to know about private jet travel and 10 rules to fly byDespite the monetary and environmental cost, the UK can now claim to be the private jet capital of Europe.
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'I'd willingly give a year of my life for a fortnight there': The green dream that is the garden of DerreenExotic woods, labyrinths of narrow, mossy paths and thousands of tree ferns make this an internationally important garden, writes Charles Quest-Ritson. Photographs by Jonathan Hession.
