The Farmhouse

So the day after the wedding, we all recovered from our dance fevers and headed out to Faye and Charlie's farmhouse.  It's a real working farm with Charlie's parents living in the first house, his brother (Eddie) and his wife and baby living in the second house and Charlie, Faye and their two sons Charlie and James living in the third house which is a refurnished pub from the 1700's!  I wish I had taken interior shots because it really is a beautiful home, I'll try and do that if I can score another invite!

Meanwhile, here are some shots I took while walking to the pike with Ben, Charlie and Elvis.  This is a building right by their house located high on a hill and overlooks all of Manchester, very beautiful views!

Here it is in the distance:

Jumping through puddles on the way, good thing I brought my wellies!

Charlie and Elvis, who wouldn't stand still for a picture ;)

Here I am on the pike:

another shot to get the grand scheme of how tall it is:

Charlie on the pike:

and of course the views from the pike:

Leaving the pike:

After our walk to and from the pike, Faye and Charlie threw a great party and all of the bride and groom's friends from the wedding the day before came by, including the bride and groom themselves, Matt and Becky.  Lots more drinking went down, including a yard of ale contest in which every guy had to down a yard of ale in one gulp!

Ben and his brother also completed the challenge:

Andrew:

and Ben:

and so did yours truly, but no one got a picture of that ;)  Had to represent the USA!  Although I will say it took me three gulps to get it down and I wasn't the only lady who completed the challenge:

and cousin Christine, who chugged cider instead of beer!

And here's Ben with his man stein full of beer, now that's a glass big enough for Ben!

Now anytime there is heavy drinking involved the natural progression is to try on hats and do funny poses.

Here are Ben and Charlie reinforcing that theory:

Matt, Ben and Charlie, bringing out the weapons, yet another great idea when you're drunk:

and I of course had to get in the act, sans the weaponry:

After pictures with hats and weapons, the party progressed to a tradition called 'cake face'.  I am unsure as to the origins of this tradition, however I have a sneaking suspicion that alcohol was involved.

Here is Ben patiently waiting for his cake face from Faye:

and then proudly displaying his cake face:

and Andrew with his:

To soften the hard partying pics, I leave you with a comforting picture of Elvis the farmhouse dog, warming himself by the hearth.  Doesn't get more English countryside that this!