Farnham Castle

The ruined keep is the reason to give us twenty minutes at Farnham Castle. Rough stone walls, worn steps you can trail a train down, and a top where the two of you come out tiny against open sky. You don’t get any of that on a Surrey lawn. You marry in a stone-arched hall with a wooden floor, plain in the best way, so nothing in the room competes with the people in it. Dinner sits under a chandelier and fairy lights with a carved oak overmantel behind the speeches, and the dancing happens beneath oil paintings by the staircase, so even the party frames have the building in them. Outside, the lawns run out to open countryside and take lawn games, a barbecue and the whole guest list in one line. Save the last of the light for the ruins, because low sun on that stone goes properly warm. Then the brick gatehouse floodlights and you stand in the lit archway, which is a strong way to finish the day.