The Midsummer Masque Ball

We had dear friends Rachel and Andy up for the weekend three weeks back and we celebrated the summer solstice at the beautiful Glynllifon Mansion for its first Midsummer Masque Ball. Being based in North Wales I am no stranger to Glynllifon and its gardens but I hadn’t been to the house for many years so I was looking forward to visiting it again. The theme of the ball, Shakespeare’s Midsummer Nights Dream.
 Beth decided to go as midsummer night itself wearing a lovely blue sequin dress, finished off with Chiffon scarf that she applied stars to. This was attached via a moon broach. To match her dress I customised her mask, which she finished off with strands blue ribbon. To complete the evening sky effect she even wore a single Saturn earring and applied more stars to her hair. The ball website, encouraged guests to come as mythical creatures so I made a griffin mask out of recycled computer print out paper from the studio.  Rachel wore a lovely ball gown complete with fairy wings and Andy went as the Fantastic Mr. Fox!

We made our way there driving beneath the familiar Glynllifon arches and as the car rounded the corner and headed towards the mansion, we were greeted by two Hussars that stood to attention and saluted us! We donned our masks and made our way towards the red carpet (also guarded by more Hussars who were camping in the grounds) after another quick salute we made our way into the magnificent hallway to join the other guests. We saw many creative costumes, everyone had made an effort each one complemented by their surroundings. Between meeting and greeting we went outside to watch the Hussars firing off their cannon! As the mighty bang echoed across the grounds we made our way to a sumptuous buffet followed by the occasional trip to the bar before dancing the night away!
We had a wonderful evening, my compliments to the organisers I sincerely hope to do it again very soon.

© Arfon Jones 2012. All images are copyrighted throughout the world.