LOVEBIRDS have proved it is never too late to find the one after tying the knot in the Lakes.

Newlyweds Fiona Elizabeth Williams, 59, and Rob Haynes, 63, said ‘I do’ at Cragwood Country House Hotel on October 14.

The married couple first met five and a half years ago in a live music venue pub in Witney, where Rob plucked up the courage to offer his future wife a drink after spotting her from beyond the bar.

She said: “I sat at the bar with the usual and towards the end of the evening noticed a chap across the bar who then wandered to where I was sitting and offered to buy me a drink.

“It turned out not only did we frequent this local for the same reason, to listen to the great live bands, but also due to its proximity to our respective houses leaving almost equidistant in the opposite direction.”

Mrs Haynes, who grew up in Wallasey has been a physiotherapist since 1984, while her new hubby, from Wolverhampton, went to university to study languages and has worked in the travel industry and wine trades.

Mrs Haynes said: “We soon realised we had similar likes with respect to music, cooking, gardening, photography and playing scrabble.

“As time went by, we very much enjoyed our time together and our self-catering holidays in Cornwall were wonderful.

“The question of marriage surfaced over time, but as with everything in life it wasn’t a straight forward decision for many reasons.”

However, Mrs Haynes said she had a ‘lightbulb moment’ and marrying her future one-and-only was the way forward.

She said: “Everything fell into place and married was the way forward. I had a lightbulb moment.”

After saying ‘yes’ during a weekend away in Shrewsbury, the love birds decided to have a quiet wedding at the beautiful Windermere venue with just four guests due to the pandemic.

Mr Haynes said: “We had planned it as a small wedding, so Covid didn't affect that. We did head up a day early to avoid any lockdown challenges. We had a great walk up to Orrest Head and lunch in Windermere the day before the ceremony.”

The pair was lucky with weather, which was described by the two as ‘warm and sunny’.

“We could not have had a more wonderful day, with beautiful sunshine, wonderful scenery, fantastic food and attentive staff who went above and beyond for our day at Cragwood,” said Ms Haynes.

“It was very moving and absolutely perfect.”

The newlyweds are planning a future trip to a villa in Spain for their honeymoon.