From Oklahoma to . . . Ellesmere, for couple's dream anniversary

But one couple from across the Atlantic have planned something a little bigger, and later this year will travel thousands of miles from Oklahoma in the United States to Ellesmere to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary.

Bridget Cowlishaw and her husband Brian, both 53, scoured the British countryside for a place to mark their big occasion, and finally settled on Sodylt Hall Cottages in the Shropshire town.

After narrowing their search down to the Midlands, the couple from the town of Tahlequah decided on Ellesmere and are counting down the days until their visit in June.

Bridget revealed that they had settled on the Shropshire town because of her love of a famous British TV programme.

She said: “It all came about because I’m an avid gardener and started binge watching Gardener’s World episodes on YouTube last year.

“It led me to believe that England’s countryside is the most beautiful in the world and it became a fantasy of mine to visit.”

Bridget said that her research was complete when she came across Ellesmere, and that she has since been looking into the town’s history.

She said: “The husband gave me a choice of any place in the world to spend our 20th anniversary and I started researching online cottages to rent.

“I quickly narrowed it down to the Midlands based on the atmosphere I longed for and then a booking in Ellesmere came up, and it ticked all the boxes as you would say.

“I’ve been learning about the history and the sights of the Midlands to the best of my ability online, so the internet brought me to Ellesmere.”

It has a population of around 16,000 and Tahlequah is a city in the Cherokee County, located at the foothills of the Ozark Mountains.

So Ellesmere, with its population of around 4,000 people will prove a stark contrast to home for the couple.

The couple, both English professors, worked at a small state university in Tahlequah, with Margaret originating from New Orleans and Brian from Idaho.

Bridget said: “We have visited the UK before and been to London. We’ve taken students there for a week, and I thought it was very much like New York.”

Bridget will now spend the months before her trip continuing to study the local area and preparing an itinerary for their anniversary visit, with certain things top of the agenda – including checking out some of the gardening communities in the area.

She added: “We are most looking forward to walks, woodland walks by the canals, walking through gardens, small town streets and farmland.

“We still need to do research on where and how, to see what the gardeners and knitting and crocheting communities are up in the area.

“We also want to meet some of the locals and hear all the stories about the area.”