BURNLEY TV executive Peter Salmon and former Coronation Street sar Sarah Lancashire were due to marry today at a country hotel.

The pair, who have been together since last year, were celebrating a "family occasion" in front of around 100 guests.

The couple were expected to exchange vows in a marquee on the croquet lawn at Langar Hall, near Bingham, Nottinghamshire.

Sarah, 36, -- who played dizzy barmaid Raquel in the Street -- and Peter, 44, who is the BBC Director of Sport, decided on the venue for the wedding after spotting it in the Good Hotel Guide and enjoying a romantic break there earlier in the year.

Their relationship became public last autumn when Salmon split with his wife of 20 years, Penny Watt.

At the time, he spoke to the Lancashire Evening Telegraph about the heartache of leaving his long-term partner and three sons.

The former St Theodore's RC High School student became Controller of BBC1 in 1997, was brought up in Albion Street, Burnley, the son of mill worker Doreen and window cleaner Patrick.

The Warwick University graduate got his foot in the door through the BBC's graduate trainee scheme, and later worked on Newsnight, Blue Peter, and did radio reports from troublespots around the world.

He was a member of the original Crimewatch UK team, first as assistant producer and then producer.

He also worked on 999, and brought the Oscar-winning Wallace and Gromit animation The Wrong Trousers to TV.

After 12 years at the BBC he left for Granada, where his credits included Moll Flanders, Reckless and Hillsborough.

Returning to the BBC meant a move back south to Oxford. But in an interview last year he said he returned to Burnley when he could and followed the every move of Burnley Football Club.

He still has family in East Lancashire, including his brother, Michael, an electrician, in Cliviger.

The couple first met and became friends six years ago when she was playing Corrie's dizzy blonde barmaid Raquel and he was a top executive at Granada studios.

The mother of two left the show in 1996 and later starred in the drama Clocking Off for the BBC, where Salmon had become controller of BBC1.

She then became Britain's highest-paid actress when she moved to ITV in a "golden handcuffs" deal believed to be worth £1.3million.

She recently starred in the ITV drama The Glass, alongside Inspector Morse actor John Thaw.

Imogen Skirving, who runs the hotel where the couple will wed, said they were expecting it to be a very romantic day.

"They are a lovely couple and we're looking forward to it," she said. "The wedding is going to be a real family affair."

The couple spent last night at the 12-bedroom hotel and will spend their first night as a married couple there as well.

Mrs Skirving added: "They found us in a good hotel guide and came to stay.

"They thought it was very romantic so they came to stay again and then they rang to ask if we could do their wedding."

Guests were expected to tuck into a reception buffet which will include crab, salads, and -- appropriately enough for the groom -- salmon!