Another late update to the blog. I won’t repeat the twisted logic surrounding its arrival, other than to say that it’s an earlier vacation but an even later entry than the Oxford visit – but still finds its orderly location in the blog. This was a week’s visit to Oundle and Stamford, split as three nights in Northamptonshire and four in Lincolnshire. This was what I would call our first significant foray beyond our immediate environment during the easing of the second lockdown restrictions. The first of our stop-offs was the market town of Oundle.
Oundle, Northamptonshire.
Stayed at the historic and rather lovely Talbot Inn, in a pleasant location at the heart of the market town. The Hotel, Eatery and Coffee House is one of the town’s principal buildings dating from the 7th Century and was one of the first buildings in England to be classified as a grade 1 heritage property. Certainly, we enjoyed it and the dining (breakfast and evening meal) in particular was very fine. Full of medieval buildings, independent shops and galleries, it nowadays is probably best known as the home of Oundle School, the third-largest boarding school in England after Eton and Millfield. From what we saw, the number of buidings owned by (and in many cases built by) the school indicate that the town’s fortunes are inextricably linked with the school’s continued success. Anyway, partly as a result of this and the town’s lovely architecture, the Oundle Trail was put together as an interesting walk to ensure that the visitor gets to see some of the more compelling examples to be found. So, here they are!!!
The Oundle Trail
We also went the Oundle museum , which gave a fascinating insight into the town and surrounding areas over the centuries. Staffed by friendly volunteers, it was small but perfectly formed, although I can hear the naysayers as I write this. We also went to the Barnwell Country Park, which is bounded on the north-west and south-west by a flood channel loop of the River Nene, known as ‘the Backwater’ – largely flat with well marked paths, it’s a very welcome addition to the area. In summary, we would definitely return!
Stamford, Lincolnshire.
On to Stamford for four nights to the William Cecil, another traditional and aged hotel. It lies within the magnificent Burghley Estate, the centrepiece of which is Burghley House. Add this to the beauty of Stamford – another town with an abundance of historic buildings and, as we found out, a very pleasant environment in which to chill out.
For the first two days, we majored on the Burghley estate, firstly engaging in a lengthy ramble around the grounds, which, incidentally, were free to roam; a nice touch for those who reside in Stamford we would imagine.
On the second day we returned but concentrated on the House itself, which was a both lovely and relaxing self guided around quite a number of the rooms in the House. We also visited (or revisited) the Sculpture Park and found the sculpture photographed on our previous visit – definitely not positioned as before, take a look. For those who want to know, the previous visit was ten years ago.
Our last day was supposed to have been a long overdue visit to Woolsthorpe Manor, the signpost for which we have seen so many times on our travels up and down the A1 to Sheffield, Sunderland and elsewhere. Woolsthorpe Manor looks like a typical Lincolnshire farmhouse – but Isaac Newton wasn’t interested in the life of a yeoman farmer in the 1600s. He was filled with curiosity, questioning the world around him. This is where Isaac Newton was born, grew up and made some of his most important discoveries. Sadly, Mrs. No Name had one of her ‘incidents‘, which largely confined her to the four walls of her room for 24 hours. Thankfully she felt well enough the next day to drive us home, after another leisurely stroll around the town centre. We had dinner at the Cecil the first night and were a little disappointed by the evening meal, which given its reputation was quite surprising. We ate out every other evening but we still enjoyed the hotel’s ambience etc. Wonder if the food has improved. Well, we could always give it another go 🙂