Visit the East Midlands of England and the counties of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire and Rutland. Rub shoulders with the legend of Robin Hood, writer DH Lawrence, Britain’s first woman Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, Melton Mowbray pork pies, Linconshire sausages and Stilton cheese. Scramble or walk in the Peak District, Britain’s first national park, discover secret histories in pretty Northamptonshire villages, traipse over the battlefields at Bosworth or Naseby, visit Richard III in Leicester, have a pint in one of Britain’s oldest pubs carved into the sandstone under Nottingham Castle. Be awed by the castle and cathedral dominating the city of Lincoln, stunned by the opulence of Chatsworth, seat of the Duke of Devonshire, and charmed by England’s smallest county, Rutland.
It is hard to associate the Northamptonshire village of Ashby St Ledgers with one of the most notorious terrorist plots of all time. In fact, despite nestling between Dunstable’s tired industrial estates and the fearsome Daventry International Rail Terminal to the north, you may actually struggle to associate Ashby St Ledgers with the 21st century […]
Terror plot planned in peaceful village Read More »
Althorp (sometimes pronounced ‘Awltrup’) is the Spencer family pile in Northamptonshire. Who amongst us lesser mortals had heard of either the estate or the family before Lady Diana Spencer shot into public awareness like a blazing comet? Perhaps, some may have vaguely thought, the family was something to do with that other lot, the Marks.
Note: This article is largely based on a visit made in 2012. In 2022, the attraction was rebranded as ‘The Children’s Country House at Sudbury’, which includes the museum, focusing on the experience of childhood, the hall and garden. The hall is now specifically aimed at younger visitors, with over 12 rooms created with and
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Geddington is an attractive Northamptonshire village, with Saxon roots. It boasts an ancient church, St Mary Magdalene, and a ford over the River Ise with an attractive old bridge, said to date from 1250, alongside. However, it is probably most famous for its Eleanor Cross, the best preserved of three of the twelve original crosses
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The above is not a comment on Eleanor’s mood, addressed to someone called Hardingstone (which I’m thinking is a good name for a butler); it is a memorial to a dead queen beside a busy road in a suburb of Northampton. And it is part of a very old love story. When you think of
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The Battle of Bosworth is one of those events that changed the course of history. Fought on the 22 August 1485, Bosworth was the last significant armed encounter of the so-called Wars of the Roses, the medieval dynastic struggle between the houses of York and Lancaster and their allies, which had rumbled on for three
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Robin Hood is one of England’s enduring legendary heroes. Deprived of his rightful inheritance and outlawed, Robert of Locksley (or Loxley) shelters in the King’s forest of Sherwood, where he assumes natural leadership over the vagabonds and other outlaws in hiding there, all victims of medieval England’s harsh laws and brutal penalties for infringement. Robert
In search of Robin Hood Read More »
We all know what a national park is. Although definitions vary, they are usually rural areas of natural (or naturalised) beauty designated as ‘special’ in some way by their national governments. Normally, the environment within a national park, including its flora and fauna, are protected and there are particular rules about what you can, and
Britain’s National Parks Read More »
This is a story about bravery and love. It covers just one chapter in the long history of the village of Eyam (pronounced ‘Eeem’ *), tucked away in Derbyshire’s Peak District just north of Bakewell. Casual travellers between Chesterfield and Chapel-en-le-Frith would pass it by without comment – unless they knew: in that case, they
Including the counties of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire and Rutland. What can you say about the East Midlands, an area that spawned Tennyson, DH Lawrence, Margaret Thatcher and the legend of Robin Hood? Sherwood Forest is still there, though it’s a little smaller now; and did you know they’re building a brand-new forest, the
A bit about the East Midlands Read More »
