Out and About Again

With the girls away there was the chance to enjoy a cool but sunny day and continue to explore the villages of Rutland and the surrounding area, that we started a couple of weeks ago.

We started out by going to Upper Hambleton which is on the peninsular which sticks out into Rutland Water. It is were I use to take George to have him clipped when he was a puppy, many moons ago. It is a lovely unspoiled village that time seems to have forgot which I guess is partly due to the fact that there is nowhere to go from there accept back the way you came. Some of the buildings in the village date back to the 16th and 17th Century. Although there is not much to do there is enough to see to make a visit worth the trip just soak in the atmosphere. 

From the centre of the village there is a sign which in every direction but one, says "no through road" setting out on the longest of these roads takes you towards Rutland Water and that is where I headed today. From the end of the road there was a lovely view across the water to Normanton and the sailing boats that were on the water. A few cars were parked there and a lot of people seemed to be enjoying walking along the footpaths.

On the way back to Oakham form Hambleton is the village of Egleton, which is close to the western shore of Rutland Water. That was our next port of call. Like many of the villages in Rutland, Egleton dates back to the time before the Domeday Book of 1086 when it was part of the land held by the lords of Oakham Castle. Nearly all the Churches in Rutland have a open door policy so while we were there we popped into the 12th Century Church. It has some lovely craved woodwork and an fragment of a wall painting from years gone by. What I loved was the small village school that was so small it looks like it was just a single school room. It really summed up the community nature and feel of the villages in the county. 

From Egleton we headed along the south shore of Rutland Water passed Manton and onto Edith Weston. I have passed through the village many times but I have never ventured into the heart of the village before. On the edges it looks quite modern with it's ex council houses and the near by ex RAF base now used by the army, but when you head into it's centre it is just as lovely as all the other villages in Rutland. Again we popped into to the Church to take a peek at this lovely building that dates back to the 12th Century. It is a real jewel of a Church with a lovely simple side chapel with a small blue stain glass window. the building is so beautiful and well worth a visit. Interesting the the village is named after Edith the queen of Edward the Confessor and like Egleton dates back before the Domesday Book. 

From Edith Weston we head through Empingham and passed the 13th Century parish church of St Peter on our way to Exton. It is a very pretty village and of note is The White Horse public house which serves a tasty meal and a nice pint of John Smiths. It also has a real village shop in every sense of the word that sells almost everything.

Soon we arrived at Exton. It is one of the few villages in Rutland that never lost it's village green and it is a real mixture of of old and new. Thankfully all the new building is around the edges of the village and old village is unspoiled. The village it self is very old and dates back as a settlement well before the Norman Conquest. 

The Church in Exton is a real gem and it came as quite a surprise at the amount of history that it contains. One family name that crops up a lot when you read about Rutland is the Gainsborough family. It would seem that most of them are buried there. The Church is full of elaborate monuments to the family as well as some of the older wealthy families, such as the Haringtons that have lived in the village back in the 16th Century. Clearly the village was once a major settlement in the county.

The final place we visited was Cottesmore before heading home. Like Empingham it also has a pub of note, in this case the The Sun Inn which again serves good food and a great pint, but when we arrived it was a bit late in the afternoon for a meal. The Church there is steeped in military history which you would expect from a village that has a RAF base. What was a surprise was that history went back before the base itself. In the Church hanging from the walls are a pair of battle honors for some long forgotten regiments from the area. Although they are badly faded you can make out on one of the flag's the word "Waterloo" which would date them at least from the last Century. It seems from talking to someone in the Church how they got there and what they are is unknown. Maybe if I go back there I will get some photographs of them and see if I can date them and find out more of their history.

It might not be the most exciting thing to but it has been a lovely way to send an afternoon. A lot better than just sitting around watching television, reading a book or being stuck on the computer. It is nice to get out in the fresh air and see what out there to look at.

I was never one for history at school, but maybe there is more around us than what is on television and in film if we bother to take a interest in our surroundings. Rutland is a lovely place if you look rather than pass things by and reject them for what they seem at first sight, but maybe that is true of life in general. Things of beauty easily go unnoticed if we never care to look for them and don't fight for them once we see them.