Ferry Meadows Caravan & Motorhome Club Site, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire

This morning we headed south west, partly back along the way we travelled yesterday, turning off at the charming little town of Oundle, and continuing on out across rough narrow lanes to the National Trust property of Lyveden New Bield, our destination for the day. 

The “New Bield” refers to the fact that the property was never completed, was a new build, like those in “Grand Designs” where the owner goes broke and the project abandoned. On the face of it, this is a shell of a rather bizarre Grade I listed building set in the heart of rural Northamptonshire, to be visited and moved on from within half an hour. But armed with audio guides recounting the story in the context of the history of the time, it kept us there until lunchtime. 

A fervent Roman Catholic, out of sync with the times, Sir Thomas Tresham of Rushton Hall began the build in about 1595, a design full of religious symbolism. It was obviously meant for occupation, with a Great Hall and parlour, kitchen and buttery and a bedroom on the upper floor. Extensive gardens leading up from the existing house further down the valley, including orchards, terraces, moats and mounts, were progressing well until 1605 when Tresham died, leaving no funds in the kitty and the workmen walked off the job.

Although Tresham had been a canny businessman and farmer, deriving a variety of income from his extensive lands, he had a large family to support, more particularly securing appropriate marriages for his six daughters, a costly business in those days. As a Catholic, had to meet the regular fines charged for non-attendance to Anglican services. For the same reasons he was imprisoned from time to time, the time spent incarcerated totalling near on fifteen years.  His estate was left with £11,000 debt, the equivalent of £2,210,000 today.

Tragically, while Tresham’s widow did her utmost to sort the financial mess out, their son Francis was involved in the Gunpowder plot later that year and for his sins he was summarily punished, dying by natural causes no doubt exacerbated by the conditions of imprisonment. Widow Tresham struggled on amongst all this tragedy until she too died in 1615.

The house changed hands soon after, but by about 1650, it became victim of the Civil War, those features that were intact, soon smashed and burned, leaving just the shell that remains today. The property came into the ownership of the National Trust in the 1920s but it was not until the 1990s that work commenced on the gardens and still carries on today. Archaeological research, including the dredging of the moat and scientific dissection of the pollen found therein, has enabled the seeds of the resurrection of Tresham’s dreams.   In 2002 fruit trees were planted to replicate those planted four hundred years ago, apparently the stock sourced from the national nurseries of heritage plants and the planting done in part by wooden spade wielding medieval costumed volunteers.

There is much to be enjoyed here although it is only a half-day’s entertainment, hence we were ready to turn to Plan B after picnicking on the benches at Lyveden, there for that very purpose.

We headed back toward Peterborough but drove up through parts of Oundle even more attractive than that seen earlier. We passed crowds of teenagers dressed in formal private (or public) school uniform, all heading toward St Peter’s Church. I wondered if this was for an annual prize giving service or perhaps a choral performance, which would have been rather marvellous to attend. But we pressed on a little north, driving up through more narrow lanes until we arrived at Fotheringhay, or Fodingeia as it was named in the Doomsday Book of 1086.

We were in search of the Castle, since it is one more of the important keystones of English history. It was here that Richard III was born in 1452 and much later, the castle which was given by Henry VIII to his Queen, Katherine of Aragon, who spent large sums of money on it. After their divorce it passed to each of his wives in succession.

It was also here that Mary, Queen of Scots, was held prisoner and executed in 1587 under the directive of her cousin, Elizabeth I. Later it was sold and fell into disrepair, finally dismantled in 1628. Much of the stone work was removed and carted off for building projects elsewhere. 

Today the site is managed by its owners under a stewardship agreement with Natural England with additional support from English Heritage, hence the one English Heritage symbol out on the main road but nowhere else.

Initially we were at a loss as to where the castle was; we parked up in the delightful village near the church and went into the grand looking structure via a tunnel of trees. This 15^th century church is dedicated to St Mary and All Saints, and has a magnificent tower and octagonal lantern dominating the local skyline. Work on the present church was started in 1411 and later modified in 1434. While we found the exterior quite imposing, we were less impressed with the interior, but did find the 15^th century painted pulpit interesting if not to our taste.

However there was a comprehensive collection of interpretative panels to educate the passing tourist of the importance of the castle and church in England’s history, all of which we found most informative.

We wandered up and down the village street, admiring the beautiful homes, some recycled historical buildings, before making our way to a public pathway through a farm we hoped might take us near the River Nene and the ruins we were seeking. We were in luck and soon climbing to the top of the castle mound, from where we had lovely views across the surrounding countryside and the river, as well as the old narrow stone bridge into the town. There were a few signs to confirm that which we had read in the church, so all in all, we were satisfied with our visit to Fotheringhay, a spot which could easily be missed by the impatient tourist.

The sun was shining and the winds of the past week abated; we were glad to have our hats and sunscreen. We headed home via the Serpentine Green shopping centre in southern Peterborough, specifically to shop, yet again, at the Tesco Extra hypermarket.  We were impressed by the relatively new development here and later found that the shopping centre had been opened only in 1999, just recently really. 

Back home we found some of our fellow campers gone and some arrived, but the number of dogs still pretty much the same, and the sun has continued to shine, due to set at about 9.30 pm. Daylight lingers in this part of the world in June.