Kendeline Fields Farms, Claybrooke Parva, near Lutterworth, Leicestershire

Yesterday the weather deteriorated to such that there was little point in venturing out to tour, so we spent the day hunkered down in the caravan, watching the rain fall turning the surrounding grassed area into a marshland. The wind rocked and rolled the van about, the foliage blowing off the surrounding trees and the hedges along the roadside viewed later. It was cold; so cold I wrapped myself in five layers and pulled my slippers out of storage. We lunched on canned soup and toasted sandwiches, just more of the calorie laden fare we have consumed over the past week. Later when the rain had eased to short sharp showers, we drove into Lutterworth, shopped at the local Morrison’s superstore and decided that our local town warranted further inspection if weather and time allows in the next week.

Later we phoned our oldest, Larissa, to wish her a happy 40th birthday, managing to catch her before she was out walking the dog and heading to work; a bit scary to have a forty year old daughter, albeit a step-daughter.

But this morning dawned more promisingly and we headed off soon after 8 am, across the counties and the pages of the road atlas, with plans to spend the entire day at Burghley in Lincolnshire. We were aware that the House did not open until 11am, but believed we could easily fill between one and two hours enjoying the extensive grounds open to the public for no charge.

As we drove eastwards toward Market Hayborough, we noted a sign for the Foxton Locks, one of the attractions on our list to visit whilst here near Lutterworth. We turned northward and within five miles pulled into a car park beside the Grand Union Canal, then walked along the well-marked path to the head of this very unusual lock system. Foxton is a place where great minds of engineers and the hard working hands of labourers shaped the landscape in quite a dramatic way. As well as the famous staircase of ten locks climbing the hillside, there are also the remains of a gigantic inclined Plane Boat Lift.

In 1814, when canal builders seeking to link Leicester with London, reached Foxton, they faced a problem: a 75 foot rise in the space of 300 yards to a summit of 425 feet above sea level. Their solution was the Foxton Staircase, ten locks, just seven feet wide, arranged in two groups of five with a passing pond for barges between them.

The Staircase worked but the locks were large enough for only one narrowboat at a time. The problem of how to provide passage for wider boats was solved in 1900 by an even more extraordinary feat of canal engineering, the Foxton Barge Lift. Its huge tanks could move four narrowboats at a time, two up and two down, in only twelve minutes. Wider haulage boats were also accommodated because this was, after all, the whole point of the lock alternative. Alas in 1911 improved road and rail competition were all too much and the locks closed, however in 1909 they were put back into service and continue to be used to this day.

Much of the lift workings were sold for scrap in 1928, but enthusiasts are now working toward restoring it, although at this stage it is still words and thought-bubbles around the table.  

Signs at the car park suggested that one needed at least two hours to explore the lock area, however we rushed about and were back to the car within an hour and a half. Had the museum been open, we would have spent much more time there, but then we hadn’t planned on coming here today. We did agree that one could spend more than half a day here, watching the narrowboats come and go up and down through the locks, chatting with the boatmen and women, and the lock-keepers, all of which we did this morning but not for long enough. No matter how often I observe the progress through locks, I continue to be fascinated, and these this morning were even more captivating.

So we travelled on, soon turning north east, across rolling picturesque countryside, grazed by sheep and dotted with charming villages that England does so well. As we travelled up through the Welland valley, we were confronted by splendid views of the Harringworth  Rail Viaduct. Time did not allow for much more than a photo stop, but I did do some homework later.

The viaduct, also known as the Welland Viaduct and the Seaton Viaduct, is 1.166 kilometres long (or 1,275 yards) and has eighty two arches, each of them with a twelve metres span. It was completed in 1878 just two years and four months after the first brick was laid. It is the longest masonry viaduct across a valley in Britain and is a Grade II listed “building”.

We continued on to Burghley, a couple of miles south east of Stamford, a distance of over fifty miles from our starting point in the morning. We did discuss the foolishness of having travelled so far and the fact we should have better planned the logistics of our touring. But we agreed the trip over had been lovely and later we could only confirm that, after having passed over four hours at Burghley House.  

Burghley is advertised as England’s greatest Elizabethan house, and we would have to agree it is a most impressive property. The House was designed and built by William Cecil, the 1^st Lord Burghley, Lord High Treasurer and Chief Minister to Queen Elizabeth I. Over the centuries it has been passed from one generation to the next, his descendants the Earls and Marquesses of Exeter, until the death of the 6^th Marquess in 1981 when the house and its contents became part of a charitable trust, always a good option when you are trying to minimise wholesale monetary donations to the national treasury.

The title has continued on but the current Marquess, the 8^th, resides in the United States and the day to day worries of the property are handled by the Trustees, who include his cousin, Miranda Rock. It is she who resides in the property with her husband and children, or at least in the parts of the house that are not viewed by the curious public. 

In fact the placement of the property in a trust has saved the estate from being broken up and sold, the demise of so many of these large properties owned by the high spending aristocracy. It was William, 5^th Marquess of Exeter (1876 – 1956) who managed to hold on to the property through the two World Wars and witnessed the declines of agricultural incomes. He was more interested in the property than society, horse racing, gambling and the other activities the idle indulge in.

The House is the centre of an agricultural estate comprising some 11,500 acres and the upkeep of the house is derived from agricultural and property rentals in and around the town of Stamford. 

We arrived right on opening time, and spent three hours wandering through the house with audio guides, distracted occasionally by interesting conversations with the room guides. We had eaten half of our lunch beforehand, but were still glad to find a spot in the warm sunshine out of the blustery wind to refuel. After doing so, we headed off on foot across the open parklands, from where we could see the grazing deer behind the higher fences, enjoying the wonderful well established trees. 

The grounds were remodelled by Capability Brown, the famous destroyer and re-constructor who spent about thirty years extending the pond, and redesigning the interior and exterior of the House itself. 

From the Lion Bridge we had a lovely view back to the house, and then back near the entrance we spent time wandering about the Sculpture Garden and Garden of Surprises, this latter including fountains and other weird and wonderful water features.

By the time we hit the road again, the traffic had started to build, although it could be said that the A43 and A14 we travelled homewards are always congested like this.