by keef & annie hellinger 19 March 2022, 11.03 a.m.
Motorhome trip No 48 : 18th March 2022
A KeefH Web Designs Travel Blog
NOTTS->Leicestershire, The Heart of Rural England, and a little bit of Warwickshire ->NOTTS 96 miles
MENU
A lovely sunny day out in the rural heart of England. After the frost has melted away about 11 a.m. we started to untie the strapping on the cover on the van, well rested and SORN’ed over winter. Time for Wendy to come back to life. Got the full cover off and tried the few edges that were a little damp in the sun before packing the cover away in the garage for another season.
DIARY
Filled the loo flush with water just in case we needed it on the day out, one of the luxuries of taking your own motorhome, ideal for oldies with less than perfect bladders 😉
Dashboard crook lock, wheel lock and steering column to locked forward driver’s chair secured by a solid motorbike chain off #hintsandtips #motorhomes we were ready to rumble.
We set off in full sunshine and clear skies around about midday and first drove to Sutton Cheney a lovely Leicestershire village with full spring flower display in bloom. We parked in front of the old red phone box, now like most either used for housing a defibrillator or a book exchange library, what I would call great repurposing in modern parlance.
We had a lovely stroll to both ends of the village, the highlights being the arms pub at one end , quite an old but well-maintained establishment, the village flower display, the old coaching inn, now a high class restaurant and winery called Hercules Revived, such a nice yet unusual name, St James Church built in 1100 way before some of the buildings and farm houses that were built before the English Civil War in 1642. This whole area is steeped in history, the visitors entrance for The Battle of Bosworth field heritage and exhibition centre is just down the road , we visited this on 30th July 2015 with Bill, Craig & Leanne, and Lady the dog, it was just down the road from our walk. I have included a couple of pictures from that visit in both the images and slideshows.
Basically, we toured around what I can only describe from the map as the Watling Street, old roman road, Austrey, Coalville square, if you look at the map you will see what I mean.
Places we had a good look around in particular were Fenny Drayton where George Fox the founders of the Quakers was born, important to Annie as her Grandparents were Quakers and indeed her dad was in early life. It was a very nice village the main street being Old Forge Road, now I wonder if they had a Smithy ha-ha. Sleepy Parva which is where Giovanni’s restaurant is on the water’s edge, note to self-take family there when the weather is better so we can sit outside, looked incredibly classy and Sleepy Magna where we stopped for our picnic lunch inside the van , another great advantage of taking the van out on day trips. #hintsandtips We had Tuna mayo on brown and a peppery slice of Melton Mowbray pork pie, yummy all washed down with summer Fruits squash.
We drove to Shenton old railway station where there was a nice walk old into woodlands via the side of the railway line. We didn’t have time this day out but maybe another day. There was a potter there who had his pots out to dry in the sun.
From here we visited Ratcliffe Culey, Polesworth strolling briefly into Warwickshire, Atherstone, Nailstone (a lovely place), Austrey, No Man’s Heath, Norton-Juxta-Twycross, Twycross, Wellesborough, the lovely Market Bosworth (which we have been to a few times before), and stopped in Barton on the Beans, my all-time favourite village name , so love it. We then briefly stopped at C&L’s to see them and our lovely grandchildren and have a cup of tea and as they say , a chin wag, before returning home about 6p.m. and putting the Wendy House to bed for the night. She has her yearly engine service on Monday after the engine collapse last year (see unfortunately Blog 152) with the garage who repaired her, I would not use Don Amott’s again after the way the Management treated us saying despite the fact that we paid them £500 a year to look after the engine, knowing about cambelts was our responsibility, we didn’t and as a non-mechanic that is why we trusted them, more fool us!
Here’s a quick bit about the English Civil war and George Fox founder of the Quakers, The Society of Friends. We both enjoy a bit of history on our travels.
The English Civil War was in 3 parts covering from 1642 to 1651 and was between King Richard 3rd, one of Annie’s rellies and Oliver Cromwell and his New Model Army. To read a full account click HERE thanks
George Fox was born in Fenny Drayton Leicestershire, and you can see the pictures of his memorial near the spot he was born up plus a little write up. If you would like to know a lot more please click HERE thanks.
Click on the Map to explore the area