I’m gonna kick this blog off with a fact:
Rutland is England’s smallest county – but only for half of the year. For the other half of the year, it’s the Isle of Wight.
Have a think about that one.
It’s so small, most people have never heard of it. Rutland squeezes into a space between Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire. There are no cities here – only two towns, and at its centre you’ll find one of the largest artificial reservoirs in Europe, called Rutland Water.
The reservoir was created in the 70s, and it necessitated the flooding of farms, churches, most of the village of Middle Hambleton and the entirety of Nether Hambleton. On Rutland Water’s south-east bank however, you’ll find a survivor of the drowning.
And this is pretty much the only reason I spent a few free hours on visiting Rutland. I can’t think of many better placed churches in England than Normanton Church. If you’re thinking “it looks like it’s sinking into the ground”, I wouldn’t blame you. The floor inside had to be raised to 60cm above the water level. This is a pretty unique church, and you can get married here!
There’s a 23-mile perimeter track around the reservoir. I wish I could tell you I walked it all but I only walked from Normanton to the dam and back. Soz.
Still, I picked a good morning for it! Not your usual English December weather. The dam holds back 124 million cubic meters of water that serves the East Midlands. I think I was allowed to climb on it.
At the dam, I decided I didn’t want to walk around to the surviving village of Upper Hambleton, so I walked back to my car. Also it was getting a bit breezy – very unexpected when standing beside a vast expanse of water.
The whole walk was pretty lonely. There was barely anyone around. I noticed this also when driving into Rutland – there were very few cars on the road. It’s a peaceful place and I like that a lot.
On the way back, I saw some fishermen. Actually, one might have been a fisherwoman.
The breeze was blowing in cloud and soon enough, the skies above were grey and gloomy. Normal service resumed. I was pretty chilly and fancied some warming up.
A Scottish lady served me inside and we chatted about Eilean Donan and the Highlands and the NC500. She said I sounded like I was from Lancashire, before serving me a delicious bacon and brie toastie.
Now fed, I drove around to Upper Hambleton. The village sits on what used to be a ridge between two valleys. This has now turned into a peninsular into Rutland Water.
There’s one way in, and one way out (if you want to keep your feet dry). It fascinated me. The roads are narrow, the houses are classic. It’s like stepping back in time to a village almost forgotten by everywhere else.
There are no through roads, but I decided to follow the one that used to lead villagers to Normanton Church.
You can just make out the church on the opposite shore, and if the lighting was better, you’d be able to see the tarmac disappearing under the waves. Eerie. A sign of things to come with rising sea levels? Dot dot dot…
Anyway, did you figure out my fact?
Rutland is England’s smallest county – but only for half of the year. For the other half of the year, it’s the Isle of Wight.
Did you Google the answer? If you did, you’re a cheating sod – go home. Here’s the reasoning: by area, the Isle of Wight is smaller than Rutland when the tide is in. At low tide, the island is larger than Rutland. Thanks to Stephen Fry and the QI Elves for that one!
Let me know if you got it btw in the comment section!
#VidOnTour 