Another one of my old Smitten by Britain posts but again a lovely place to visit!
In the middle of England tucked away amongst the farms and
horse riding schools is a little Market Town called Melton Mowbray. The
townsfolk are a mixture of Farmers, members of the Hunt and some City people
who have managed to escape from Leicester, the nearest big City. There are a
few shops, some amazingly cute Tea Rooms and some typically English sights that
are integral to life here:
The Church and The Great British pub! Almost every village and Town has at least
one at the heart of it. Alongside another sight that is fast disappearing from
English Streets......an old fashioned red telephone box mainly being put out of
service by the technology of the pesky mobile phone!!
Melton is the home of the Pork Pie.......a meat pie made of
chopped pork and pork jelly all enclosed in delicious pastry. It may sound disgusting but it is truly a
delight to eat, usually cold and as a snack!
Pork pies were first popular with fox hunters in the 19th
Century and nowadays only pies that are made here can carry the Melton Mowbray
brand! They (surprisingly!!) sell them
here:
The town is also famous as one of the homes of Stilton
Cheese.....no wonder they like to be known as ‘The Rural Capital of Food’.
Just up the road from Melton is the Vale of Belvoir which
looks a lot like this:
Aaahhhh the glory that is the English Countryside in the
Summer. Sat atop a hill and the Crown in
the Vale is Belvoir Castle the seat of the Duke of Rutland:
There has been a castle on this spot since the Norman times
and the Castle has been under the Ownership of the current Family for more than
500 years!! The castle sits in around 15,000 acres, most of which is open to
the public (the Family live in the rest of it....lucky things!!!) The gardens
are pretty cool and the current Duchess is in the process of restoring the
Secret Valley Garden and the Rustic Summerhouse.
Summer is one of my favourite times of the year to visit the
Castle as they usually hold jousting contests about now!!! It’s quite a sight to behold. Knights with big poles everywhere and in my
experience the bad Knights are always hotter ;-) If you get a chance to visit this year it’s
definitely worthwhile!
