Scenic Place in Rutland

Oakham is the county town of Rutland, England's smallest historic county, a market town of considerable charm whose combination of medieval castle remains, historic church, attractive market square and the surrounding agricultural landscape of England's most rural county makes it a rewarding destination for those seeking uncrowded historic England at its most genuine. Rutland was absorbed into Leicestershire in the local government reorganisation of 1974 but recovered its county status in 1997, a restoration that reflected the strong attachment of the county's population to their distinctive identity. Oakham Castle, in the centre of the town, is one of the finest surviving examples of a Norman great hall in England. The hall, built in the late twelfth century by Walkelin de Ferrers, retains its complete Norman arcade of pillars and arches in a remarkable state of preservation, and the interior walls are hung with over two hundred decorative horseshoes donated by royalty and peers as a local tradition requiring every peer of the realm passing through Oakham to surrender a horseshoe. The collection, beginning with an example attributed to Edward IV and including shoes from every subsequent monarch and many noble visitors, constitutes one of the most unusual collections of royal and aristocratic memorabilia in England. The Church of All Saints in the market place is a fine medieval building with an excellent collection of Victorian stained glass and the market place itself, with its traditional butter cross and surrounding Georgian and earlier buildings, provides a handsome central space of the kind increasingly rare in English market towns. Rutland Water, a large reservoir created in the 1970s that is now one of the most important freshwater wildlife habitats in the Midlands and a centre for sailing and water sports, lies immediately east of the town and provides an additional natural and recreational dimension.

Uppingham is one of the finest and most complete small market towns in England's smallest county, a Rutland town of warm ironstone and limestone buildings set on a ridge above the Eye Brook Valley whose combination of the traditional market square, Uppingham School with its significant architectural presence, the excellent independent shops and the surrounding Rutland countryside creates a destination of considerable charm and cultural richness. Uppingham School, founded in 1584 and one of the older English public schools, contributes substantially to the character of the town through both its buildings and the cultural investment it has sustained over centuries. The school chapel and the school buildings clustered around the centre of the town give Uppingham an architectural confidence unusual in a small market town, and the tradition of educational excellence has attracted a population with cultural interests that sustain the quality of the town's independent businesses. The market square with its traditional buildings, the Church of St Peter and St Paul and the surrounding streets of stone buildings provide a townscape of considerable quality and consistency. The proximity of Rutland Water, the largest artificial lake in England by surface area, provides excellent birdwatching, sailing and cycling immediately north of the town and completes an experience of Rutland's distinctive combination of historic townscape and managed countryside.