Small Is Beautiful

Elaine and Mick Statham explore one of the UK’s smallest counties, home to one of its largest reservoirs.

We have had Rutland on the ‘must visit’ list for some time. There was a window of good weather in the first week of November, so we forsook our usual trip to the Welsh coast and headed for the Midlands. The weather was cold but sunny. We were hoping that the wind wouldn’t get up because we intended to do some birding and the wind has an uncanny knack of whipping through a bird hide and anyone inside.

Normally, we do not take Elsa off site very often, but on this trip we decided to use the van to get from A to B on a daily basis. It meant a little driving round residential streets to find suitable parking spaces. Some car parks do not allow vehicles over 5.5 metres long, with the threat of a £70 fine for violation. However, we are happy to walk for 10 minutes or so to get into the centre of town. We also used our bikes, and Elaine ran to get about.

Rutland is just 18 by 17 miles and is the fourth smallest county in the UK, the cities of Bristol and London and the Isle of Wight being smaller by area. After some research we decided to use the adults-only GreendaleFarm Caravan and Camping site at Whissen ndine, about four miles from Oakham, Rutland’s county town.

Walking to Whissendine

It’s just half a mile from the campsite to the small village of Whissendine. The White Lion pub here is excellent, serving great food. The landlord, Chris, is a renowned magician, but we missed his Tuesday evening magic show; another must for our next visit.