Solo trip to Grantham

Belton House

I took a solo trip to Grantham, which is a 35-minute train trip east of Nottingham. I went to visit St. Wulfram's Church and Belton House.

St. Wulfram's Church has the sixth tallest spire in the country and houses a chained library.

The chained library was created in 1598 with £100. The books have survived with no special care. Of course, you can't touch them, so they may all turn to dust if you try.

You have to go up a tiny 22-step spiral staircase to get to the books.

There were a few small bookcases like this, but it was quite a small room.

After the church, I headed to Belton House, a country house that was gifted to the National Trust - with most of its contents - in 1984 in lieu of the family paying death taxes.

It was used as one of the filming locations in the BBC Pride and Prejudice. For any die-hards out there, this is the writing desk Mr. Darcy used to write to Elizabeth.

I did a basement tour which showed the servants' side of the house, but for some reason we weren't allowed to take photos there. So you only get to see the fancy bits.

In the greenhouse.

I'm only buying gold frames from now on.

I don't know who she is,
but I liked this one.

Above the dining room table. Because nothing stirs
the appetite like a picture of a dead swan. 

In a courtyard.

Of course, there were substantial grounds and gardens. Here's an idyllic cricketing scene.

And a few more quintessential England photos from the walk back to town.

It was a nice little trip. Belton House is about three miles from the rail station, which I ended up walking both ways. There's a bus once an hour you can take but I didn't feel like dealing with that, but I probably should have because on the way there I created a ~2-mile detour by taking a wrong turn and obliviously walking a mile in the wrong direction before realizing it. I had no choice but to turn around and retrace my steps. Oops!