So why would you want to visit Rutland? As it turns out there are planet of reasons to explore this miniature jewel of a county set in rural mid-England.
Say hello to Rutland
Tiny Rutland sits in the East Midlands, bordering Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire. The biggest town – also the county town – is quaint Oakham, a typ;ical country town surrounded by farmland with a population of just 12,000 or so. The second biggest town is Uppingham, where fewer than 5000 people live.
At just 147 square miles in size and home to only 42,000-ish people in total, the only county smaller than Rutland is the City of London. The county is otherwise rural, the smallest of England’s historic counties.
A storm in a tea cup
Tempers rose and feelings ran high when Rutland became a non-metropolitan district of Leicestershire in 1974. The original proposal was even worse – to merge Rutland with another borough because so few people lived there. A tempest in a teacup later, Rutland was declared exempt and survived. In 1997 Rutland was finally made a unitary authority, responsible for most of its own local services at long last.
The surroundings – Cold Overton Park and Rutland Water
Think flat and you’ve nailed it. The county’s highest point is just 197m, a hill at Cold Overton Park with nice views of the rural surroundings. But as far as visitors go, Rutland Water is the main attraction, right in the county’s centre.
Created in the 1970s, this huge reservoir is fed by the Nene and Welland rivers, and took four years to fill. This is England’s biggest reservoir by surface area but not capacity, an honour that goes to Kielder Water up north in Northumberland. At 33m deep Rutland Water is an enormous body of water and it’s pretty as well, surrounded by 3,100 acres of gently rolling, green agricultural land with a 23 mile official track around the edge to walk or cycle. The reservoir is a nature reserve visited by over-wintering wildfowl, and ospreys nest and breed there.
The Rutland Belle carries visitors on tours across the reservoir from April until late October, a fun voyage out on the sparkling water. And there’s the iconic Normanton Church to admire, a spooky sight saved from demolition when the area was flooded. The church sits on a specially-made platform above water level, on its own little peninsula, a dramatic sight like something straight out of a movie.
The look and feel, past and present
The pale grey local limestone creates a mellow feel to the county’s older buildings, others of which are built from dark red and rusty-orange ironstone. Collyweston slate was the go-to roofing material, and there are also some really lovely thatched homes to admire.
Prehistoric settlements haven’t been found here but there are clear signs of a Roman mosaic and potentially a Roman farm near Ketton. We know the Angles decided to put down roots here in the 500s. Called ‘Roteland’ in the Domesday Book, it means ‘land belonging to Rōta’, Rōta being an old English name that translates as pleasant or cheerful.
For centuries Rutland was a deeply-wooded place beloved by hunters. In the 1500s wool became a big thing here and, for a while, they did a roaring trade in it. These days Rutland has returned to its roots, basically a fertile, sleepy farmed area dotted with villages and hamlets.
A magnificent Norman building
There’s not a lot left of Oakham Castle, built between 1180 and 1190, but what’s left is magnificent, one of the country’s best-preserved Norman buildings. A stunning ‘great hall’, as well as blasting you back almost 900 years into the past it hosts a collection of interesting old ceremonial horseshoes – apt because the county’s symbol is a horseshoe.
Rutland rocks and fossils
The famous Rutland Formation shows up in bands of colourful rock made of clays and mud carried down ancient rivers, often full of fossil shells. People have also found a fossil dinosaur here, on display at Leicester Museum and Art Gallery.
Ruddles Brewery
Ruddles Brewery shut its doors for the last time in 1997, a sad day since their excellent bitter was one of just three UK beers to get Protected Geographical Indication status. But when brewery giant Greene King decided it had to close the beer’s award disappeared along with the brewery. On the bright side, the excellent Oakham’s Grainstore Brewery started making Rutland Bitter in 2010, still available in pubs.
So what is Rutland famous for?
It might not be rolling in it but Rutland is one of the least-deprived counties in England. It is an official Fairtrade County. And it’s also a comedy hero. Comedian Eric Idle’s brilliantly silly Rutland Weekend Television was a hugely popular TV sketch series in the ‘70sm and this is where the fictional band ‘The Rutles’ hailed from, a star in the Rutland Weekend Television sky.
Rutland features in books too, in some of local writer Peter F. Hamilton’s novels, and Adam Croft’s popular Rutland crime series kicked off with the sinister What Lies Beneath in 2020. It was the last English county to resist the siren call of McDonalds, a branch of which finally opened in Oakham during November 2020. And like every county it has its fair share of crazy traditions.
Take ‘Letting of the Banks, referring to pasture land let at the village of Whissendine, which happens in week 3 March. Then there’s Rush Strewing at the village of Barrowden around the end of June, when reeds collected in the church meadow on St Peter’s Day eve are thrown on the church floor. And, if a member of the royal family or peer of the realm happens to go through Oakham, they’re traditionally meant to give the Lord of the Oakham Manor a horseshoe.
Things to do in Rutland
The great outdoors is yours in this sweet little county, with oodles of opportunities for walking and cycling on official safe routes, fishing, golf, and of course watersports on Rutland Water. The nature reserves around the reservoir have hides for birdwatchers and nature lovers to spot birds and animals, all wonderfully Instagrammable, a haven for photography and popular with landscape painters. Barnsdale Gardens are a gorgeous place to explore with locally-soyrced goodies to feast upon. Maybe treat yourself to a stunning plant for your own garden. Oakham and Uppingham have theatres, art galleries, shops, markets and more to poke around in. And there’s a host of excellent award winning pubs, restaurants and hotels to sample across the county.
- Take a private walking tour of Oakham and Stamford, both outstandingly pretty
- Enjoy a private historic pub walking tour of Oakham
- Visit Aqua park Rutland for family fun in and on the water
- Admire the birds up close and personal at the Rutland Falconry and Owl Centre and Simon Tebbutt falconry
- Get married at Normanton Church
- Visit Whissendine Windmill
- Go to Rutland County Museum
- Sample the wares made at the Rutland Vineyard
- Fall in love with scenic Lyddington Bede House
Other than the City of London itself, the Square Mile, this is the only English county small enough to explore in a day… or take a few days and do everything there is to do in Rutland. Happy times!
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