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Pride runs through Stamford like fat through a well-marbled steak. “Two of the questions most frequently asked by visitors,
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cheap jordans, ‘How did it escape the late 19th century and early 20th century urban blight that disfigures so many other towns?’.”
Yes, Stamford is lovely – but must they ram it down our throats?!
Credit: Telegraph Media Group/David Rose
Who are these mysterious visiting sycophants? And how did they know exactly which questions would most appeal to the vanity of their hosts? Stamford is a pretty Lincolnshire town with hardly a bare modern brick to be seen among the stone fronts of its centre and, boy, does it know it. Whether it’s praise from men of letters or recognition by English Heritage, not a garland goes unmentioned on the plaques that adorn every smooth surface. If Stamford were a human, it would be the kind of pinstriped local dignitary who wonders aloud whether one can recommend oneself for an OBE.
In the spirit of punctiliousness, then, let’s answer the questions posed by the information board. Half way between York and London on the Great North Road, Stamford became a rich staging post for the wool trade. The Lincolnshire Limestone Formation runs underneath it (one of the reasons the Romans built Ermine Street where they did). Much of the centre does indeed date from the 18th and 19th centuries – and has that polite classical look beloved of Jane Austen adaptations (the library, formerly a market, is fronted by four tumescent Tuscan pillars which make the adjacent red phone box look like a bearskinned Life Guard wandering into a parade of legionnaires).
Half way between York and London on the Great North Road, Stamford became a rich staging post for the wool trade
Credit: Telegraph Media Group/David Rose
It’s not even the most notable phone box here. In a town with one of the highest densities of listed buildings in the UK – you are often reminded of that kind of thing here – there is even a listed phone box. Imagine. Drunk on the power of basically getting their whole town listed, local historians attempt their most audacious heist yet: listing a telephone kiosk. And, by God, they did it!
But I digress. How did Stamford escape the “urban blight that disfigures so many towns”? A clue is the lordly presence of Burghley House, the enormous Elizabethan prodigy house a mile out of town. Since its 16th-century construction, it has been owned by the Cecil family, now a quietly beneficent bunch who opened their estate to its eponymous horse trials. In the 1830s, vastly powerful landowning autocrats were responsible, in the words of a government officer at the time, for “a state of barbarous intervention and blindness, which resembles more an African dominion than an English and wholesome interference”.
Burghley House
Credit: Telegraph Media Group/David Rose
Disinclined to allow his idyllic limestone fiefdom to be sullied by modernity, the third Marquess of Exeter (the pre-eminent Cecil of the time) discouraged plans for the new Great Northern Railway to run through Stamford. They picked Peterborough, 20 miles down the road, instead. While Peterborough grew bigger (and grimmer), Stamford pretty much stayed the same. And 50 years ago it became the UK’s first Conservation Area. In the same year, Peterborough was declared one of the “New Towns” that would accommodate urban overspill.
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So Stamford, really, represents the triumph of the Nimbys. For those of us who may never own a flat, let alone a house, in Stamford or anywhere else, this should sour a trip here. But the architecture is fine, the meadows are lush, the pubs are plentiful and the local pride, really, is genial and endearing. Stamford is an excellent place for a day trip. Beats Peterborough, anyway.
Seven good reasons to head to Stamford
The shop
Find the Stamford Cheese Cellar on St Mary’s Street. Try the Cote Hill Blue, a fairly mellow local soft cheese. It also sells wine, spirits, and... bespoke cheese wedding cakes.
Gorge on cheese
Credit: Telegraph Media Group/David Rose
The pub
Real ale and wizened oak beams are in good supply at the Tobie Norris. Its three floors provide cosy corners, if you can overlook the hideous tartan-print chairs.
Have a pie
Credit: Telegraph Media Group/David Rose
The house
Burghley House is magnificent and within walking distance. Both the house and gardens are open to the public.
The priory
St Leonard’s Priory is a strange and sepulchral 900-year-old building on Stamford’s outskirts. It’s well worth the short walk from the town centre.
Visit the Priory
Credit: Telegraph Media Group/David Rose
The meadows
A short bifurcation of the Welland river created the broad spit occupied by the Town Meadows, an oasis of green just across the bridge from the shops.
The station
Stamford doesn’t have a direct rail route to London, but it’s on the Birmingham to Peterborough line. The station, adorably, is designed to look a little bit like Burghley House.
The hotel
Stamford’s most historic is the George Inn. A grand former coaching inn with 47 bedrooms, it’s also known for its enjoyable wood-panelled dining room.
Sleep it all off at the George Inn
Credit: Telegraph Media Group/David Rose
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Help the UK economy, and its farmers, by buying British this Christmas
By
Rebecca Burn-Callander
,
Enterprise Editor
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British households spend an estimated £22bn at Christmas, with the average UK family spending £835.
Of this, around £161 - a conservative estimate - goes on food and drink, according to YouGov.
By buying produce grown or reared in Britain, consumers are not just supporting the UK economy, they are lowering their carbon footprint, helping to keep the farming tradition alive in the UK, and creating jobs.
The agriculture industry generates £9.4bn in value added for the UK economy - a measure which used by the Office for National Statistics to show the contribution of the sector to the economy.
However, the UK produces less than 60pc of the food it eats.
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Click on each element of the Christmas meal to find out more.
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