Day 6: KERA All Creatures Tour — A quick stop at Belvoir Castle before heading back to London

On: September 5, 2023, By: Bill Young

Belvoir Castle. Photo: Bill Young

Hard to believe we are nearing the end of our 2023 KERA All Creatures Great and Small Tour of England but, alas, there is but one more stop on the way back to London and our last night dinner with 26 of our newest friends.

But…what an amazing stop it was. Belvoir Castle has served a filming location for The Crown, The DaVinci Code, Young Victoria and Victoria and Abdul among others. With a history that dates back to the 11th century, it is the ancestral home of the Duke of Rutland.

Four castles have stood on the land since 1067 and was considered an ideal location for a fortified castle with it’s ability to see for miles in all directions. A land was a gift from William the Conqueror to the family’s first recorded ancestor, Robert de Todeni, who served as William’s Standard Bearer in the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

The War of the Roses, a series of civil wars fought over the control of the England throne, decimated the original Castle by 1464. The second Castle was destroyed by Parlamentarians after Royalists had seized it durng the Civil War that began in 1642. The third Castle was completed in 1668 while the fourth Castle was built between 1801-1832 for the 5th Duke and Duchess of Rutland and designed by James Wyatt who was famous for his improvements to Windsor Castle.

While Belvoir Castle is considered to be one of the finest eamples of Regency architecture in the country, the gardens are well worth a visit having undergone several major changes over the centuries with the current restoration program the pride of teh present Duchess.

Belvoir Castle gardens. Photo: Bill Young

With great sadness, we left Belvoir and headed to London for our final evening together. It’s been a brilliant week travelling approximately 700 miles across the UK for KERA’s 2023 All Creatures Great and Small Tour of England. Once again, Jim navigated and guided us both through the smallest of Roman roads to the most crowded London streets inside the congestion zone. Only thing left was to make sure I saw this sign in plenty of time to make the flight home.