Snow in Stamford

The Bull and Swan

After celebrating Hanna's birthday with a memorable lunch and a historic tour of Fotheringay, we drove up to Stamford for a night out at the Bull and Swan Inn. Our carers expressly prohibited us from returning home as they were determined to show that Dan could survive without us. Of course we didn't believe them, so we decided to spend the night within 30 minutes of home. To put it another way: If the baby-listener had a range of 30 miles, we would have taken it with us.

We took the B-roads from Fotheringay to Stamford, passing through the ancient, stone-built villages of Nassington, Yarwell, Wansford, Barnack and Pilsgate. This took us across the current A1 or Great North Road, but reconnected us with the original Roman road that was called Ermine Street.

In the 1950s and 60s I remember travelling north on the old A1 that took us slap through the centre of all the towns on the way. Many of these towns had been slaves to the highway, providing overnight stays and lunch stops to travellers who used horse-drawn carriages to get about. These towns are still dominated by large coaching inns. St Neots, Buckden, Stilton and Stamford all lay astride the Great North Road, which was their lifeline before the railways came.

I remember getting stuck in Stamford several times, until the new road by-passed the town. and moved the bottleneck north to Burton on Trent. I also remember the big sign across the road at the George Hotel. It is still there.

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