The Water

Saturday Morning, 6am. Kim and I had just spent the night in a field in Wing, a stone's throw from the Water. We slept separately - in our own tents I hasten to add, in sub-zero temperatures. It was the first night of our camping trip with four other friends, so it was bound to be the coldest for weeks, perhaps months. The picture was brought to you therefore with numb fingers and frozen faces, taken of the sun rising above Rutland Water with the Osprey nest in the foreground.

Wing itself is a small village and civil parish in the smallest of our English counties, namely Rutland. It lies to the south and within a stone's throw of the popular Rutland Water. It has a good variety of buildings, many of them constructed in the 17th century in local Clipsham stone, which glows a mellow tone in the sunshine. The Kings Arms pub lies a short walk from Wing Hall, along a shortcut; a footpath which emerges in the pub car park. Beyond that, Wing boasts only a church and village hall, but its sleepy nature is a great source of its appeal.

Wing Hall itself resides on a family owned estate. The imposing Victorian country house dominates the estate, which is found at the end of a tree-lined avenue serving as its entrance. It was built between 1885 and 1891 by Edward Worrall. His family found fortune in a method of dying velvet which flourished at their Ordsall Dyeworks in Salford. The house now serves as a venue for the wonderful bunting clad Veranda Café (www.verandacafe.co.uk) offering fine food as well as soft and alcoholic drinks, the newer of the camper's showers and a farm shop, stocking the usual edible fayre together with barbecues and essentials the forgetful camper might have neglected to bring with them.

The surrounding grounds are somewhat diminished in acreage since their heyday, but ample nevertheless. The buildings have a ramshackle air of decaying empire about them, which I found all the more telling. It lends a sense that the family are striving to hold onto their fine Victorian ancestral pile, a struggle which they've not quite yet managed to conquer. No doubt, continued hard work, welcoming disposition and investment will prevail. Others describe the appearance less kindly as scruffy, but in my view, this description would be better left reserved for the camper's facilities.

We returned after our first visit three years ago to the promise of lots of improvements to look forward to. On our arrival, we found the main entrance and field 1, closed as a safety measure for tree maintenance, but only for the first day or so. A number of rotten limbs had to be removed and the tree surgeon was to be blamed for the delays. As safety is no. 1 priority, we didn't consider this to be a great inconvenience. As a result, we were directed to field 4, behind the house to pitch our tents, but within easy reach of its facilities. It is a sloping field without EHU, divided into rows of pitches for campers. The grass was long and at the edges, ran into nettles which had recently been cut. However, the views to the south over patchwork rolling hills forgave this shortcoming, although it was interrupted by the significant remains of a large apple tree which had failed to burn in a bonfire in front of us. Why was this not cleared away?

During our visit we took the opportunity at the Veranda Café to sample both the cream teas and the beer (although not at the same time) from the local Grainstore Brewery, both of which I can highly recommend, together with the polite and welcoming service.

We found numerous walks around the area, avoiding this time the reservoir at the weekend, owing to its popularity and in particular, the large number of cyclists, pinging bells (and sometimes not) on their approach behind us. Rutland with its Water is a beautiful part of the world to enjoy and you'd be hard pushed to beat the Wing Hall location.