The Nevill Arms in Medbourne is a wonderful pitstop at any time of year, but ideal for anyone heading for the Nevill Holt Festival. Tim Relf paid a visit. Everyone’s heard of The Cotswolds, even if they don’t know exactly which area it covers.
With relatives in the Gloucestershire village of Painswick, I’ve always been immensely fond of the region – so when I first heard a place on the southern tip of Leicestershire described as ‘the hidden Cotswolds’ I figured it had a lot to live up to. The Welland Valley with its rolling green pastures and distinctive local stone is just that, however. It’s like the so-called ‘flyover states’ in the US – the places people pass over in planes between the supposedly more fashionable East and West coasts.
Driving along the A1 or M1, you wouldn’t know you’d passed The Welland Valley. The Nevill Arms pub and country hotel , standing beside a brook in the village of Medbourne between Market Harborough and Uppingham, is at the heart of this beautiful, unspoilt area. Expect lush grazing land, small fields and wide hedges, along with characterful villages and historic buildings.
Perhaps the issue with this area is that it’s never quite known how to brand itself. After all, neither ‘The Welland Valley’, nor the charming wider rural area known as ‘High Leicestershire’, occupies the same position in people’s imagination and affection as the Cotswolds. But it should.
And if you’d like to explore it, The Nevill Arms.