It’s my birthday today, and thanks to the generousity of a friend’s wedding present we’re spending the weekend in Stamford, Lincolnshire.
It’s a historic little town with some beautiful buildings, most of which are constructed out of the local Cotswold stone (Yes, the seam runs this far). If you have an interest in either architecture or history, the town’s well worth a visit. Here’s a couple of examples.

One of the fascinations of old buildings is looking at how they’ve developed and changed over the years. Many have changed uses and there are often clues in the stonework, like this…
Our visit’s been made more entertaing and interesting as our friend, Martin Yallop, has a vast knowledge of architecture and local history, so he’s been showing us around and taking us to places we might otherwise miss, like this grave of a local celebrity.
Sadly, the weather’s not as good as we’ve had recently, the temperatures dropped and the skies have turned grey, but undeterred, I’ve still had a wander with the camera. Here’s the station. Stamford used to have two, but now the old Midland Railway line from Peterborough to Leicster is the only one that survives. The town has an hourly service run by Cross-Country trains.
Here’s the town on a previous visit, when the weather was a little better!
I presume a man of your means is staying at the George Hotel? I’ve heard Sunday lunch is quite good there?
Also heard the town center can get a bit rowdy on weekend evenings, with a lot of people from RAF Wittering visiting?
Actually, we stayed at the William Cecil, up the road – which was lovely! The town centre was fine and we had an interesting time visiting the brewery in the Sam Smiths pub. I’ll add more pictures/blogs in the next couple of days. I’d certainly recommend Stamford.