Comments on: Arches & Obelisk, Stoke Rochford, Lincolnshire

By: Editor

Editor — Sat, 18 May 2024 11:54:56 +0000

In reply to Keren. That sounds sensible rather than sad to me.

By: Keren

Keren — Sat, 18 May 2024 09:56:45 +0000

In reply to Editor. Oh, there are lots! I particularly like the Gothic Temple at Painshill, but I confess to being something of a saddo - I have a 1999 paperback edition of Headley & Meulenkamp *specifically* for ticking off follies I have visited!

By: Editor

Editor — Sat, 18 May 2024 08:04:52 +0000

In reply to Keren. Hello Keren. Thanks for sharing your memories. I’m sure there must be some gothic follies that meet with your approval!

By: Keren

Keren — Sat, 18 May 2024 07:08:39 +0000

Stoke Rochford Hall was a teacher training college before becoming the HQ of the NUT: it was also the sole provider of entertainment for the kids from the local grammar schools in the 1970s, as it hosted at least a disco and generally a band every Saturday night, in order to stave off boredom-generated insanity amongst the students marooned amongst miles and miles of nothing BUT sheep. The college ran a bus from and to Grantham town centre, which is how we locals managed to access this den of iniquity (the was also a bar that sold Stella Artois). Discos in the 1970s were hardly unusual, but this one played almost exclusively prog and rock music (yes, you CAN dance to prog!) which made it a haven for our particular teen sub-culture, who were known as ‘hairies’ or ‘freaks’. We bore roughly the same relationship to hippies as Emos did to Goths later on: we wore almost exclusively jeans and Indian cheesecloth, lots of beads, and in the case of males, excessively flared jeans, beards, and most of the orient’s output of patchouli oil (I think I was about 17 before I realised that this was *not* the natural smell of the male of the species!). The bands were never anyone you’d ever heard of – though Shakin’ Stevens played there at least twice before hitting the heights of fame – but it provided everything a teen of the era needed: affordable loud music, strong drink and a large, dark parkland in which to explore the possibilities of sexual liberation. Happy days!

As for the follies, I found them incredibly boring (and still do) – but then, my taste in architecture which was at this time best defined as Pre-Raphaelite ‘medieval-ish’ (I lived less than a mile from Harlaxton Manor) was refined by a gift of a book by my best friend at school, which featured the work of William Burges, and I was, from that point, a full-on Goth of the other variety!

By: Editor

Editor — Thu, 14 Apr 2022 11:24:30 +0000

In reply to David Allum. Hello David. Thanks for your kind comments and I am sorry that you are having problems. I don't know what has happened but I will endeavour to find out.

By: David Allum

David Allum — Thu, 14 Apr 2022 08:49:09 +0000

Dear FF,
The reminder emails for your wonderful site stopped coming a few weeks ago. I have tried to re-subscribe a number of times and it always fails. Can you help please.
David Allum.

By: Editor

Editor — Mon, 11 Apr 2022 11:27:49 +0000

In reply to Julie O'Hara. Hello Julie. Very pleased to find a fellow Stoke Rochford fan - I only called in to see the obelisk I had read about, and there were all these other treats in the grounds and in the village! It will definitely become our coffee stop on trips up and down the A1.

By: Julie O'Hara

Julie O'Hara — Mon, 11 Apr 2022 11:01:16 +0000

I have been enthusing about Stoke Rochford and particularly the Hall Hotel for the last few years – if you are ever in the Stamford area of the A1, do schedule a visit, if only for coffee in the spectacular lounges. The staircase is an absolute wonder (look at the hotel pictures on line) and the marble fire places spectacular. It has a small Operation Market Garden exhibition and a weird glass fire surround and – as FF says the grounds are delightful and free to wander round. It is, needless to say because we have stayed there, very cheap to stay in the stable block. The village and church make it a worthy diversion that I will continue to recommend.