BELTON HOUSE AND ISAAC NEWTON

Today we decided to drive up to Grantham where there is an excellent Saturday Market. We have been there before, and were looking forward to buying some meat from the character we had met last time. He is a real salesman - and we bought a bag of Lamb Chops plus a Leg of Lamb for L10 and the a bloody great bag of chicken breast for another tenner! Enough meat to last a month. Also some great meusli and herbs,vegetables and fruit, and then had a stand up lunch of Paella from a Spanish kiosk.

Then we went about the business of National Trusting and took off for Belton House, another country house set in magnificent park like grounds. In the entrance we were just in time to hear an introduction to the property by one of the volunteer guides. This is the first time that we have struck a presentation of a Trust property and it was fascinating. The House was built in the 17th century by a London lawyer Sir John Brownlow who, apparently was earning a sum of 6000 pounds a year in his job - a sum which translates into millions in todays terms. He wisely decided to buy some land and build a family home - and thus we have this magnificent country house which remained in the family until 1984 when the current Lord Brownlow gave the place to the National Trust.

The house is totally open to view and as the guide suggested, it does represent a very liveable family home, albeit of fairly generous proportions!! As is typical of these old country houses the bathroom facilities were limited, but, as personal hygiene was not a major daily consideration until the early 20th century, the lack of toilets and baths was to be expected.The gardens and parkland surrounding the house were more desirable features and truly beautiful.

We left Belton and drove off to find Woolsthorpe Manor which was the birthplace of Sir Isaac Newton - the bloke who sat under the apple tree and discovered gravity. He was born here on Christmas Day in 1642. He was fortunate in having an Uncle who, recognising his intelligence, persuaded his mother to send him to Cambridge University -otherwise he would probably have finished up as another sheep farmer.He left Cambridge temporarily when the Plague hit that City and it was during the next two years while living at Woolsthorpe that his creative genius developed.He developed Calculus/reflective telescope/theory of gravity and laws of motion and thoeries on light over the next few years before returning to Cambridge to a teaching/research career.

The house itself is evidence of the fairly comfortable circumstances in which he lived, and is well maintained in as much originality as possible. Adjoining the house is an orchard where the actual apple tree still grows despite having grafted new limbs to an ancient trunk.There is also a Science Discovery building which houses a really super hands on array of exhibits portraying Newtons basic discoveries. The supervisor there (we were the only patrons) adopted us to demonstrate the various exhibits,but I have to confess that his explanation of calculus was "in one ear and t'other'!!But I did understand the experiment with light rays and found that by blocking one colour from white light the other colours appear -so there!