Flower of Kent, Newton's Apple

Best viewed *larger*

On our last full day in Rutland we went in the afternoon to Sir Isaac Newton's birthplace Woolsthorpe Manor - he lived there to the age of 12, coming back briefly to get away from the plague from his education at Cambridge University. It was during that period peering out of one of his bedroom window he watched the now infamous apples drop straight & not to the side, nor upside down, which inspired his thoughts on gravity. The leaves of the tree are *the* tree where the apples dropped & the variety 'Flower of Kent' - it fell down in a storm but then regrew a new shoot & so is possibly one of the oldest apple trees in the country!

And the other back blip...

Through the harvest

In the morning we visited Easton Walled Gardens - a beautiful but sad place, Easton Hall itself was demolished in 1951 after suffering so much damage through housing the units of the Royal Artillery and and of the 2nd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment (of Arnhem fame) for four years, in which time it suffered considerable damage both to the fabric of the building and to the remaining contents, including many family records. Read about it's history here, it's the saddest feeling walking over where the once great house stood. But I'm so glad they've rediscovered the gardens & I highly recommend it, it was so beautiful, even the noise of the A1 didn't ruin it - much! :) xxx