Great British Road Journeys - Rutland - Uppingham to Stretton Ep. 15 

Can we not get this man a sponsorship from England's national tourism authorities? These wee videos are better than any expensive corporate bollocks they put out...👍🇦🇺👏

Hello Jon, how the devil are you, have you had a good week?

Come for the facts, stay for the humour

What about Rutland Weekend Television, which begat The Rutles, and The Rutland Stones, and Rutland Five-0? (Produced by Al Foresoreskin, let us not forget) Also, Oakham Station's signal box was immortalised by Airfix, who made a model kit of it, to be used with model railways. That kit is still available, though now made by Dapol. Always look forward to your Sunday videos, Jon. They never cease to be both informed and amusing. Tidy. 👍👍👍

Rutland did have another Claim to Fame, until quite recently, that it was the only County in the UK without a McDonalds.

Rutland was where Sundew, the enormous dragline excavator was 'walked' from (Exton) to Corby, rather than being dismantled and remantled later. Uppingham School put loads of blockers on the ironstone quarrying and bought land the quarry companies had their eyes on to prevent further noise. Great stuff, as usual

2:37 - Paul and Rebecca Whitewick vibes! 6:57 - Jago Hazzard vibes!

Hmmm, 1920's Old Man Michelin had a strange obsession with Schools!

The home of The Rutles, greatest band ever.

It was a sad day when the Ram Jam Inn closed, and an even sadder day when it got flattened for some modern shite which isn't finished yet. It was a lovely building and very much a landmark for us A1 stompers.

Rutland was 'de-countied' for some years before being re-instated. Also, check out 70s comedy show, Rutland Weekend Television and The Rutles (featuring Eric Idle and Niel Innes).

The Ram Jam is gone!! Shows how things have changed since I 'retired' with the heart problems not that long ago.

Thanks John. You could have gone to Oakham Signal Box which the Airfix 'kit' is based on.

Yay, Sunday has arrived…. frickin sweet awesome 🫶👊💥

A bit worrying you are slowly creeping towards my home town and will inevitably roast it

I had a mate who worked in the cement business, he was a great mixer at parties but very set in his ways ! Great 👍 video.

Stephen Fry, Rowan Atkinson and Hugh Jackman attended Uppingham school.

Watching from Singapore. And in the early 1990s had a boss who was very proud to be living in the recently reinstated Rutland.

Nice to see you in my country little bit of information for you regarding RAF Cottesmore where you stood the Road used to go straight though to village called Thisleton but was relined in the 1950’s when the Runway was extended to accommodate the V Bombers and a road called new road was Built the small lane is known as Hooby Lane. In 1968 A Vulcan Bomber crashed near to Burley Farm near Oakham sadly out of the 6 crew members only had the Pilot’s survived. The cause of the crash was. A fire in the No 2 engine low pressure compressor failed during climb out from an overshoot at Cottesmore, Rutland led 9:05 turbine disc separation. The disc entered the bomb bay, damaging the flying controls severely. The Vulcan was uncontrollable and crashed on approach to RAF Cottesmore, Rutland.from the 1980’s to 1999 the TTTE know as the Tri National Tornado Established was formed it trained German Italian and British Tornado Pilots this was disbanded in 1999 and in 2000 the Harrier jump jets took over after coming back from Germany until 2010 when they flew for the last time when they were scrapped I worked there washing the Harriers.

My father flew Victors at Cottesmore in the early sixties. The Officers Quarters faced the end of the runway so I was able to stand on a chair at the kitchen window to watch them taxi & take off from a distance. Although some of the ordnance (e.g. Blue Streak) must have been held locally (and there was a discreet bomb store for that purpose), my dad used to say that most of it was held a RAF Faldingworth, North East of Lincoln, because of the proximity to Waddington, the main Vulcan base at the time. Faldingworth has some deep and armoured caverns and since decommissioning has also served as a data centre (failed) and a cannabis farm (arrested). Behind our house were some bunkers where men in uniform worked; the bunkers had an earth rampart around them which must have been about six feet high, and there were tannoy speakers on the corners. If we came too close or played on the ramparts a metallic voice might tell us to clear off - or not - I guess it depended how bored they were from waiting for the Russians to bomb us.

Fun Fact. The Tri-National Tornado Training Establishment (TTTE) was also based at RAF Cottesmore.

During my basic training at RAF Swinderby in 1983, part of our training was to spend a few days at RAF North Luffenham and carry out a Casualty Evacuation (Casevac) by running round Rutland Water with bloke on a stretcher, normally the biggest bloke in the Flight.....bought it all back watching this video.

As a service engineer during the 80s and 90s I drove over 100,000 miles a year all over the UK and am often familiar with the places you visit (I could probably draw you a map of the uk from memory). I have fond memories of the Ram Jam which was a frequent stopping off place as the food was lovely and the building was also very nice. I know it’s been closed for years but was sad to see it finally get demolished!

I was born in Oakham, Rutland when my parents lived at RAF Cottesmore as my father was a Vulcan Nav-Rad

If you are ever in Ouistrehem (near Caen, Normandy) check out the Pegasus Bridge memorial site at Benouville. They have at least one (maybe two or three - its a while since I was there) of the Horsa gliders there and a description of why the bridge was significant when ending the second small disagreement.

Fun fact - Geno Washington & The Ram Jam Band took their name from the Ram Jam Inn. They used to stop there regularly when they were gigging up and down the country in the 60s

Ramjam - Thank you ma'am.

RAF Cottesmore played host to the Royal International Air Tattoo for a couple of years while Fairford’s runway was being resurfaced. One of the display items was the B-1 which was responsible for a few people getting injured. It lined up at the end of the runway. Next to the end of the runway was a field of people gathered to watch the displays. The B-1 ran up its engines. Chairs and whatnot flew through the air and people scattered. Being directly behind a four engined bomber in afterburner is not the best place to be. It was known as being blown by the Bone. You can probably find a video of it.

I like this video so I pressed the button specifically for that👉🏻

Back in the 1960’s my mother and father would drive down to London from Lincolnshire to see my Aunt. They would stop off on the return journey at the Ram Jam In for lunch. As a school boy I would love these journeys, seeing the countryside and listening to the radio with such hits as the Beatles Yellow Submarine. The Ram Jam In was a fabulous old place with great traditional food, such a shame it was demolished.

Uppingham School - nominative determinism on a grand scale.

Going to a wedding in Rutland in June so very relevant, excellent!

Hey MNIJ, enjoyed this one, including the 'Xzibit pun 😆. Each time, I play 'try n stop the warp-speed credit roll' dead at my stop and fail spectacularly. Have a great week.

Spent a week at RAF Cottesmore as an Air Cadet; since then, stopped at the Ram Jam Inn many times...

My Sunday just got a lot better. Thanks Jon.

You only missed the demolition of the Ram Jam Inn by about 6 months. Just wanted to say carry on with these - they are ridiculously interesting.

Love the X to the Zee Exhibits! 😂

Hi Jon, I'm a Rutlander and I put our strong sense of identity down to the extensive local nobility. Rutland was a gift to Edward the Confessor's Queen, Edith, introducing a royal connection which distinguished it from the rest of Northamptonshire. The Norman Oakham Castle was a major Plantagenet demesne, upkeeping this royal connection. Leighfield Forest was a royal hunt. Rutland contained lands belonging to the Earls of Gainsborough at Exton, the Marquesses of Exeter (Burghley House, Stamford), the Earls of Ancaster (Normanton Hall), the Earl of Winchilsea (Burley on the Hill) and the Earls of Lonsdale (Barleythorpe). All this nobility gave the county a royal hunt (the Cottesmore) and the two well endowed grammar schools (Uppingham and Oakham). The county motto is "Multum in Parvo" - lots of knobs in high concentration. Also as a student, I had a summer job helping to survey and plot the hill contours for the diversion of the A606 which you mentioned.

Ram Jam..... 'Whoa, Black Betty, Bamalam!' 😁 Loved the 'Something Interesting', on the map. You don't usually see it signed up like that, just little pictures of knives and forks, shopping baskets etc.

No mention of the lack of any Black bettys at Ram Jam?

That was a good one. Im now sharing rail, aviation and cement facts with my geek friends. Cant wait for the next vid, Cheers.

Ruddles County, the world's best pint of ale

drove through today get habit being places where ya vids have been lately

Back in the past I'd finish work on Friday and drive down to rutland waters then either walk or cycle around it .

Does anyone else wave back at John at the end of each video, or is it just me?

I've been twice, 1983 to RAF North Luffenham, and 2000 during the foot and mouth palaver.

Hi Jon little bit more information for you Rutland has a Latin motto Multon in Parvo which stands for Much in little also on Oakham it far from the railway crossing is a small thatched cottage that belonged to Jeffery Hudson. Not far from Barnsdale is a Village called Whitwell that has on the Village signs Twinned with Paris. Whitwell claims to be twinned with Paris, France. In 1980, regulars from the pub, the Noel Arms wrote to the then Mayor of Paris, Jacques Chirac proposing the link and with a tight deadline for a response. As no answer arrived from the Mayor's office by the set date, the village unilaterally declared itself to be twinned and erected road signs to that effect. The original wooden signs were later replaced in metal by Rutland County Council.

I was NOT ready for the exciting exhibits

3:03 The A98 around Cullen and Portsoy which is on the Moray/Aberdeenshire border has an old road bridge that crosses the former North of Scotland railway. There's also a few others around there on the nearby A96 road.

Love it!

Things I know about Rutland: 1. It’s where The Rutles came from 2. You can discover the manhood of Edmund, Prince of Edinburgh, by looking up one of the trees there 3. I went through it about four years ago and discovered, to my delight, not one or two, but three OK Diners. I had to stop for one of their burgers, having not seen one since the one just past the M62 in Liverpool closed down in the late 90s

Love it, as usual

Love your videos Jon

Love your videos 👍

I remember as a youngster the "don't dam Rutland" signs. I remember going with my father and watching the progress of it's build.

Can’t be bothered to scroll through the comments so may already have been flagged. The Ram Jam also gave its name to Geno Washington and the Ram Jam Band a popular combo in the 1960s. The band was also name checked in Dexy’s Midnight Runners “Geno” some years later. There is a pub in Stretton with a shrine set up in the bar to Geno. I forgot it’s name but good for meals.

Another great Vid. Good work Jon

Oakham also has the only railway station in Rutland

Another great short video. Keep up the good work!

Excellent the 3rd medium disagreement eh! Keep it coming

Brilliant video as always Jon!

Excellent.

Sunday Lunchtime viewing sorted!

We spent many happy hours picnicking at Rutland Water during the late 20th century which was a favourite place of my children’s grandfather.

I regularly visit oakham and my favourite fact is it has just 1 train station now. Oakham.

Wickedsweetawesome!

Great video as usual :)

*waves back at the end*

Wicked 🍬 awesome

I’ve always been strangely fascinated by Rutland - looks like there’s actually a fair bit to see and do!

Love Rutland ❤️

We used to go round Rutland Water a lot for a walk and a picnic when my Step-Mum and Step-Sister used to live down that end of the country. Lovely place for a walk however Hell on my Hayfever during the summer months. 😂

Excellent video

Great series.

Thanks for another feet up after dinner show Jon, safe travels.

Another great short video on this Sunday

I've had a great week,thanks for asking

Great video John,as always full of top information 👍😀👌

I am in Northamptonshire and have been to Rutland many times, round the reservoir is quite a fun cycle, if you go there make sure it is during a drought, when the water level drops you can see the spire of the church sticking out

Happy Sunday!

Haven’t got around to this one yet but when I do I reckon it'll be the best video I've ever seen about anything

Another interesting road trip., great video John. Many thanks Bob

I remember often stopping at the ‘Ram Jam Inn’ in my childhood when my parents used to drive up to see family in Lincoln. It was sad to see it close.

awesome video

I'm here for the ram jam

This episode truly is *something interesting* You had me going 'ooh' and 'ahh' all the way through. I like the idea of directing people to a fake address at the village that is now underwater.

Hi Jon, Great Sunday viewing, have a good bank holiday

Spectacular nerdery. Always a delight.

Thanks!

Yo dawg, I heard you like... 😂 Keep being Excellent, and party on dudes! 🤙🎸

good one that mate 👏👏

Uppingham School - County cricketers Jonathan Agnew and James Whitaker both attended.

It is so cool you can see the now-submerged houses and features in the guidebook!

Top vid fella!!

Xzibits lmao nice one Jon :-)

welcome to Rutland!! best place around

Nice to see the trusty Saab getting some screen time. Good video Jon, have a wicked sweet awesome Bank Holiday

It's very odd seeing John, who for the past year I've watched on various motorways that I've never been on, talking about what's bascially my local area (Spalding resident). Really hoping this guidebook leads you closer to around my area, but I'd avoid Spalding, it's basically Little Peterborough.

Always good to see the SAAB dutifully transporting you. Good work Mr. Jon.

I visited Rutland Water in the 90s when the Ford car club I belonged at the time had a car meet there. Can’t remember anything else about the place though other than seeing a few boats and stuff 😁