Exton, Rutland

The village's name means 'farm/settlement which has oxen'. The village includes a tree-planted green overlooked by the Fox and Hounds pub. Close to the green is the war memorial to the dead of Exton and Whitwell and to relatives of the Earl of Gainsborough; the names include Tom Cecil Noel MC and Bar and Maurice Dease VC. The memorial was designed by Alfred Young Nutt. In the south of the parish towards Rutland Water is Barnsdale Gardens which were created by Geoff Hamilton of the BBC television series Gardeners' World. Further south, on the north shore of Rutland Water, stands what was the Barnsdale country house and is now the Barnsdale Hall Hotel and Country Club. Barnsdale was a large…