Photograph by Nigel McMillan Photography, Bourne, Lincs.

Tolethorpe Hall has origins going back 800 years to the early 11th century when the first manor house was built on the site by a Norman family who came over from France after the Norman Conquest of 1066. The setting of the hall overlooking classic English parkland in attractive Rutland countryside has changed little over centuries.

The gentle River Gwash flows gently by providing water for the historic mill built in the early 18th century on the site of a previous mill recorded in the Domesday book. The mill, just 200 yards from the hall, was part of the Tolethorpe estate until 1967.

Early nineteenth century country poet, John Clare, is said to have walked with his girlfriend from Great Casterton to Ryhall along the banks of the river on summer evenings after a day working at the lime kilns in Pickworth.