Property News · July 26, 2013

Let's move to Ashby de la Zouch, Leicestershire


As well as a great name, Ashby de la Zouch has lovely period properties, a castle, the National Forest on the doorstep… and even a Hula Hoops factoryWhat’s going for it? So who was, or is, The Zouch? That’s the burning question. At my desk, at least. Was he or she like The Dude in The Big Lebowski? Or is The Zouch an “it”? Perhaps a shadowy cult? And why does he/she/it have such a hold on Ashby? And what’s with the French? All these questions. We can blame William the Conqueror, as we can for so many things. The Frenchies nabbed Ashby for the La Zouche family, with their fabulous name and penchant for camembert. Ergo, Ashby de la Zouch. There’s not much continental about the place these days. It’s the epitome of Britishness: a plump, ruddy, bricky Midlands market town off the tourist trail deep in the slowly growing National Forest, with good schools, a busy-busy Market Street, a factory where they make Hula Hoops and Nik Naks (dream job alert), and a ye olde castle, which is really a Norman manor house pimped by Lord Hastings, who obtained a wonderful-sounding “licence to crenellate” from the king. I wouldn’t mind one of those.The case against Ordinary. A good or bad thing, depending. Like so many Midlands towns, it tends to double in culture as a kind of Everywhere/Anywhere. Adrian Mole’s Pandora Braithwaite is its MP, in unreality. Continue reading…

Source : theguardian.com
Read more…Let’s move to Ashby de la Zouch, Leicestershire

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