Lyvedon New Bield ['New Building'] never quite happened, but it's certainly left its mark on top of the remote and windy Northamptonshire hill we visited yesterday.  No glass in the windows, no doors, no roof... just stone slots ready and waiting to support the floorboards that never arrived. The amazingly still-sharp-edged examples of the stonemasons' skill in the letters and shields carved into the stones also remain.

400 years ago,  Sir Thomas Tresham planned this building to be his 'garden lodge,' where he could entertain guests, who after strolling up from the old manor house through lush orchards and soothing waterways, would be suitably impressed by lavish hospitality. Despite periods of virtual 'house arrest', which kept him away from his work, he was very precise in planning its dimensions and decorations. He used the numbers 3, 5 and 7 to demonstrate both his Roman Catholic faith, and a typically Elizabethan love of ingenious puzzles.

Sir Thomas, and his eldest son Francis [implicated in the Gunpowder Plot] both died in 1605. Unpaid workmen downed tools, never to take them up again. What visitors see now is an almost unaltered Elizabethan building site.

Truthful, gripping and unsentimental tale about the first World War. Written for children, but to be enjoyed by anyone who likes a good story.

Currently War Horse By Michael Morpurgo see related