Villages of the Wreake

The valley of the Wreake, west of Melton Mowbray, is a broad, low affair, whose rather meandering and dilatory river reflects the quiet and unhurried villages that line its route. Indeed, the name Wreake is believed to derive from an Old Norse word meaning twisted, probably given to it by early Danish settlers. Likewise Frisby's equally engaging village name has nothing to do with wacky playthings from your childhood days but instead is derived from the Frisians, who came from the other side of the North Sea to make their way up the Trent and Soar rivers before setting up camp in the Wreake Valley.

Frisby is a charming and handsome place, with a collection of fascinating period buildings including thatch and brick (and painted brick), as well as a little traditional ironstone, most notably the church. It's as pleasant on the eye as the well-kept pint of Abbot Ale in the Blue Bell Inn is on the palate.

The old and rather battered-looking stone cross at the junction of Main Street and Water Street was originally a preaching cross, used by the Cistercian monks from nearby Launde Abbey, and later became a market cross. Latterly it's been moved back from the roadside after a few close calls with today's uncompromising traffic. Just along from here is Zion House, a thatched building dating from 1725, and once the home of a well-known highwayman. But he robbed one mail coach too many, and was hanged at Birstall, near Leicester, in 1797.

The most notorious vicar of Frisby's Church of St Thomas of Canterbury was Revd William Wragge. In the 1700s he turned Frisby into a short-lived Gretna Green by marrying couples without bothering to read the banns, and when he was finally apprehended and sentenced to transportation he pleaded old age and was let off scot-free.

St Thomas's neat and well-tended graveyard is matched by that of St Peter's at Kirby Bellars, further along the route, whose now sealed-up vaults were once the final resting place of various local knights. The village name partly derives from lord of the manor Roger de Beler, who founded a chapel in the church for priests, and in 1319 was granted permission to build an adjacent Augustinian priory. But this created local conflict and Roger was murdered by feuding family members a short time later. Dissolution in the 16th century meant the end of the priory, and all that remains today are some rough earthworks in a field north of the church. Fourteenth-century effigies of the murdered Roger de Beler and his wife can be seen in the south aisle of the church.

Where to eat and drink

The handsome Blue Bell Inn in Frisby dates from 1759, and serves food daily, while the Flying Childers at Kirby Bellars (located just outside the village on the A607) is a more mainstream venue which is open all day and has an indoor adventure playground for children. Asfordby also has a couple of pubs, plus a fish and chip shop.

While you're there

Three miles (4.8km) to the east of Frisby is the Leicestershire market town of Melton Mowbray, well-known for its quality pork pies. They have been produced for over 150 years by Dickinson & Morris in their Nottingham Street shop, where traditional hand-raising techniques are still demonstrated. Also look out for their famous Hunt Cake, a rich fruit cake spiced with Jamaican rum, which - like the pork pies - was originally developed as a snack carried by the local huntsmen.

What to look for

This part of Leicestershire is hunting country, and the first annual meeting of the well-known Quorn Hunt traditionally meets at Kirby Gate near Kirby Bellars. But back in the 1840s they were clashing not with hunt sabateurs but with railway developers, who were planning today's Syston-Peterborough line through the Wreake Valley. Scuffles even broke out on Lord Haborough's estate at Stapleford Park, as hunt supporters tried to disrupt the surveyors' work.