Quorn Village - A Quick Geographical Guide

Quorn is one of a large number of terrestrial villages on this good-looking planet. It lies in the Northern Hemisphere, on a large island called Great Britain. Great Britain is part of a much larger geographical area called Europe.

Politically, countries within Europe are moving towards a common state, and most European countries are already using the same currency. At the moment, lots of different languages are spoken throughout Europe, but English is predominantly spoken in Britain. The reddy-brown island on the right map shows mainland Britain.

Great Britain's history has been pretty wild. It's been invaded loads of times over the last few thousand years, but things have settled down quite a bit since then. It was once the most northern point of the Roman empire, and substantial parts of a stone wall still exist in the north. The Romans were very pragmatic - they couldn't conquer the Scots and there was little they wanted from Scotland, so they simply built a wall from the east coast to the west coast (some history books say it was built from the west coast to the east coast). Today it would be much more difficult to get planning agreement. The red dot on the map on the left shows the approximate position of Quorn Village - more on that later.

Great Britain is comprised of three countries - England, Scotland, and Wales. People born in these countries are English, Scottish, or Welsh. These are all part of one island. The United Kingdom (UK) comprises Great Britain and Northern Ireland, part of the large island off the coast to the west. The Republic of Ireland (shown light-green) is not actually part of the UK, but English is generally spoken there, and they serve the best Guinness in the world. Irish girls are also extremely pretty.

The weather across the countries varies a lot. Scotland generally seems to come off the worst in all the forecasts - it's often cold and wet, but the scenery is quite superb. Ireland also gets its fair share of rain, but this makes the land highly fertile for growing crops, hence the name of the Emerald Isle. England has a lot of variation in its weather, the warmest and driest conditions found in the Southeast (county of Kent). Wales has weather similar to the Midlands. The weather in all countries can change from clear sunshine to snow in an hour or two, which is why the weather is often a topic of conversation - you blink and it changes. This can be very tough when you're on the beach.

England is the largest country in the UK. Within England there are a number of regions which have evolved geographical names over the years. Regions can have very different characteristics, such as terrain and language dialects. House prices vary enormously across the country. More importantly, the price of a pint of beer also varies wildly. The Village of Quorn lies in the East Midlands region. As the name implies, this region is in the middle and slightly to the east. Regions are really only administrative in nature. If you wanted to tell someone where you came from, you'd tell them the county.

The regions within England are further divided up into counties. Historically many of these counties took their names from the times when nobility owned large areas of land. Some names also retain Saxon influences. The result is a bit of a muddle, and some of the names are pretty long, but it all seems to work.

Many counties have the word "shire" in them (such as Oxfordshire and Yorkshire). This can be viewed as just another word for a county. Quorn Village is in the county of Leicestershire and is situated fairly centrally in England (see the red dot on the map on the right). One of its claims to fame is that it's about as far away from the sea as you can get in the UK. This is pretty good news if you worry a lot about global warming.

The main city in the county of Leicestershire is Leicester. Counties and cities often have linked names. Traditionally a city had to have a cathedral or else it was just a town, although it's not certain that the distinction applies today.

Quorn village is about ten miles north of the City of Leicester. The M1 motorway (London to Leeds) is only a few miles to the west. East Midlands Airport is about ten miles to the north west. The town of Loughborough and village of Barrow are both very near - Quorn is just a few miles south east of Loughborough.

Quorn is surrounded by farmland, and the river Soar snakes through the southern end of the village. The Great Central railway regularly runs steam trains through Quorn on the way to Leicester or Loughborough.

In the centre of the village is St. Bartholomew's Church and churchyard containing gravestones going back hundreds of years. The church area is one of the oldest parts of the village. More modern developments have spread the village outwards over the years, but the centre remains the most active part of the village and contains most of the village's pubs and shops.

A few aerial photos are available:

Photo 1 - Balloons taking off from Stafford Park
Photo 2 - Saint Bart's taken from the White Hart Pub
Photo 3 - Saint Bart's taken from the East

We hope that all made sense!