Gold medals, grilled Grasmere sausages and strawberries celebrate an Olympic summer in style at Burghley House

With just days until the London Games, Englands greatest Elizabethan house is all set to throw its own Great Olympic Garden Party - the best way to celebrate outside of London! Lincolnshires Burghley House offers perhaps the most scenic place to watch the Games, served up with a tasty menu of Great British Food. With the Elizabethan house as the backdrop, Burghleys South Gardens will be opened specially to host a Big Screen, showing TV coverage from Saturday 28th July to Saturday 11th August and included for free with a normal house and gardens ticket. And even after the Games coverage ends for the day, summer fun continues within the sweeping parklands thanks to an evening festival of outdoor movie

screenings. Burghley has long dominated the sweeping approach to the Georgian stone town of Stamford and been a hit with visitors for four centuries - whether Elizabethan royalty, locals or tourists from across the globe. But it was also home to an Olympic Gold Medal winner and one of the prime movers behind the last London Games in 1948. Hurdler David Cecil, Lord Burghley (1905-1981) was one of the golden athletes of his generation, whose sporting achievements included gold for the 400 metres hurdles at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics and silver in the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics 4x400 metre relay. In later life as Chairman of the Organising Committee for the 1948 Olympic Games, he was the Seb Coe of his day, bringing the Games to London during a time of great austerity. So, as well as a season-long special exhibition dedicated to his achievements, this summer will also see Burghleys parkland and gardens hosting The Great Olympic Garden Party. Both the House and Gardens will open every day during the Games, including Fridays, from Saturday 28th July to Saturday 12th August inclusive. For the normal price of a House and Gardens ticket, visitors will have access to the Olympic Experience at Burghley, which includes the House, Olympic Exhibition and the gardens plus the big screen TV showing Olympic events throughout the day and into the evening. Access to the screen will be available 10am to 10pm (last admission 6pm), with film night tickets after 6pm at a reduced rate. There will also be a special Olympic Pass covering the whole period - available as wristbands in the colours of the Olympic Rings. To go along with the Great British entertainment, there will be some Great British food too, with tasty treats from grilled Grasmere sausages and homemade beef burgers to cheeses from Lincolnshire and Stilton, all provided by Burghleys prestigious caterers Absolute Taste. And no summer would be complete without ice creams, strawberries and cream and, of course, delicious homemade cakes. As well as alfresco dining, the ever-popular Orangery Restaurant also run

by Absolute Taste will continue to serve homemade food throughout the day too. The evening festival of outdoor screenings launches on Saturday 28th July with iconic sports movie Chariots of Fire a poignant choice, not only because of its Olympic theme, but also because the Nigel Havers character, Lord Andrew Lindsay, was inspired by Lord Burghley. It will be followed by three other movie screenings, Keira Knightleys Pride & Prejudice which was partly filmed at Burghley, which portrayed Rosings in the acclaimed Big Screen adaptation - on Wednesday 1st August, The Full Monty (rated 15) on Thursday 2nd August and Mamma Mia on Friday 3rd August. Tickets for the film nights cost 6 adults, 4 children or 20 for a family of four. To book tickets online and for full details of all events and prices, visit www.burghley.co.uk.