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Everyone has heard about the Great Fire of London – but what about the Great Fire of Northampton…or Marlborough…or Blandford Forum? Fire has frequently wrought destruction on towns, cities and country houses, and this was particularly the case in the 17th century. Clive and John discuss why this should have been—what caused the fires, what the consequences were for the places concerned and how they were rebuilt. Northampton was a spectacular example, not only because over 80% of the town centre was destroyed but (as John has discovered from rarely seen drawings) ambitious designs were commissioned by the Earl of Northampton who was closely concerned in the town’s welfare.

A contemporary account describes the progress of the fire, as the bells of the church tolled in the heat:

All Hallows Bells jangled their last and doleful Knell, presently after the Chimes had gone Twelve in a more pleasant Tune: And soon after the wind which did flie swifter than Horsemen, carried the Fire near the Dern-Gate, at least half a Mile from the place where it began, and into St Giles-street in the East, and consumed every house therein, save one, whose end-Walls were higher than the Roof, and by them preserved.

Afterwards, however, phoenix really did arise from the ashes, thanks in part to the 1,000 tons of timber that Charles II donated towards the rebuilding of the church. When Daniel Defoe, author of Robinson Crusoe and an inveterate traveller who may also have been a government spy, visited Northampton in 1724, he declared it to be the ‘handsomest and best built town in all this part of England… finely rebuilt with brick and stone, and the streets made spacious and wide’.

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The then Prince of Wales first came to Transylvania in the late 1990s on an official visit. It’s the only time he’s come on business. He fell so much under the spell of the place that he bought a house here, in one of the wooden villages, settled, many centuries ago, by Saxons from Germany. Then he acquired another property, which he has turned into a comfortable, folksy lodge. He makes a private visit every year, if he can.

Clive and John discuss King Charles III and his passion for this outpost of the former Soviet Union. What has hooked him? The sense of prelapsarian idyll, the vitality of local crafts, the unselfconscious devotion to traditional building methods, or the existence of species-rich wildflower meadows of a kind that barely exist in the UK, unless specially planted by conservationists? Or the thought that the Carpathian Forest is home to more brown bears than anywhere else in Europe? Or the fairytale character of villages like Viscri and Zalanpatak – looking like England did around 1800 - in both of which he owns homes?

All those things, no doubt. But locals don’t want roads which break the springs of your car. Nor do they always see the charm of draughty, wooden houses, which need constant attention, preferring concrete villas with all the modern amenities. Is the idyll inevitably on a collision course with the 21st century? If so, which will win?

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For the first time in the history of this podcast, Your Places or Mine has gone on location. John and Clive have been invited to The Ned's Club, the amazing complex of hospitality venues, including restaurants, hotel and private members’ club, which occupies the former head office of the Midland Bank in the City of London. This provides the podcast with an opportunity to examine Britain’s commercial centre as it evolved between the Wars. Nearly every major financial institution was being rebuilt in the 1920s, not least the Bank of England itself. Structures such as the Midland Bank head office were begun in a spirit of optimism, as Britain found its feet again and needed finance to recover from the effects of war. They were often completed in a different era, when the Depression had set in and rooms that were intended to entertain the captains of industry were instead used to put together rescue packages to stop them from going broke.

Clive and John also discuss Lutyens’s relationship with the Midland’s Chairman, Reginald McKenna, who had married Gertrude Jekyll’s niece Pamela, and their shared admiration for Sir Christopher Wren. At the end of the show, they parry questions from the audience who has joined them on one of the hottest days of the year.