What's on inLeicestershire

When thinking about counties to visit in the UK, Leicestershire often goes unnoticed, but this would be to miss out on a picturesque and charming region with a wealth of gorgeous villages, a wonderful industrial heritage and some fantastic historic sites. Chief among these is the county town and cathedral city of Leicester that sits at the heart of the county on the River Soar and Grand Union Canal and can be traced back to the Roman era. It is a wonderful and vibrant multicultural city, packed with famous architecture, from the old Town Hall to the modern Leicester University Engineering Building and from Leicester Abbey and Leicester Castle to The City Rooms and Belgrave Hall.

Other Roman and Saxon settlements, as well as ancient quarries and medieval abbeys are scattered across Leicestershire. Worth a look are the former colliery at Coalville, now developed into the brilliant Snibston Discovery Park, the historic town of Ashby de la Zouch with its elegant Elizabethan timbered houses and Georgian shops and the castle of Ashby de la Zouch, written about by Sir Walter Scott in Ivanhoe, as well as Donnington Park, Launde Abbey, Kirby Muxloe Castle and Mount St. Bernard Abbey.

For those who want to get out and about there are endless country parks, charming villages and bustling market towns and numerous walking trails, cycling trails and picturesque spots for fishing. At Outwoods there is a beautiful site of special scientific interest, looking out over Loughborough and the Soar Valley. Also worth a visit are the views of the Soar valley from Bardon Hill and Mountsorrel. Lastly there is the famous National Forest, an impressive new English forest covering a large corner of north west Leicestershire and a wonderful place from which to experience this beautiful county.