Charnwood

With some of the oldest countryside you can find in the country, the spectacular views you find in Charnwood were formed half a billion years ago, alongside the famous slate and granite of Charnwood, which can be found in statues and buildings across the world. 

The Charnwood Forest is where a young David Attenborough hunted for fossils. It’s also home to herds of wild deer, in Bradgate Park, and Highland Cows at Beacon Hill. And the geology that made the region famous also created some of its prettiest villages and secluded country cottages like Stoneywell. 

It’s also evident in overnight accommodation such as the 17th century Quorn Country Hotel and Cropston’s Horseshoe Cottage Farm beautifully display the area’s geology in their architecture, while luxury cabins at Wigwam® Holidays Charnwood Forest nestle within the landscape itself.  

You can watch the countryside roll past you as you take a trip on the Great Central Railway. This steam rail line was the location for the very first package holiday, run by Thomas Cook in the 1800s and you can relive that trip by hopping on the line from Leicester to Loughborough and dine in style in the restored carriages. The region is famed for food and drink, with beautiful local inns, Leicestershire’s only Michelin Starred restaurant – John’s House, and in Mount St Bernard Abbey, the country’s only producer of Trappist Ale.  

The town of Loughborough is at the heart of Charnwood and is also home to one of our three county universities. Loughborough has a reputation as a place that loves to celebrate, and with its 800 year old market and vibrant nightlife, it’s the perfect place to enjoy a night out. The Charnwood Museum celebrates the region and Ladybird Books, which came from our area! So let the bells ring out from the only working foundry in the country and celebrate the beautiful district of Charnwood.