Charnwood Forest Villages

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• Uncover the story - Charnwood Forest is renowned for incredible landscapes comprising ancient woodland, historic parks and some of England’s oldest rocks. Fossil discoveries in the area have changed our ideas on animal evolution, and its geology has also played an important role in its economy, with Charnwood stone quarried for millennia. <hr> Swithland slate was used for roofing across the UK, and granites continue to be quarried around Bardon and Mountsorrel. As you wander Charnwood’s picturesque villages, you’ll see these ancient rocks – grey and purple-tinged Swithland slates and pink-hued Mountsorrel granites – used together to give buildings an aesthetically unusual but nonetheless charming finish. <hr> Discover historic slate workers’ cottages in Woodhouse Eaves and stroll to St Paul’s Church, sat atop former quarry, the Stone Hole, and close to the village’s Mountsorrel granite war memorial.<hr> Quorn’s St Bartholomew’s Church shows off more Mountsorrel granite in the home of the world-famous Quorn Hunt. Discover a stone sculptures trail, stop for refreshments in the 18th century Quorndon Fox, or take a nostalgic steam journey from the restored Great Central Railway station.<hr> The heritage railway line also has a station at Rothley, where the local landscape has shaped Rothley Court Hotel. This former mansion was owned by Thomas Babington MP, who with William Wilberforce, fought to abolish the slave trade, and its chapel was gifted by Henry III to the Knights Templar. <hr> The Leicester arm of the Grand Union Canal runs through Mountsorrel, where you can admire its grand Buttercross, or visit Stonehurst Family Farm, home to Leicestershire’s only Michelin-starred restaurant, John’s House.<hr> Village life centres around its ‘local’, and welcoming pubs include The Wheatsheaf Inn in Woodhouse Eaves, an after-work haven for slate miners, Rothley’s thatched-roofed The Woodies, and Mountsorrel’s Waterside Inn, with tranquil canal views. <hr> 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.