Welcome to Leicestershire Walks in the National Forest!

You’re obviously here looking to explore our lovely Leicestershire countryside, well we can certainly help you with that and just maybe open your eyes to a few other elements of this corner of the National Forest!

You see, this site isn’t just about woodland walks and meadow rambles! It’s also a journey of the soul! The walks we feature here all have stories, myths and legends attached to them which we hope you will experience as you follow our physical routes through the forest.

To help you get into the right mind set, we strongly suggest you purchase a copy of our book, Sleet, Shoots and Leaves which is a collection of poems and photographs we wrote after many hours of tramping footpaths, poking about in old buildings and picking the brains of anyone with an interesting story to tell!

(As you browse the site you’ll find out a lot more about our books, so we’ll spare you further shameless self promotion!)

Our walks are mainly situated within the Leicestershire areas that fall within the National Forest, but as we are so near South Derbyshire you’ll find that our borders are somewhat elastic so some of our walks encroach into Ram country!

The walks are mainly quite short, ranging from just a couple of miles up to six or seven. With a bit of planning though, it is possible to join one or more together for the more adventurous hiker!

Unless we tell you otherwise, all the walks are well within the capabilities of someone of average fitness levels, but we do advise proper foot ware and clothing in bad weather.

If you follow one of our walking routes and have any comments to make, it would be great if you could come back to the site and post!

What else will you find here?

As our walks concentrate on quite a tight area, we’ve included some detailed information on several key areas that many of the walks either, begin, end or pass through.

These are:

Ashby-de-la-Zouch & Ashby castle, the Forestry Centre Rosliston, National Forest Visitor Centre & Swannington – Hough Mill.

These pages will give you a potted history of the area as well as information on where to eat and what to see.

Finally, this little Leicestershire corner of the National Forest is bursting with all kinds of events! We won’t be listing them all, but we will be flagging up a few of the choicest, especially if they fit into the theme of any of our walks!

… and should you chance to catch a glance
of another life that might have been
or in a moment of reflection
see the hand of change beckon
and opportunity’s bridge span wide,
heed the voice of your inner guide
and try the path on the other side.

(Sleets, Shoots and Leaves, a poetical and photographical journey through the National Forest.)