Snowdrop Spectacular at Launde Abbey

The pretty woodland walk behind Launde Abbey is the setting for the annual Snowdrop Spectacular at the Elizabethan/Jacobean Retreat House near East Norton in Leicestershire. The Abbey will be open from 2.00 – 4.00 pm every day from 25th February until 10th March 2013, when visitors will be welcome to stroll through the gardens and wander amongst the magnificent display of snowdrops. (Suitable footwear is advisable as some areas may be muddy following rain or snow.)

Afterwards everyone is invited to relax in the dining room over tea, scones and jam. (Cost: £5.00 per person, under 3s free).

The Abbey’s shop will be open all afternoon, selling locally produced jams, honey and other gifts.

Launde Abbey is set in beautiful rolling countryside between Oakham and Belton in Rutland, just off the A47 in Leicestershire and attracts thousands of visitors each year from across the East Midlands and beyond. The Abbey also offers lunches, morning coffees and teas throughout the year..

Other events in the Abbey’s calendar include Valentine’s Day lunches and dinners on February 14th and Mothering Sunday lunches on 10th March, which also coincides with the end of the Snowdrop Spectacular.

For more information please contact the General Office on 01572 717254 or visit the website www.laundeabbey.org.uk.


Photos: The snowdrops in full display; the winter pond at the front of Launde Abbey


Launde Abbey is the residential Retreat House for the Dioceses of Leicester and Peterborough, offering Christian hospitality to all people, with or without faith. It provides an oasis of calm which allows both individuals and groups time to reflect upon where they are and what they are called to be in today’s ever changing world; a place where people can come to learn about themselves and others.

Enquiries to: Suzanne Page on 01572 717254 or suzanne@launde.org.uk

Winter Walk Ideas in Leicestershire

Bardon Hill, highest point in Leicestershire
© Copyright Richard Webb

A series of winter walk ideas has been put together by Leicestershire County Council for anyone who would like to get fit, meet new people and explore Leicestershire. They're also deal for anyone who has made a new year’s resolution to burn off the festive calories and become more active.

Grantham Canal
© Copyright Alan Murray-Rust

Most people in the county live within 500 metres of a footpath or bridleway. There are also some great country parks to explore. Some walks to sample Leicestershire’s winter wonderland include:

• A waterside walk from Cossington to Watermead Country Park. This includes a surfaced cycleway and towpath via the brand new buggy-friendly bridge over the River Wreake near Syston 
• From Harby, one of the Parish Walks routes goes alongside the tranquil Grantham Canal and past the Dove Cottage Day Hospice tea room which welcomes muddy walkers. 
• Misterton Marshes near Lutterworth - a wildlife-rich nature reserve - is accessible via permissive paths 
• Hallaton offers tranquil rolling countryside and honey stone buildings. 
• A stile-free circular walk takes in scenery from Hinckley to Burbage Common and Woods 
• Coalville Strolls leaflet, just published, features various walks. These include climbs up to Mount St. Bernard Abbey, or Bardon Hill, the highest point in Leicestershire. 

More on these walks, as well as Strolls on your Doorstep leaflets which cover Hinckley, Loughborough, Market Harborough, Melton Mowbray, Oadby and Wigston, Coalville and many of the places around Leicester, can be found at www.leics.gov.uk/walking

For more on the council’s Choose How You Move campaign, which encourages people to get fit, have fun, save money and help the environment visit: www.leics.gov.uk/choosehowyoumove

The photographs in this post are licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

Winter Walking In The Outwoods Near Loughborough

The Outwoods Near Loughborough, Leicestershire
© Copyright Ashley Dace

Woods are good places to go walking when the cold winter winds are blowing. One of the more interesting woods in North Leicestershire is the Outwoods between Woodhouse Eaves and Loughborough, and close to Beacon Hill Country Park.

Outwoods Crag
© Copyright Ashley Dace

The Outwoods is 100 acres of ancient woodland. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest as it stands on some of the oldest rocks in Britain, dating back to the pre-Cambrian era 700 million years ago. Rare fossils have been found in the rocks which are of international importance to the study of early life forms. Some are exhibited in the New Walk Museum in Leicester and Charnwood Museum in Loughborough.

Management of the Outwoods  

The Outwoods Management Committee is working with Charnwood Borough Council and Natural England to re-establish traditional oak woodland over much of the area. This process involves the removal of non-native trees and shrubs such as sycamore, rhododendron and larch, and will take many decades.

You are free to walk anywhere in the Outwoods, but if you prefer something ‘mapped out’, there are two signed walks you can follow. The blue signs will guide you round the short walk of 1.3km (0.8miles), the orange signs round the longer walk of 3km (1.8miles). The routes are relatively even and dry, but there are some steep climbs on both so it’s advisable to wear sturdy walking shoes or boots.

A leaflet showing the walks is available from the Outwoods car park. You can also download the information by clicking here.

The Outwoods car park is off Woodhouse Lane, between Nanpantan Road and Woodhouse Eaves. You can also get to the woods by foot (allow about 20 minutes) from Brook Road, opposite the Old Bulls Head in Woodhouse Eaves. 

There is a picnic area next to the car park and benches throughout the wood. 

This post is adapted from an article which appears in the December/January 13 issue of Village Connect.

The photographs in this post are licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

Tea Tasting in the Leicestershire Countryside

I was recently invited to a ‘tea tasting’ evening at The Old Brickyard Tea Garden, just outside Scalford (near Melton Mowbray). As I’d never been to such an event before, I was curious to see how it worked.

The first thing I discovered was that there are around 1500 varieties of tea, all of which come from the same tea plant known as Camellia Sinensis. Where the plant is grown, in what type of soil and climatic conditions, and when the leaves are picked, are all factors contributing to each variety’s unique flavour.

I then learned that the amount of time the tea is infused is critical to its taste. It’s precision stuff and Anna, our hostess, and owner of the tea room used a timer to get the infusion of each tea just right.

When ready, the tea was poured into a cup for us to taste. We each took a spoonful directly from the cup and were encouraged to slurp it noisily, swirling it around our mouths to ensure that the tea and plenty of oxygen reached all the taste receptors on our tongues for an even taste. Normally, you would then spit the tea out but, thankfully, we swallowed then moved on to the next!

There were nine different types of green and black tea to try, no two even remotely similar, and virtually each a favourite with somebody! I particularly liked the Darjeeling First Flush (made from very young shoots).

It was a very pleasant evening and an experience I would recommend.

The next tea tasting session will be on Monday 10 December from 6.30 to 8pm and is FREE! (A great stress-buster in this busy period running up to Christmas!) Click here for more information

For more information about The Old Brickyard Tea Garden, click here.

This post is adapted from an article which appears in the December/January 13 issue of Village Connect.

Rutland: Much in Little

Check out this post on my new blog 'Snapshots of Britain'

Snapshots of Britain: Rutland: Much in Little