Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
“forest in the making,” conceals many attractions. Leicestershire once included
adjoining
Rutland,
a great place for outdoors activities focused around its reservoir.
A jaunt to the south, into Northamptonshire, takes you to
Althorp,
resting place of
Princess Diana.
Essentials
GETTING THERE
Frequent trains from London's St. Pancras to Leicester take
just over 1 hour, costing around £50 for a round-trip; there you can change to a
train to Melton Mowbray (15 min.). From St. Pancras or King's Cross to Oakham
takes a little under 2 hours, with a change at Leicester or Peterborough in
Cambridgeshire.
Leicester is just off the M1, 100 miles (2 hr.) north of London, with Melton Mow-
bray 17 miles farther northeast on the A607. Oakham is 25 miles (45 min.) east of
Leicester off the main A47.
National Express
buses (
&
08717/818181;
www.
nationalexpress.com) from London's Victoria Coach Station to Leicester take from
2
1
⁄
4
hours.
The M1 between junctions 21 and 23 crosses the eastern edge of the National
Forest near Leicester. Train stations useful to access the National Forest are Leicester
and Loughborough in Leicestershire; Derby and Willington in Derbyshire; and Tam-
worth, Burton on Trent, Lichfield, and Tutbury & Hatton in Staffordshire. For local
buses, see www.traveline.org.uk.
VISITOR INFORMATION
Leicester Tourist Information Centre
: 7-9
Every St., Town Hall Square (
&
0844/888-5181;
www.goleicestershire.com).
Melton Mowbray Tourist Information Centre,
7 King St,
&
01664/480992;
www.goleicestershire.com).
Oakham Tourist Information Centre: Rutland County Museum & Visitor
Centre,
Catmose Street (
&
01572/758441;
www.discover-rutland.co.uk).
Rutland Water Tourist Information Centre,
Sykes Lane, Empingham
(
&
01780 686800,
www.discover-rutland.co.uk).
SPECIAL EVENTS
The globally acclaimed
Leicester Early Music Festival
(www.earlymusicleicester.co.uk) has recently expanded into an all-year event, but
music devotees should come in September, when the city also hosts the
Leicester
International Music Festival
(www.musicfestival.co.uk) featuring some of the big-
gest names in classical music. There's south Asian music, plus dance, food, and more
at the
Leicester Belgrave Mela
(www.leicester-mela.co.uk) each July, while Diwali
celebrations here are among the largest outside India itself. October sees food-lovers
converge on Brooksby Hall near Melton Mowbray for the
East Midlands Food &
Drink Festival
(www.eastmidlandsfoodfestival.co.uk).
Exploring the Area
LEICESTER & LEICESTERSHIRE
Leicester may be off the tourist trail but it lays claim to being one of England's 10
biggest cities, one of its most ethnically diverse, and also one of its oldest, founded
by the Romans as Ratae Coritanorum in a.d. 50. Roman ruins are now among its
main draws, at the
Jewry Wall Museum
(see below), a 10-minute walk outside the
center. Call ahead to visit the
Guru Nanak Sikh Museum
close by at 9 Holy Bones
(
&
0116/251-7460;
www.thesikhmuseum.com), where paintings, coins, manu-
scripts, and models of shrines trace the evolution of Sikh history and culture.
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