Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Henry Tudor, a Welsh nobleman banished to France to thwart his royal ambition, was
proclaimed victor. Henry became King Henry VII, and the Tudor dynasty was born.
The site has been newly improved by the addition of a gallery about how archeologists
discovered the true location of the battle, with displays including bullets fired by early
handguns, and an outdoor interpretation and trail. Events include guided walks, fal-
conry displays, ferret racing, re-enactments, and a medieval camp.
Sutton Cheney, 13 miles west of Leicester.
&
01455/290429.
www.bosworthbattlefield.com. Admis-
sion £7 adults, £4 children 3-16. Daily Apr-Nov 10am-5pm, Dec and Feb-Mar to 4pm.
Jewry Wall Museum
MUSEUM Set beside an excavated Roman baths
with a wall that, at 12m (40 ft.), is higher than any other piece of ancient Roman
architecture in Britain, this museum offers up some fine Roman mosaics and rare
wall plaster, intricately painted. Also tracing the city's history from prehistoric times
to the Middle Ages, it has plenty of hands-on displays for younger visitors.
St. Nicholas Circle, Leicester.
&
0116/225-4971.
www.leicester.gov.uk. Admission free exc. special
events. Daily Feb-Oct 11am-4:30pm.
National Space Centre
ENTERTAINMENT COMPLEX Rising incongru-
ously out of the Midlands townscape, the futuristic rocket tower that comprises
part of this modern attraction showcases a number of satellites, capsules, and so
on, and also has several mezzanine galleries with displays, interactive and other-
wise. The rest of the building includes a domed Space Theatre with changing
surround-sound shows. You save money on entry if you visit as part of a
Stay Play
Explore
(www.stayplayexplore.co.uk) package, which includes other local attrac-
tions and accommodations.
Exploration Drive, Leicester.
&
0870/607-7223.
www.spacecentre.co.uk. Admission £13 adults, £11
children 5-16. Tues-Fri 10am-4pm, Sat-Sun 10am-5pm.
New Walk Museum & Art Gallery
MUSEUM
Displays on archeology, natural
history, geology, and space coexist here with a collection of 18th-20th-century paintings
by British and European artists including Gainsborough, Hogarth, and Francis Bacon.
Highlights are the Egyptian mummies and artifacts brought back to the Midlands by
Thomas Cook, the 19th-century travel mogul, and
Charnia masonia
, discovered in Charn-
wood Forest (p. 553) and, at about 560 million years of age, the U.K.'s oldest fossil.
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A Side Trip from Leicestershire: Althorp
If you're in the East Midlands in high
summer, you might make a foray into
Northamptonshire, specifically
Althorp
(
&
01604/770107;
www.althorp.com),
32 miles south of Leicester. After her
death in 1997, Princess Diana was
brought to this, her childhood home, to
be buried on an island in an artificial
lake, which visitors can glimpse but can-
not access. What you can do is tour a
museum, in former stables, celebrating
Diana's life through displays including
her bridal gown and items relating to
her charity work, and also look around
the house, with paintings by Van Dyck,
Reynolds, Gainsborough, and Rubens.
You'll also see rare French and English
furniture and porcelain by Sèvres and
others. Admission is £13 (£6 children
5-17), but you can also get tickets just
to the exhibition and grounds, or the
grounds alone. It's open only from July 1
(Diana's birthday) to August 30, daily
from 11am to 5pm.