A most beautiful area and ideal location for a delightful walk in unspoilt countryside, where nature conservation is a priority, and for enjoying the many visitor facilities. A peaceful area that is not over commercialised.

A gem of rural Leicestershire situated within the Charnwood Forest and on the edge of the National Forest and preserved for your enjoyment and appreciation. Bradgate Park & Swithland Wood Country Park is open to visitors on every day of the year – from 7.45am until dusk.  Parking in five different car parks situated at key locations around the boundary of the Estate.  Main entrance in village of Newtown Linford (by church).  Walk into the Park along the tarmac carriageway, through the impressive wooded “Little Matlock” gorge, alongside the River Lin, past the Ruins of Bradgate House and along to the Deer Barn Tea Room.  Car parks are closed at dusk and all vehicles must be removed by then.

A remarkable and most popular Country Park.

Great for a family visit • Ideal for walking in stunning surroundings  • Beautiful and peaceful location • Strikingly beautiful countryside • A haven for wildlife • A visit to this unique Park is a special experience • Difficult to exaggerate the beauty and tranquillity of the stunning and far reaching views • Explore and discover • Quality experience • Value for money

BRADGATE PARK is Leicestershires largest and most visited Country Park, extending to some 830 acres and welcoming 900,000 visitors every year. A real scenic gem of unspoilt countryside. Steeped in History. Birthplace and early home of Lady Jane Grey - 9 days Queen of England. Historic deer park with herds of red and fallow deer.

SWITHLAND WOOD is a most attractive area of Ancient Woodland, covering 146 acres and a remnant of the original Charnwood Forest Oak Woods.

The whole Bradgate Park and Swithland Wood Country Park Estate is managed by the Bradgate Park Trust, an independent Registered Charity, as a rural area of scenic, natural and historic importance for the enjoyment of visitors.

Bradgate Park and Swithland Wood are designated as a Country Park (under the Countryside Act 1968) providing “a welcoming rural recreational facility giving access, pleasure and enjoyment to visitors to a wide range of open and largely unrestricted beautiful and relatively wild countryside and woodland and being an area where visitors can feel relatively safe and secure”.

BRADGATE PARK is an historical former Medieval Deer Park created from the Charnwood Forest and was first enclosed as a hunting park over 750 years ago.  For many centuries, it formed part of the Leicestershire Estates of the Grey family and the Earls of Stamford. Even now, though only six miles from the centre of Leicester, certain areas look much as it must have done in the Middle Ages. 

Today this unique area extends to some 830 acres and is a location rich in history and natural history. It combines extensive sweeps of parkland, within a spectacular landscape of huge areas of grass, bracken covered slopes, rock outcrops (which include some of the oldest rocks in England), areas of marsh, network of paths and concessionary horse tracks, veteran trees and small woodlands, nationally famous herds of red & fallow deer and incised valley of the River Lin – which today outfalls into the adjoining Cropston Reservoir.

Other notable features of the Park  include the Ruins of Bradgate House – a Tudor mansion (built in the early 16th century) and which was the birthplace and early home of Lady Jane Grey (9 days Queen of England in 1553) and a well known folly known as “Old John Tower” (built around 1784 and standing nearly 700 feet above sea level).

SWITHLAND WOOD (part of the Country Park Estate) is a beautiful area of ancient oak woodland.  It covers 146 acres and is a remnant of the original Charnwood Forest Oak Woods.  Rich in a wide range of flora and fauna.  Extensive network of footpaths.  Also designated horse tracks and bridleways.  Within the Wood nestles reminders of the famous former Swithland slate quarries.

For further background information about Bradgate Park and Swithland Wood see the Historical section

For other useful information - see the Contact Us section

The Bradgate Park and Swithland Wood Charity (Charity Commission ref. nos. 521476) is managed by the Bradgate Park Trust whose aim, under the Objects of the Charity, is to conserve, manage and maintain the Bradgate Park & Swithland Wood Country Park Estate, as a rural area of scenic, natural and historic importance and Leicestershire’s premier Country Park, for the enjoyment, education and appreciation of visitors.

The Trust welcomes visitors to the Country Park and hopes that their visit is enjoyable.

Bradgate Park Trust - © 2011. This is the Official Website of the Bradgate Park Trust and the Bradgate Park & Swithland Wood Country Park Estate. The entire Website including its text, logos, photographs and images are all subject to the Copyright of the Bradgate Park Trust and may not be produced without its written permission.

The Bradgate Park & Swithland Wood Country Park is managed, on behalf of the Bradgate Park Trust (as a Registered Charity) by:-

Michael H. Harrison FRICS, IRRV, Land Agent & Surveyor to the Bradgate Park Trust, Estate Office, Deer Barn Buildings, Bradgate Park, Newtown Linford, Leicester LE6 OHE Tel: 0116 2362713

For visitor information, further details and bookings – telephone Lynda Taylor at the Estate Office – Leicester (0116) 234 1850.