The National Forest Way, Stage One

Saturday 9th August 2014

Beacon Hill to Bradgate Park

In the summer of 2014 I began an attempt to walk the entire length of the recently opened National Forest Way, which is a seventy-five mile trail through the counties of Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Staffordshire. Until recently this area was heavily industrialised resulting in a significant lack of trees in the area, so the National Forest project was an attempt to redress this lack and create a new forest in the transforming landscape. I actually started the trail the previous month with stage two from Bradgate Park to Thornton Reservoir because the first stage covers ground that I walk frequently through the craggy uplands of Charnwood Forest, which is where the best walking can be found in Leicestershire. Consequently this is where I often end up when the weather is good and I want to do a hill walk to up my fitness for my infrequent mountain walks. I have created a six hour walk through Charnwood Forest that includes a traverse between Beacon Hill and Bradgate Park so this stage wouldn’t cover any new ground, or so I thought and that was why I had missed it out.

However, after doing the second stage in July 2014 I decided that it wouldn’t be right to miss out the first stage so I made plans to do that next. I did, though, have other problems. I was very busy at work, even at the weekend, and had little time to spare for walking. On this day I was able to spare a few hours but not the full six hours that my Charnwood Forest Round usually takes me, so rather than using the route of my round to return to the start I came up with a brand new route that is not only shorter but full of interest. I parked in the village of Woodhouse Eaves, as I often do, and headed up the leafy Mill Road branching off to climb steeply through woodland to a lookout point where the base of an old windmill provides a platform for extensive views. I had been to the top of Windmill Hill many times, but I think this was first time that the windmill had actually been open when I was there, although there is nothing in the mill except for stairs to a viewing platform.

A short, quick, descent through the wood and across a road brought me into Beacon Hill Country Park and at the lower car park is the actual start of the National Forest Way. Eagerly I set off along the trail walking along a wide track through woodland gradually climbing until eventually I reached the top of Beacon Hill where extensive views can be seen across North Leicestershire. Resuming my trek along the track that circles around the park I slowly made my way back down the hill until I reached a signpost where a National Forest Way marker indicated that I should turn right out of the park into Broombriggs Farm. This is owned by Leicestershire County Council and is crisscrossed by paths with explanation boards that describe how farms can be managed in the traditional way. I passed through the farm and onto Maplewell Road on the outskirts of Woodhouse Eaves.

Just after passing the end of Mill Road, where I had started this walk, I turned right onto a new diversion for me as the trail took me up the steep dead-end of Victoria Road. At the top of the road I turned left onto a short path that brought me onto the road that I often take out of Woodhouse Eaves. I was now following my Charnwood round and I walked beside the road down Brand Hill until after several bends in the road I entered Swithland Woods. The National Forest Way takes a slightly different route through the wood than I would normally take as I like to immerse myself in this fabulous ancient wood where in the spring bluebells and wood anemones are found in abundance. A permissive path beside Swithland Wood Farm took me out of the wood and across the road onto a track whose goal was plain to see before me. The iconic folly of Old John was sitting on the eponymous hill before me as I gradually made my way along the lane and into Bradgate Park.

However, instead of entering the park the trail follows a right-of-way around the edge of the park to Hunt’s Hill and only then enters the park with Old John Tower standing prominently before me. A steep climb up the grassy slopes and around the crags that defend the tower brought me to the top where extensive views can once again be seen, this time extending over the City of Leicester. This is the point where, on stage two, I joined the National Forest Way so it was the point where I now left it as I descended bracken covered slopes after paying my respects at the war memorial. I left Bradgate Park on my usual footpath that brings out into the village of Newtown Linford west of the main car park, and turned right along the road. At a road junction I left my usual route and branched left onto a footpath that follows the Ulverscroft Brook through several fields. The strong smell of Himalayan Balsam was unmissable as were thick bushes full of the pink flowers. This is one of the most intrusive plants in Britain, along with Japanese Knotweed and Rhododendron, but I love the smell and was quite entranced by them.

The balsam followed the brook and was in places completely over-powering as I made my way along the footpath until I eventually reached Lea Meadow Nature reserve. I first came to this reserve three years ago and found an amazing wildflower meadow overflowing with butterflies. Hundreds seemed to fly up with every step that I took and made for a truly magically experience. As often seems to be the case, subsequent visits have failed to match my memory of that first visit even though on this occasion the meadow was filled with many delightful wildflowers that were a pleasure to walk through. On leaving the reserve I made my way along a road and onto a path that passes the ruins of Ulverscroft Priory and eventually reached Beacon Hill once again and from there returned to Woodhouse Eaves. This was necessarily a short walk, but I had completed the first stage of the National Forest Way even though I have walked most of that stage many times before. The return journey through Lea Meadows was a delight that I have retraced several times since.