Hotels in Leicestershire

Leicestershire is a county of diverse scenery and resources, lush, fertile, open countryside, often with panoramic views, forest, unspoilt villages, and tranquil waterways, interspersed by some industrial towns, disused coalfields, and quarries.

The River Soar divides the county; flowing northward it separates the Charnwood Forest in the west from the uplands of the east. The Grand Union Canal joins the River Soar at Leicester, linking it with Market Harborough.

There is little evidence of prehistoric settlement in Leicestershire, in Roman times however the town of Leicester was of some importance being situated on the Fosse Way, a Roman road that ran between Lincoln and Exeter. On August 22, 1485, the final battle of the Wars of the Roses took place on Bosworth Field, a little south of Market Bosworth. Richard III was defeated and killed by Henry Tudor, who as Henry VII became the first of the Tudor monarchs.

Leicestershire's position at the heart of England, well served by road and rail communications, has been a crucial factor in its industrial growth, but it is still a largely rural county with lush pastureland in the Welland valley and a new national forest on the Leicestershire-Derbyshire-Staffordshire border.