Bradgate Park

Bradgate Park – A Wild Corner of Leicestershire

Bradgate Park is one of the East Midlands’ best-kept secrets: 850 acres of ancient parkland that has remained largely unchanged since the Middle Ages. Unlike the manicured lawns of a formal country estate, Bradgate feels genuinely wild. Gnarled English oaks dot the hillsides, their silhouettes unchanged for centuries, while a herd of over 200 red and fallow deer roam freely across the bracken-covered slopes.

The Lady Jane Grey Connection

The park is perhaps best known as the birthplace of Lady Jane Grey, the ill-fated ‘Nine Days’ Queen’ of England. The crumbling ruins of Bradgate House, built around 1490 and deliberately left without a roof to honour her memory, sit at the centre of the estate and lend the place an atmosphere that no theme park could replicate.

Photography Highlights

For photographers, the golden hours here are transformative. In autumn, the bracken turns a rich copper, and morning mist often pools in the valley between the ruins and Cropston Reservoir. Deer are most active at dawn and dusk, often grazing within metres of the main path. The rocky outcrops of Swithland Slate near the summit of Sliding Stone offer sweeping panoramas across the Soar Valley.

Getting There

Bradgate Park is located just outside Newtown Linford, approximately eight miles north-west of Leicester city centre. There are two main car parks – one at Newtown Linford and one at Hallgates near Cropston – both of which charge a small fee. The park is open year-round and is managed by the Bradgate Park Trust as a free-to-enter open space.