Find endless family fun

Image of walkers crossing a field

The National Forest Walking Festival 2024
18th - 30 May

 

Explore a unique industrial heritage

Get the adrenalin pumping

 

Enjoy magnificent stately homes and gardens

Image of walkers crossing a field

The National Forest Walking Festival 2024
18th - 30 May

Things to Do

If heritage is your passion then you are in for a great time – we have Georgian market towns, stories of Bonnie Prince Charlie, connections with Australia, medieval lockups and stately homes to discover.

Pottery is a prominent feature in our heritage and it linked the area to the rest of the world. A visit to The Magic Attic archives in Swadlincote tells the story through newspaper clippings, research articles and countless photographs. The famous blue and white striped Cornishware, Mason Cash pottery mixing bowls and pet ware that graced the kitchen dressers of old, can still be purchased today, although the original pottery factories closed some time ago.

For the active we have snow-sports, golf, canoeing, geo-caching, horse-riding, archery, sailing, cycling, orienteering, and climbing centres to keep you going. For younger visitors there are soft play facilities and adventure playgrounds at our leisure and forestry centres.

We have some great gardens too – Elvaston Castle, the Bluebell Arboretum at Smisby and Melbourne Hall; not to mention the many stunning privately owned gardens open annually under the National Gardens Scheme.

If you find the time to venture a little further afield, the atmospheric National Memorial Arboretum; Claymills Victorian Pumping Station, Conkers, the National Brewery Centre and many other attractions are just a stone’s throw away.

And your visit would not be complete without an amble or cycle or even a walk with an Alpaca, through some of the newly created and ancient woodlands of the National Forest, that make up our landscape and future.

Read More