20 Best Sightseeing Attractions In Leicestershire

A dead king and a flight of canal locks anchor Leicestershire's twenty sightseeing listings, and the pair neatly define the county's range. King Richard III Visitor Centre in Leicester, rated 4.6, tells the strangest archaeology story in England — a monarch found under a car park — with enough forensic drama to hook children who would yawn at a castle. Foxton Locks, at 4.7, is the outdoor counterweight: ten staircase locks on the Grand Union Canal where narrowboats climb a hillside, entertainment you can watch from the towpath for as long as patience lasts, pairing with walks, an ice cream, and for the methodical child, the associated Spy Mission Treasure Trail listed alongside it. Around these two, the county offers texture: Stoneywell, the page's top rating at 4.8, is a National Trust Arts and Crafts cottage built into a Charnwood hillside, all crooked charm and booked-ahead intimacy; Charnwood Forest itself supplies volcanic crags and walking; the 1620s House at Donington le Heath does hands-on Stuart history; and Sweet Sisters Sweet Shop, rated 4.8 with £2 listed entry, proves sightseeing can be sugar-based. Fifteen of the twenty venues are outdoor, twelve have indoor space, and eight publish prices — a genuinely mixed bag in the best sense.