Hough Mill Woods

Where heavy industry once worked, where coal was extracted, and where passing trains on a line built by Robert Stephenson of The Rocket fame would shoot steam in the air, nature has moved back in and reclaimed the land. On the Swannington Incline, a linear wood of nearly 2,000 trees and shrubs has been planted, with seasonal sights of bluebells and smells of wild garlic. Across the site there are glorious woodlands, grass heathland and ponds. 

Gorse Field is a centuries old fragile heath grassland, with more than 100 elegant silver birch, as well as hawthorn trees. Between 2000 and 2007, the spinney area was planted in three tranches – mixed woodland, oak and beech, and an arboretum with lots of specialist trees. Hough Mill itself is a corn mill, built around 1790, which has been restored to its former glories, standing proud over the landscape, its sails now spinning again.

• Cycle routes
• Dog-friendly
• Local walking trails

• The mill is open to the public, 2-5pm on Sundays and Monday bank holidays, April to September
• Car parking park in the Church Lane layby, near the junction with Foan Hill and Redhill Lane
• Arriva bus route 29 Leicester to Burton goes through Swannington