Conker Tree Farm

Life can be as restful or as active as you wish at Rutland Water (five minutes’ drive): birdwatching and boat trips await for the laidback types, and windsurfing, climbing and a 27-mile bike ride for those raring to go. The same is true for the area in general: the Nene Valley Railway is 25 minutes away for folk who fancy puffing gently through the scenery, and it’s a similar length of drive to Rockingham Motor Speedway (the home of NASCAR in Europe). Fancy poking around some fancy properties? Check out William the Conqueror’s old pad Rockingham Castle (20 minutes); elegant Elizabethan Burghley House (25 minutes), home of the famed horse trials, and the stunning Regency-era Belvoir Castle (40 minutes; check opening dates before travelling). All creatures small and even smaller are in residence at Bugtopia zoo (15 minutes) – not just bugs, but also meerkats, armadillos, reptiles and the like. Set your sights on something larger? Seek out the National Space Centre in Leicester (40 minutes) to learn about what lies far, far beyond our atmosphere.