Shearsby Valley Lakes

Don’t want to be fishing all day, every day? Stay close to the water when you see an old-fashioned boat lift in action in the open-air Foxton Canal Museum (15 minutes’ drive), where you can take traditional barge trips along the Grand Union Canal or walk up the longest, steepest lock flight in the UK, built in 1810 by stellar engineer Benjamin Bevan. There’s more history to be found in Classic British Jets Museum (five minutes) or the King Richard III Visitor Centre in Leicester (half an hour), where there are interactive exhibits detailing the discovery of the Plantagenet king’s unmarked grave in a car park in 2012. For more on Richard’s story, pop into the half-timbered Guildhall Museum, adorned with fine stained-glass and ornate wooden wall panels. If you want to get your heart racing, try steering military vehicles over a former World War II bombing range at Armourgeddon Tank Driving (10 minutes), where there's also paintballing, or whizz around a few laps at Sutton Circuit Outdoor Go-Karting (20 minutes). An adventure golf course in Blaby (15 minutes), Wistow Maze (10 minutes) or a golf course in Lutterworth (15 minutes) are also nearby. If gentle pursuits are the name of the day, take the binoculars to Saddington Reservoir (five minutes) and keep your eyes open for egrets, herons and grebes as you meander around the water’s edge. Bradgate Park (45 minutes) is another fab spot, as is Rutland Water (45 minutes). Shearsby Bath (under five minutes) is a local wedding and events venue.