 Hello, thank you for joining me. I'm standing by the Little Matlock River in the Leicestershire village of Newton, Linford This is the churchyard of All Saints Church We've come here today though to explore Bradgate Park. Bradgate Park is famous because it's where Lady Jane Gray lived We'll get more into the history and who lived there once we get into the park but firstly I'm just going to show you a little bit of the church and the churchyard and Newton, Linford. Unfortunately, we can't go in the church. I've already checked. It is locked So we're only going to see the church from the outside. It's a really lovely looking church. If we come through here We'll go through the Litchgate, be in the village centre. So I'll just quickly show you the village centre So you've got here's to be a tea room and old post office, a pub, another tea room I believe there's another tea room in the park So no shortage of places to get a cup of tea here And then this is the church again. So what I'm going to do, I'm going to walk round the back of the church I'll go back over the Little Matlock River. Interesting name for a river So I was on where there's no connection with Matlock in Derbyshire But if there is and anyone knows and you know, please do comment. Tell me or one other thing I just want to show you here. I'll go across Walking around the gravestones There's a Leicestershire Police box So I thought that's not quite the same as the Doctor Who Tarvis, but it's quite cool. And from here We get a rather nice view of the church So I'm going to go out that little gate just over there That's where we'll go into the park and then we're going to climb up the hill Towards what's known as Old John Tower, but I'll tell you more about that When we get there Through this little gateway Looks like quite a popular park. There's a car park here quite well filled I'm sure if I'd come here in the middle of the summer it'd be very busy. So I've chosen it all from day It's a bit quieter to show you around. So here we are. It says welcome to Bradgate Park It's a historic deer park. It's been a deer park here I believe since the 13th century and the earlier home play today, Jane Gray Nine Days Queen of England, but we'll talk more about that once we get further on. So this is the little Matlock This is the car park. I'm going to head across the car park and up over there into the park So we're across the car park and now we're about to enter the deer park That is the reason why they have these rather tall gates It's to stop the deer jumping out and going into the local countryside around so we've gone through one gate Now we go through second gate and on passing through this second gate. We are now officially in the deer park So where we're going to see any deer today. I can't promise that at this stage in the video We'll certainly look out for them. So it's a bit of a let's walk up the hill see what we see kind of thing So the walk I'm going to do I'm going to follow up the hill this way. The ruins of Bradgate House Over that way I'm going to finish off there. So On up we go and let's go and find the deer and explore the park Gained a bit of height now in Bradgate Park. I can just see in the distance over there City of Leicester, I appreciate the camera probably isn't picking that out That plantation of trees up there, that's known as Tiber and now when we go through the Bracken up here It opens out and you can see ahead there is a war memorial So we're going to aim for that war memorial there on top of the hill and then the tower That we're also looking for will be further on that way. Still no sign of any deer yet But you know, it's fairly haven't been in here that long so I'm sure we've got Accomplished feeling like I've just climbed a mountain but really I'm only about 600 feet or so above sea level That's where we've just come up there. I came down behind those rocks to get out of the wind So you can see it's going to get windy now It's not my field ground so I'm just going to shout We've come up there The ruins of Bradgate House are just down there. I can see the skyline of Leicester behind me So I hope you can hear me Shout out to you as loud as I possibly can We're going to head up to the war memorial. It was for the Leicestershire Yeomanry I believe the people who fought in the First World War of the Leicestershire Yeomanry Regiment So we're just going to walk on up there and then we should soon be able to see the tower But we'll carry on along the ridge of this hill. So about 500 600 feet above sea level. So, you know, not massively high, but if you look at the surrounding area I can't see any other hills Once I've finished up down, I'm going to walk right around the edge of the park And as I said, we're going to finish down at the ruins of the house But let's now go and have a look at the war memorial and the wind seems to have died down So that's better. Oh and what you see out there, all of that is Charmwood Forest Reminds me a bit, although it's a different memorial for a different war, but Coom Hill and Buckethamshire Have a look at the link on screen now. It just reminds me a bit of that There we go As for this tower, here before, so I'm not exactly sure where I assume it's through a tree, so I'm going to carry on walking down the direction And let's go and find Old John Tower It's over Leicester. The reason I'm talking quietly is because I can see some deer But I don't want to alarm them So that's why I'm talking quite a bit. Have a look. It's munching away at the grass I'm not going to go any closer, you know, because it's not really fair on the deer To kind of go too close, but there they go You just see, they're obviously aware I'm here Because I don't want to go too close, no alarm And if I get any pictures, I'll put them in This is a video of them all stopping and looking at me There's one there, he's off now as well So there we are, we've seen the deer Some of the very few of the deer they have here Quite often, I'm not sure if it's the case here Often with a deer park, for every 100 acres A deer basically gets an acres worth of land Now this is interesting Coming out here, I can just see the top of this Old John Tower I've been all about, but what's this? This is another ruin Maybe this is like sometimes in deer parks You get like a deer shelter for them to come into Or maybe it was a hunting lodge And people hunted from in here So if anyone knows, please comment and tell me And I can just see the deer over there I'm going to now go on up to the tower The Old John Tower And once again, we get great view over Leicester I'm really enjoying these views over Bradgate Park And Leicestershire From what is now the highest point in the park That's Little Woodland, where we saw the deer Now as we come to here, we finally reach Old John Tower Now this tower was built in 1786 By one of the earls To commemorate a rather sad thing that happened here Now this is the highest point in the park There used to be a windmill It's not quite as windy as it was over there But you know, ideal place for a windmill And there was a miller The Old John is the miller Now one of the earls was having a party For his son's 21st birthday up here on the hill And there was a flagpole They built a fire around the flagpole But the fire burnt through the flagpole And the flagpole collapsed like that All of the guests got out of the way Except Old John the miller He was killed, sadly So they built this tower To remember him by So It was a sad reason for it to be But it's a very impressive tower It had been used by hunting parties Refreshments Another thing I want to show you See what it says about that flag That basically talks about Someone called Charles Benyon He gave the park To Leicester City and Leicester County To be used to recreation In 1928 on condition That the wildlife Was maintained And the wildlife was allowed to thrive here And from the deer we've seen it very much does I'm going to now continue in that direction And eventually walk right the way down there I can't see them anymore To the ruins of Rackgate Park In that direction As I've already mentioned you can see Charmwood Forest I can just see the cameras I can just see the chimney Of Ratcliffe Power Station So you get quite Wide bearing views On somewhere down there is the Great Central Railway But this isn't a train video today So I'm going to carry on Now leave the tower behind me And continue on into the park I've come down the hill from Old Johnstowner Now when I was up there I pointed out The view over The area known as Charmwood Forest Now I'm going to correct myself What I pointed to was actually Swiveland Woodland Charmwood Forest was Or is the wider area Was once a large forest But now there's very few trees Left from that forest But we'll get onto that in a minute But the area is known as Charmwood Forest And I'm not sure this isn't a railway Video but at the Great Central Railway At Roe Flea Station There is a Model Railway called Charmwood Forest Model Railway On the screen now So Lady Jane Grey Was born here As I mentioned earlier She was born here at Bradgate In 1537 quite well known For her nine day stint As Queen of England when she was only 16 And then she was beheaded Sadly As for her being beheaded Obviously a lot of people were quite upset And that brings us back onto Charmwood Forest Some people what they did They pollarded the oak trees Out of sadness For her passing So those trees were pollarded And some of those trees Survive today So here we are Here we have some of the very ancient oak trees From Charmwood Forest And some of them are so old And hollow inside you can actually walk through them So we are going to do that with this one You can see how big the trunk would have been So it would have obviously been a much younger tree At the time but they would have pollarded it And then these are what's Grown out So quite sad how the tree ended up Becoming to this but when you think I'm standing in the middle of a tree That was here during those nine days When Lady Jane Grey Was Queen of England These trees, not the only tree But I should think very few trees Have lived through Such a long period Such history Well put it this way I'm walking in the footsteps of Lady Jane Grey She would have walked around the park She's seen these trees That I'm showing you now So I just find that really quite fascinating Here we have some others So look you can go in Look at that With my rock So I can actually fit inside A tree that's quite strange There's some really big ones Don't know if I can go in that one There but this is So this is what Charmwood Forest is It's not the woodland I pointed out That's Swivel and Woodlands This is the real Charmwood Forest Of what's left of it And I just find it very fascinating Very peaceful Probably the deer hang around in here A few more in the distance There is another very ancient oak tree I mean oak trees do live Very very long lifespans If you divide an oak tree's lifespan Into thirds Probably the first third of the life They grow The second third of the life They mature tree And the final third of the life They're gradually dying But you know they live on Look at that that's ridiculous Actually we'll stand right inside it It's amazing Yeah so that's very fascinating I wasn't quite sure what to expect I said you can go in the oak trees I think you're right What's that going to be like I really think this is great I'll show you one or two more One here This one down here Reminds me a bit of Robin Hood's Major Oak in Charmwood Forest That's another thing we should do one day A different era We'll go to a different part of the country We'll go to Sherford's one day Robin Hood's major oak looks a bit like this It's all quite propped up So what I'm going to do now I'm going to continue on down the hill Where there's supposed to be a reservoir And then we're going to carry on And we're going to finally finish By exploring the ruins Of Bradgate House I've come down to the bottom of the hill And here seems to be the best place To deer We've got the whole deer sanctuary So there's various different species of deer Public aren't allowed in there So they can graze there peacefully And people like us can just look at them From a distance It's not far now So we get to the ruins Of Bradgate House Which the other side doesn't look over there So let's go and find the roots of Bradgate House So just a little bit further Along from where we saw the deer sanctuary Here is The ruins of Bradgate House Where Lady Jane Grey was born You can see one of the towers just there There's the restored chapel We're going to go and have a look Unfortunately we can't go in Which I'm a bit disappointed And I'm sorry I've kind of built the video up Just to go and have a look around the ruins And then they're locked on And I'm not sure when they're open So if anyone knows On weekends or Are they ever open or are they only open Or make holidays or once a year or something Please let me know because I would like to come And have a look around So perhaps one day we'll do Bradgate Park Revisited or Bradgate House So today I'm just going to show you What I can see from over the wall So very impressive looking ruin As I said this is where Lady Jane Grey was built So It says it's an ancient monument No one will fly the entry So I'm not going to do that Because that means I can't go in But I really would like to go in You can see the Tudor Brick work So some people When it comes to Tudor houses Something you'll think of Tudor houses Brick Tudor houses It's getting a bit windy So we'll go around here To see if it's more of the exterior We can try and imagine What the house would look like So there's been another big tower here If you have a look at this tower You can see it's been altered and messed about With interestingly how there's a window there Maybe it was built like that So that sort of light straight in And above it you can see remains of where There's probably a big window Across there All the ruins are very flat topped As you can see by this wall So someone's obviously possibly Victorians They've sort of made it look neater Up here that you get And here's another one of the towers And this is the view that it had Out over Bradgate Park You can see Well the camera's pushing it out There's some more deer Interestingly over there There's some cedar of Lebanon trees Now of course they wouldn't have been here In late to change grace Time, they're 19th century editions I'm supposed to make the park a bit more Interesting, different So there's the house Bradgate House Behind us I can just see up on top of the hill Whether the camera's picking it out The War Memorial I'm going to continue on up the valley Of the little matlock, the river we saw at the beginning And just see what else we can see Before we conclude Our visit to Bradgate Park This is one of the cedar of Lebanon trees Introduced in the 19th century As I said back there They started to plant them They certainly wouldn't have been here At the time of late Jane Grey So that's the The newer edition And here's the more traditional oak trees And there we have oak trees and cedar of Lebanon Side by side So we come along here We're back on the banks Of the little matlock river The river we saw by the church At the very beginning Quite an attractive section of park here Down the hill down here in the valley Very nice and peaceful There's a weir here So it appears to be Must be an ornamental lake And another Cedar of Lebanon So that pretty much concludes Our visit to Bradgate Park. I hope you've enjoyed this video Thank you very much for watching Please do feel free to like, subscribe And comment if you're out this way Do come and visit Bradgate Park And Enjoy the walk just as I did So thank you very much for watching Goodbye