Beeby

Beeby is one of Leicestershire's smallest and quietest villages, a scattering of farmhouses and cottages strung along the Barkby Brook a few miles northeast of Leicester. It sits between the villages of Keyham and Hungarton, in gently rolling countryside that has changed little in character for centuries. The 2011 census recorded just 115 residents, a population that has barely moved since 86 people were recorded here in 1676 -- Beeby has never been much bigger than it is now, and it shows: this is a place of hedgerows, brook-side fields and a handful of red-brick and ironstone buildings rather than shops or pubs.

The name itself goes back to the Domesday Book, where the village was recorded in 1086 as 'Bebi', a fusion of Old English 'beo' (bee) and Old Norse 'byr' (settlement) -- literally a 'bee settlement'. What survives today is, by the parish's own account, the remnant of a shrunken medieval village: most of the current houses date from the Georgian and Victorian periods, built on and around a settlement that was once larger before enclosure and agricultural change thinned it out. It is the kind of place visitors pass through rather than head for directly, which is precisely its appeal for anyone wanting genuine rural Leicestershire without the crowds.

Top things to do near Beeby

Beeby itself has no visitor attractions to speak of, but it makes a peaceful base for exploring the quiet lanes of east Leicestershire and the edge of Leicester itself.

• All Saints Church, Beeby -- the village's fourteenth-century church, built of local orange ironstone, is the one unmissable sight in the village. It has a thirteenth-century font and an unusual truncated steeple known locally as the 'Beeby Tub', said by legend to have been left unfinished after two stonemasons working on it quarrelled and fell to their deaths.
• Quenby Hall -- a handsome Jacobean manor house near neighbouring Hungarton, one of the finest unaltered houses of its period in the county, visible from public footpaths across the surrounding farmland.
• Watermead Country Park -- a large lakeside country park on the edge of Leicester and Syston, good for walking, cycling and birdwatching, and an easy drive from Beeby.
• National Space Centre -- Leicester's family-friendly science attraction, with its distinctive rocket tower, is a short drive into the city.
• Billesdon and Billesdon Coplow -- a nearby market village with a well-regarded hilltop viewpoint over the surrounding Leicestershire countryside.

Getting to Beeby

Beeby lies about 5.5 miles northeast of Leicester city centre, reached via minor lanes off the A47 or the Leicester-to-Melton Mowbray road through Barkby and Queniborough. There is no railway station in the village; the nearest stations are Syston, around 3 miles away, and Leicester, around 5 miles away, both on the Midland Main Line with regular services to London St Pancras, Nottingham and Sheffield. Leicester itself is well connected by the M1 and M69 motorways, making Beeby an easy detour for anyone already travelling through the East Midlands.

Best time to visit Beeby

Spring and summer bring the brook valley and surrounding farmland to life, with hedgerows and field margins at their best for walking between May and September. Autumn suits those who enjoy quiet, low-traffic lanes and the colours of the surrounding arable countryside, while winter has its own appeal for a short, bracing walk followed by a warm pub lunch in one of the neighbouring villages. Because Beeby has no attractions geared to visitors, there is no real 'high season' here -- any time the weather is fair is a good time to come.

Where to stay near Beeby

Beeby has no hotels of its own, so most visitors base themselves in Leicester, around five miles away, which offers everything from budget chains to boutique city-centre hotels, or in one of the small market towns nearby such as Billesdon or Melton Mowbray, both of which have traditional inns and guesthouses within easy reach of the village.

Food and drink near Beeby

There is no pub, café or shop in Beeby itself -- it is genuinely as quiet as villages in Leicestershire get. Visitors typically head into neighbouring Hungarton, Queniborough or Barkby for a village pub, or into Leicester for its wide choice of restaurants, cafés and the famous Leicester Market, one of the largest outdoor markets in Europe.