The Eclectic Traveller

Imagine youself in a cozy cottage with original wooden slatted doors and creaky floorboards... Wait! no, imagine yourself in a fantastic boutique hotel bedroom with vibrant colours and luxurious fabrics, tucked up in your kingsize bed, goose down quilt and quality bedding... No! wait a minute, I see you relaxing on the white, corner leather sofa in the high ceiling Victorian living room reading a good book, some music or TV, a glass of your favourite tipple and your feet up under a huge throw! This spacious property has a distinct Victorian feel as it was built in the 1800's and is mixed with modern and vintage/retro style furnishings. Self contained 1st floor accomodation with access to the washing machine on the ground floor to the left of the stairs. Management and staff are not permanently on the premises and are generally on site during pub opening hours, for cleaning and deliveries. Contact numbers are in the house manual and if needed on site they are only 5 minutes away. Cademan Woods is litterally on your doorstep with access to it from behind the gardens of property. Cademan Woods is privatetly owned with volcanic boulders spread through a woodland setting and is part of an extensive area of protected land within Rural Leicestershire with fantastic walks, and flora and forna to appreciate and explore whilst taking in the fresh air and blowing away the cobwebs. You will never be woken up by the cocks crowing, but you may well indeed be woken up by the donkey call !..or at any other random time during the day that the two, four legged friends might want to let you know they are in the fields behind the gardens to the property. You also have Mount St. Bernard Abbey - A Cistercian Monastic Community in the heart of rural Leicestershire, with its Monastery, Church and shop set in beautiful, peaceful and soul searching grounds. They brew and sell Trappist Ale and their own delicious chocolate...After your visit (and purchase) all you will need is some relaxing music, subtle lighting, and what a chilled night in you'll have! If you're out and about and get peckish then you've also got St Josephs Tea Room close to the Abbey. This very discrete and humble tea room has excellent reviews for the quality of their food. They are a not-for-profit venture and an expression of The Little Community of John and Mary, a part of Monos. I’ve eaten there myself and would thoroughly recommend going at least once in your lifetime! As with most small towns and villages, Whitwick has its own selection of takeaways if you just can't be bothered! Not forgetting that just on the boarder of Whitwick you also have Grace Dieu Priory. Grace Dieu Priory (Wikipedia) - The priory is reputed to be the site of frequent paranormal phenomena, sometimes attributed to the priory's proximity to the Thringstone Fault, several ley lines and some possible Pagan significance attached to the site. The ruins are home to the mythical ghost the White Lady. A comprehensive record of sightings, dating back as far as 1926, has been compiled by Stephen Neale Badcock, with all accounts backed up by information sources. Many of the sightings share a remarkable uniformity in terms of description and specific location, tending to refer to white or grey apparitions, robed, with no hands or feet, hovering or gliding above ground level and appearing on the opposite side of the road to the priory, in the vicinity of an old 'bus shelter. Paul Devereux refers to the Grace Dieu phenomenon in his 1982 book, "Earth Lights: Towards and Explanation of the UFO Enigma", and sets out his theory that such manifestations are a rare but naturally occurring phenomenon, wrought by unusual electromagnetic fields associated with fault areas which interfere with the normal cycles of the atmosphere. Expanding on this, Neale Badcock's research has shown that the site of Grace Dieu priory is located directly above the Thringstone Fault, as shown by a geological map produced by the Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society in 1965. The site is also located close to a standing stone, in a field to the west of the priory, examples of which are often found close to geological faults. The presence of this stone suggests that the area may have been regarded as a sacred site in ancient times, Mesolithic flint scrapers having been found around the base of the stone. As such, it has been suggested that the site's prehistoric religious significance may have influenced the choice of location for the mediaeval monastic foundation. However, whilst this may have been the case for many Christian foundations during the Saxon period (the nearby parish church at Whitwick for example would almost certainly date back to a Saxon origin, intentionally sited in a sacred place, above a natural spring) it is probable that the link between the much later foundation of Grace Dieu Priory and a site of possible pagan significance occurs more by co-incidence. Hillier and Ryder offer a more prosaic explanation for the location of the nunnery, suggesting that the chief influence would have been its proximity to a fresh water source. There is also Whitwick Leisure Centre with swimming pool and gym and a sports hall for badminton and fitness classes. Please note guests are not to bring for their own use, heavy use electrical items such as fan or halogen heaters, rice makers, deep fat dryers, air fryers or other electrical cooking items as they have significant power consumption. Meters are checked before and after each booking and should the meter indicated over and above expected levels of use which would suggest additional electrical items have been used, we have the right to request draw down of the security bond as indicated within the listing.