Distance: 6.5 miles
Difficulty of the terrain: medium
Get the route: via Ordnance Survey Maps or download the gpx. from Dropbox
Walk through the National Forest in Leicestershire, from Markfield to Ratby, through open access woodland, via Thornton Reservoir.
The Story
Route Notes
Getting Back
National Forest Open Access Woodland
In addition to upland moor, some coastal areas, and much surviving common land, many parts of the Forestry Commission’s estate is open access land. This means that walkers and others engaged in outdoor pursuits can freely access it, not just being restricted to footpaths and bridleways.
The National Forest, created in the mid-1990s, which stretches from Burton-upon-Trent to the Forest of Charnwood, contains numerous scraps of open access land created in this way. One of the largest expanses is found just north of Ratby in Leicestershire on the National Forest’s south eastern boundary.
This forest area stretches along the northern edge of the village, a mixture of ancient woodland, and linking corridors which were created in the 1990s when the National Forest was formed, to tie together the different parts of the tree covered landscape.
The largest part of the woodland is the 103 hectare Martinshaw Woods which is truly ancient, and now bisected by the M1 motorway which was constructed through it during the 1960s. In addition to ancient species Martinshaw Woods contains rare species of tree for Leicestershire including aspen, red cedar, Lawson’s cypress, Scots and Corsican pine. People made their mark on the woods long before the M1 was cut through it, with Iron Age remains having been found, and there being numerous pools and ponds which are pockmarks left over from mining and quarrying in the woods undertaken over the course of centuries.
West of Martinshaw Woods stand some smaller patches of open access woodland, Burroughs Wood and Pear Tree Wood. Burroughs Wood is part ancient, part a creation of the initiative to form the National Forest in the 1990s. Pear Tree Wood is an entirely contemporary creation, though now rapidly moving beyond being newly established woodland. The purpose of Pear Tree Wood and the extension to Burroughs Wood is to connect up the forest landscape, uniting the ancient part of the Burroughs Wood and Martinshaw Wood to create an interconnecting band of trees, extending for a great distance atop the low hills above Ratby and its near neighbour Groby.
Route Notes
Get the route: via Ordnance Survey Maps or download the GPX. file from Dropbox
I create the Walk Midlands routes via Ordnance Survey Maps Explorer enabling me to take them on my phone. Subscribe yourself via the banner above.
This walk from Markfield to Ratby through the National Forest, via Thornton Reservoir, begins from the bus stop just after the Queen’s Head pub. The frequent (half hourly at the time of writing in March 2026) buses between Leicester and Coalville call here.
Upon alighting the bus walk past the pub and turn right onto the road leading through the village centre which runs along its back wall.
Follow this road through the centre of Markfield for some distance.
Presently you reach a residential road running along a ridge on the western edge of the village. Here turn right and walk a short distance towards the Bulls Head in.
Just before you reach it turn left, down a steep cul-de-sac lined with 1970s vintage houses.
At the bottom of the road you pick up a footpath, comprising part of the Leicestershire Round long distance footpath, running through scrubby woodland towards the steady rumble of the M1 ahead of you.
Crossing into a field you head right onto a farm track which leads to a concrete bridge beneath the motorway.
On the far side of the motorway, beside a gate across the track turn left and head up a bank.
Here you follow the footpath, initially paralleling the M1, then heading right across a field towards woodland.
Follow the path, still waymarked for the Leicestershire Round, straight through the woodland.
On the far side you enter fields clambering up to the top of a prominent hill, and then descending into a shallow dale.
At the base of the dale you clamber up the far side and enter woodland once more.
Again you head straight along the well worn path straight through the woodland.
Before beginning to descend towards the village of Thornton.
Leaving the trees you see Thornton Reservoir, a drinking water reservoir to your left.
You descend towards the northern end of the reservoir which sits at the bottom of the shallow valley below Thornton.
Just above the reservoir you follow the path to the right heading around towards the steep slope running up towards Thornton.
At the bottom of the slope you turn left picking up a wide well made path around the edge of the reservoir at the bottom of the slope. Here you leave the Leicestershire Round, joining the National Forest Way, long distance footpath instead.
Nearing the southern edge of the reservoir you cross a car park.
On the far side you turn right, heading uphill into the southern end of Thornton, past a garden centre with an old pit wheel outside. A nod to north western Leicestershire’s mining past.
Soon you reach a junction where you turn left walking a short distance downhill into the next valley.
Soon on the left there is a footpath which you pick up walking downhill and crossing a stream.
Continue along the footpath walking straight ahead through a series of copses and fields.
Presently you reach a gate leading out onto a lane. Here you turn right, and head down a semi-made track on the far side of the road.
Carry on along this track for quite some distance. Presently it runs across a golf course and continues descending down through woodland.
Passing the golf course you near the end of the track. Here turn left and head up a short, but quite steep bank, before heading along the south western edge of the golf course.
Reaching the far side of the golf course you pick up a footpath on your left, and descend a steep, muddy hillside, to reach a gate at the bottom of a driveway.
Head through this gate and pick up a lane heading to the left.
Continue along this lane for some distance entering Burrough’s Wood. Soon you see Ratby through the trees, at the bottom of the hill in front of you.
Just after passing a car park on your left, you pick up a footpath on the left, and enter Pear Tree Wood, planted when the National Forest was created in the 1990s.
Follow the path straight through Pear Tree Wood.
Soon you reach Markfield Lane which you cross, entering the ancient Burroughs Wood on the far side.
You walk straight along the path, the houses on the northern edge of Ratby visible on your right as you walk.
Presently you turn right, and enter Ratby.
Once in the village follow the residential road you are walking along straight until you reach the main road through the village.
Turn right here and head into the middle of the village until you reach the bus stop beside the Bulls Head pub.
This is where the walk ends.
Getting Back
At the time of writing in March 2026 Ratby was served by the 27 and 28 buses via Groby to Leicester city centre. These buses ran half hourly throughout the day into the evening on weekdays and Saturdays and hourly on Sundays. From Leicester it is possible to catch buses to destinations across Leicestershire and beyond, for instance to parts of Derbyshire, Staffordshire, Northamptonshire and Coventry, as well as trains towards Birmingham, Derby, Nottingham, Sheffield, Lincolnshire and south towards London.