Oaks in Charnwood

Charley Woods is a 26.8 hectares (66 acres) nature reserve north of Copt Oak in Leicestershire. It is owned and managed by the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust. It consists of Cat Hill Wood and Burrow Wood, with a field between them.These ancient woods are dominated by pedunculate oak, with sparse ground flora. There is a considerable amount of dead wood, which attracts a variety of birds, including all three native species of woodpecker.There is access by a track from the Whitwick Road.

Charley is a civil parish located in the North West Leicestershire district of Leicestershire, England. According to the 2001 census, it had a population of 203, increasing to 236 at the 2011 census. It is set within the Charnwood Forest. The name 'Charley' means 'wood/clearing with a cairn'.A quarry within the parish was the source of Charley Forest whetstones.Charley is near to Shepshed, Copt Oak and Whitwick. The parish of Charley contains Mount Saint Bernard Abbey and the hamlet of Oaks in Charnwood. The parish church of St James the Greater, Oaks in Charnwood was consecrated on 18 June 1815, the same day as the Battle of Waterloo and a selection of French lances captured from the battle can be seen inside the church, mounted on the north wall.

Charley Priory was a small former priory in Leicestershire, England.

Ives Head is a 5 hectares (12 acres) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest south of Shepshed in Leicestershire. It is a Geological Conservation Review site.This site exposes volcaniclastic sandstones dating to the late Precambrian, around 600 million years ago. It is important for the global understanding of the early evolution of Ediacaran environments.The site is private land with no public access.

Charnwood Lodge is a 134.2-hectare (332-acre) biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Charnwood Forest, east of Coalville in Leicestershire. It is a national nature reserve, and contains two Geological Conservation Review sites. It is managed by the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust.This is the largest area of moorland in the East Midlands, and it is mainly covered by bracken on dry hills, while wet heath is dominated by purple moor-grass. The site is geologically important for the 'bomb' rocks, volcanic blocks dating the Ediacaran period around 600 million years ago.Part of the site is open to the public, with access from Warren Hills Road.

Abbots Oak is a hamlet near Coalville, Leicestershire, comprising a cluster of dwellings near Warren Hills, either side of the road between Whitwick and Copt Oak. There is a public house here called The Bull's Head, which claims the distinction of being the highest public house in Leicestershire, at seven hundred and eighty seven feet above sea level.The hamlet also contains the Abbots Oak Country House, which is a Grade II listed building. The house is built of Charnwood granite and has an imposing tower with a fine wooden staircase; its listing description ascribes a mid-nineteenth century origin.

Morley Quarry is a 3.1 hectares (7.7 acres) Local Nature Reserve on the southern outskirts of Shepshed in Leicestershire.The quarries are a Regionally Important Geological Site, with rocks dating to 600 million years ago. The habitat is grassland and heath, with heather and gorse. There is a pond which has breeding toads.There is access from Morley Lane.

One Barrow Plantation is a 1.8 hectares (4.4 acres) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) south-west of Shepshed in Leicestershire. It is a Geological Conservation Review site. Part of the site is in the Blackbrook Reservoir biological SSSI.This site exposes rocks dating to the late Precambrian, around 600 million years ago. The deposits are mainly volcanic ash, thought to have been deposited in the sea from volcanoes on neighbouring islands similar to those now found on the western edge of the Pacific Ocean.The site is private land with no public access. No geology is visible.

Holly Rock Fields is a 3.9 hectares (9.6 acres) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest east of Coalville in Leicestershire.This is a nationally important site as it is primarily the nationally scarce National Vegetation Classification type MG5, crested dog’s-tail and common knapweed grassland. The fields have not been subject to agricultural intensification, and they are floristically diverse.The site is private land with no public access.

Newhurst Quarry is a 9.5 hectares (23 acres) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest on the southern outskirts of Shepshed in Leicestershire. It is a Geological Conservation Review site.This is the only British site where hypogene mineralisation, deep in the earth, has been weathered during the Triassic, around 225 million years ago. It is also the only British site to have the minerals coulsonite and vesignieite.The site is private land with no public access.

Copt Oak is a hamlet in Leicestershire, England. It is located in the North West Leicestershire district near the large village of Markfield and the rural hamlets of Abbots Oak, Charley, Ulverscroft, and Nanpantan. In its name, cop is an old English word for head, i.e. "pollarded oak" (literally "[be]headed oak").

Mount St Bernard Abbey is a Roman Catholic, Trappist monastery near Coalville, Leicestershire, England, founded in 1835 in the parish of Whitwick and now in that of Charley. The abbey was the first permanent monastery to be founded in England since the Reformation and is the sole Trappist house in England. The monks brew the only Trappist beer in Britain.