Staunton Harold Hall

Staunton Harold is a civil parish in North West Leicestershire about 3 miles (5 km) north of Ashby-de-la-Zouch. The parish is on the county boundary with Derbyshire and about 9 miles (14 km) south of Derby. The 2011 Census (including Lount) recorded the parish's population as 141.A brook flows from the south through the parish, heading for the River Trent which it joins about 4 miles (6.4 km) to the north. In the parish the brook is dammed to form a pair of small lakes. Nikolaus Pevsner (later Sir Nikolaus) described the view westwards across the lakes to Staunton Harold Hall and Holy Trinity parish church as "unsurpassed in the country – certainly as far as Englishness is concerned".Downstream from Staunton Harold, just over 1 mile (1.6 km) over the boundary in Derbyshire, the brook is dammed again to form Staunton Harold Reservoir. Most of the reservoir is in the Derbyshire parish of Melbourne, but part of the upper reach of one arm of the reservoir is in Staunton Harold parish.

Dimminsdale is a 37 hectare geological biological and Site of Special Scientific Interest partly in Derbyshire and partly in Leicestershire. It is located east of Calke in Derbyshire. It is a Geological Conservation Review site, and a area of 23.5 hectares is owned by Severn Trent Water and managed by the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust.Dimminsdale has semi-natural woodland and one of the largest areas of unimproved acidic grassland in the county. Earl Ferrers' lead mine, which is located on the site, has a unique and complex mixture of minerals such as galena and zinc blende; their genesis is little understood and they provide great potential for research.There is public access to footpaths on the nature reserve part of the site.

Calke is a small village and civil parish in the South Derbyshire district of Derbyshire, England. It includes the historic house Calke Abbey, a National Trust property, although the main entrance to its grounds is from the neighbouring village of Ticknall, where the population of Calke is included. The settlement name Calke means "calc" (Anglian) Chalk, lime, limestone. Results from the 2011 census shows Calke to contain around 10 households with a population of about 24.

Lount is a hamlet near Ashby de la Zouch in north-west Leicestershire, England. It has a population of 50 (approx). At the 2011 census the population remained less than 100 and is included in the civil parish of Staunton Harold. It has no local amenities apart from a public house. The village straddles the B587 road between Ashby and Melbourne and is situated near to the A42 road. The village was traditionally linked to the Staunton Harold Hall estate, and made up of 17th–19th century cottages. Lount was the scene in 1760, of the death of Earl Ferrers' steward, who had been shot by Laurence Shirley, 4th Earl Ferrers, at the neighbouring village of Staunton Harold. The steward returned to his house in Lount, where he died; Earl Ferrers was found guilty of murder, for which he was the last peer to be hanged. The last 25 years has seen several modern houses erected there.

Lount Meadows is a 8.5 hectares (21 acres) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest south of Lount in Leicestershire, England.This slightly acidic grassland site has hay meadows with diverse grass species. There are also areas of species-rich rough pasture, scrub and marsh, which is dominated by plicate sweet-grass and water horsetail.The site is private land with no public access.

Calke Abbey is a Grade I listed country house near Ticknall, Derbyshire, England, in the care of the charitable National Trust. The site was an Augustinian priory from the 12th century until its dissolution by Henry VIII. The present building, named Calke Abbey in 1808, was never actually an abbey, but is a Baroque mansion built between 1701 and 1704. The house was owned by the Harpur family for nearly 300 years until it was passed to the Trust in 1985 in lieu of death duties. Today, the house is open to the public and many of its rooms are deliberately displayed in the state of decline in which the house was handed to the Trust.

Staunton Harold Reservoir is a large reservoir under the management of Severn Trent Water, located between Melbourne and Ticknall in Derbyshire, England. Most of the water is within Derbyshire but a small part of the southern shore is over the border in Leicestershire. The site is also the home of Staunton Harold Sailing Club. The reservoir was built in 1964 at the behest of the River Dove Water Board, meant to serve Leicester and the towns of northern Leicestershire. Although no villages were lost in the construction of the reservoir, Furnace Farm, New England Farm and Calke Mill were submerged; their remains lie 25 metres below the surface. The dam wall is a clay core construction, similar to the dam wall at Ladybower Reservoir. Part of the shoreline border the Calke Abbey estate, as well as the National Forest. The reservoir has a total surface area of 209 acres (0.85 km2). Staunton Harold hosts a natural habitat for much bird and plant life, and is also home to Dimmingsdale Nature Reserve. There is also a sailing club, a visitors' centre and a children's adventure playground available to visitors. A non-functioning windmill dominates the skyline close to the visitors' centre called Tower Windmill, built in 1797 by the first Lord Melbourne at a cost of £250. Since July 2022, Severn Trent has been working with the National Trust to manage this site.

The A42 is a major trunk road in the East Midlands region of the United Kingdom. It links junction 23A of the M1 motorway to junction 11 of the M42 motorway. The A42 is in effect a continuation of the M42, and its junctions are numbered accordingly. It is built to a similar standard to the M42, being a grade separated dual carriageway. The 6-mile (9.7 km) Measham and Ashby-de-la-Zouch bypass section was opened in August 1989 at a cost of £33m.

New Lount is a 21.3 hectares (53 acres) Local Nature Reserve north-east of Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire. It is owned and managed by Leicestershire County Council.This site has a diverse bird population, such as green woodpeckers, chiffchaffs, blackcaps, willow warblers and goldcrests. Soprano and common pipistrelles catch insects over the site's four ponds.There is access from Melbourne Road.

Newbold otherwise Newbold Coleorton is a large hamlet in the parish of Worthington, Leicestershire, England. It is situated in the North West Leicestershire district, approximately midway between the town of Ashby-de-la-Zouch and the village of Whitwick, just to the north of the B5324 route. Nearby villages include Worthington, Coleorton, Osgathorpe, Thringstone and Swannington. In the nineteenth century it was also sometimes referred to as Newbold Juxta Worthington. An account of 1863 records that Newbold comprised approximately 500 acres (2.0 km2) in the ownership of Earl Ferrers and Sir G H Beaumont Bart; also that it had a colliery. The colliery was closed in the 1980s and has since been transformed into a nature reserve with large ponds and rich forest. Newbold today has a small village school (Newbold Church of England Primary School), a pub (the Cross Keys), and a nature reserve (New Lount Nature Reserve). On 12 September 2019 three homes were evacuated, and a cordon was placed on Vicarage Close in Newbold Coleorton. Bomb disposal experts, paramedics, police and the fire service all attended the incident and a local man was arrested on suspicion of making or possessing explosives under suspicious circumstances. Matthew Montanow, 29 pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing explosive substances, two counts of making explosive substances, and four of possessing prohibited ammunition at Leicester Crown Court in January 2020; he was subsequently sentenced on 8 July 2020.

Melbourne Hall is a Georgian style country house in Melbourne, Derbyshire, previously owned by William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, British Prime Minister from 1835 to 1841. The house is now the seat of Lord and Lady Ralph Kerr and is open to the public. The house is a Grade II* listed building; more than twenty features in the grounds are Grade I listed.

St Michael and St Mary's Church, Melbourne is a Grade I listed parish church in the Church of England in Melbourne, Derbyshire.