An area worth exploring is Charnwood just over the border in Leicestershire.

There is a cluster of Leic Wildlife Trust sites namely Lea Meadows, Ulverscroft and Herberts Meadow and in addition the County Council manage Outwoods, Beacon Hill, and Broomriggs Farm and of course there is also Bradgate Park and Swithland Wood. Although the footpath network is very limited in the area it is perfectly possibly to put together a days walk taking in Beacon Hill, Ulverrscroft/Herberts Meadow, Lea Meadows, Bradgate Park and Broomriggs – although to be fair such a circuit is more about passing through. But it is a fine walk taking in National Forest plantations.

Outside of Charnwood there are nature reserves at Holwell/Browns Quarry and also Wymeswold Meadow and Loughborough Big Meadow all just over the border. See LRWT web site for more info https://www.lrwt.org.uk/nature-reserves PS not sure if exotic places like Leicetershire has left the EU, so you might need to take your passport !