About Ashby

Ashby de la Zouch is a small market town and civil parish in North West Leicestershire, within the National Forest. It has a historic 15th century castle, which was the setting for Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott. A local high school (Ivanhoe College) is named after the book. The town is also often rumoured to have hosted an important archery competition held by Prince John, in which Robin Hood competed and won (described in Scott's Ivanhoe). In 1464 the town and castle came into the possession of the Hastings family. Later the town was one of the Royalists' chief garrisons under the control of Colonel Henry Hastings, 1st Baron Loughborough and commander of the North Midlands Army. The town finally fell after a long siege in March.

In the 19th century the main industries were ribbon manufacture, coal mining and brickmaking. Many of the buildings in Market Street, the town's main thoroughfare, have timber framing, but most of this is hidden by later brick facades. The Bull's Head pub and Queens Head hotel retain the original Elizabethan half-timbering. There are also a number of Regency buildings in the street.

Willesley Park Golf Course is set in rolling countryside, partly in parkland and partly on heathland. The course was opened for play in April, 1921. The first hole is played along an avenue of lime trees which once flanked the old coach road from the old Norman castle in the town to the now demolished Willesley Hall.

Every August, Ashby holds an arts festival currently sponsored by the district council. This features local artists, musicians, song writers, poets, performers and story tellers. The multiple sites around the town host exhibitions, musical performances, workshops and talks, and the town centre is decorated with flags and an outdoor gallery.

The Statutes Fair is a funfair instituted by the Royal Statute held every September (originally a hiring fair when domestic servants and farmworkers would be hired for the year).