The Geese and Fountain got its name by committee, which doesn't always end well, but in this case it did. When Nick bought the old Peacock Inn in 2015 and reopened it, he asked the village what to call it. The geese come from the Botterill family, who farmed them here for years. The fountain is a water spout on the A607 towards Waltham on the Wolds. The peacock had been the Duke of Rutland's — his crest — but the Duke's Belvoir Estate sold the pub in 1922, so the village felt entitled to rename it.
It is, by some margin, the main event in Croxton Kerrial. CAMRA gave it Vale of Belvoir Pub of the Year in 2017 and Overall Pub of the Year in 2018 and 2019. It made the Good Beer Guide in 2022 and 2023. There are no permanent beers on the pumps — six local breweries rotate through, including Belvoir, Brewsters, Oakham Ales, and Grainstore, plus guest microbrewery ales. The kitchen runs an evening classics menu alongside hand-made pizzas, with steaks — sirloin, rump, hanger — fresh egg tagliatelle or gnocchi, and seasonal specials.
Breakfast is where it gets serious. The Croxton Farmer's Breakfast involves two eggs, two rashers of Ancaster smoked bacon, two David Cox Lincolnshire sausages, mushrooms, tomatoes, black pudding, baked beans, and fried bread. You can stay upstairs to recover from it — there are six en suite rooms. Dogs, children, walkers, and cyclists are all welcome. There's a beer garden and regular live music evenings, including a monthly folk club.
There are no shops. The pub is the village.
Croxton Kerrial sits at roughly 500 feet above sea level, which makes it one of the highest settlements in Leicestershire. This is not immediately obvious because Leicestershire is not a county that advertises its altitude, but you notice it in the views. Belvoir Castle is visible to the northeast. The land around is predominantly arable, and the Vale of Belvoir spreads out below you in a way that rewards a decent pair of walking boots. Heritage routes run through to Barrowby and around the Belvoir Castle circuit.
The village is on the A607 between Grantham and Melton Mowbray. There's no railway station — Grantham and Melton Mowbray are your nearest options for trains.
The church of St Botolph and St John the Baptist has carved monk figures on its pew-ends, salvaged from Croxton Abbey after the dissolution. The abbey was a Premonstratensian monastery — White Canons — founded in the twelfth century, though the canons didn't actually take up residence until 1162. It became one of the richest religious houses in the region, then the Black Death killed everyone except the Abbot and the Prior. Recovery was slow. By the time Henry VIII dissolved it in 1538, there were an abbot and eighteen canons left. The site is now a Scheduled Monument.
In the Domesday Book, the village appears as Crohtone, with 59 households — putting it in the largest 20 per cent of recorded settlements. The "Kerrial" was added later, from a medieval landowning family, to distinguish it from other Croxtons. The manor belonged to the Belvoir Estate, and the Duke of Rutland's influence still runs through the area like a watermark.
On a clear evening, you can sit in the beer garden with a pint of something from Brewsters and watch the light change over the Vale. The folk club meets once a month.
