Ashby-de-la-Zouch, usually referred to as Ashby, is a little market town and civil parish in North West Leicestershire, England, within the National Forest. It is a sister city with Pithiviers in north-central France and is situated near to the Derbyshire border. The civil parish includes the hamlets of Shellbrook, to the of the town, and Boundary to its north-west. Some nearly villages are Lount, Normanton le Heath, Smisby, Packington, Donisthorpe, Oakthorpe, Moira, Measham and Coleorton. The towns of Swadlincote, Burton-upon-Trent, Melbourne and Coalville are all within ten miles of Ashby, while the city of Derby is 11.5 miles due north. The town is located at the heart of the National Forest and roughly 24 miles due south of the Peak District National Park. It is on the A42 national route between Tamworth and Nottingham. The permanent resident population of the town, as outlined by the 2001 census, was 12758, which grew to 13759 in the 2011 census. Ashby-de-la-Zouch Castle was important in the 15th to the 17th centuries. In the 19th century, the town became a spa town and before the development of Coalville, it was the chief town in northwest Leicestershire. During the 19th century, its key industries were ribbon manufacture, coal mining and brickmaking. The town was served by the Leicester to Burton-upon-Trent Line of the Midland Railway from 1849. Lots of the buildings in Market Street, the town's principal thoroughfare, are timber framed, but most of this was hidden by later brick facades. The Bull's Head public house retains its historic Elizabethan half-timbering, though most of this was plastered over some years ago and can now no longer be identified from the street. For all of your residence improvement work, be certain that you use reputable specialists in Ashby-de-la-Zouch to make sure you get the top quality service.