Written by Host, Clare Harrison of Holly Cottage B&B in the village of Hagworthingham, Lincolnshire

Few people know of the delights of the Lincolnshire Wolds, but the Wolds have an old-fashioned charm, and are peaceful and unspoiled. The quiet countryside, open spaces and big skies make for a tranquil visit.

The Lincolnshire Wolds are over 40 miles long and less than 5 miles wide in the north, but almost 15 miles wide in the south.  These chalk hills rise to a maximum height of 550 feet (168m) in the north and ancient trackways are still in existence along them, such as the prehistoric Bluestone Heath Road, Caistor High Street and Barton Street.  Wonderful views can be had from these routes, to the Humber in the north and to the Wash in the south.  One of the  finest cathedrals in Europe, Lincoln, standing on top of an extinct volcano, dominates the skyline to the west from almost anywhere in the Wolds, with views beyond that westwards into the Trent Valley. Prehistoric burial mounds are often to be seen along these ridges.

Carved into the Wolds are glacial features such as steep-sided dry valleys and scarp slopes where there are lovely open landscapes, such as Red Hill Nature Reserve, in an outcrop of red chalk.  There are quaint little villages , some still with mud and stud thatched cottages, the simple vernacular buildings of Lincolnshire dating from many centuries ago. These villages sometimes have equally quaint names, such as Mavis Enderby and Bag Enderby !  There are characterful market towns such as Louth, Horncastle, Spilsby, Market Rasen and Caistor, often still having independent shops.  Footpaths are generally well maintained and waymarked, and there are longer trails, such as a big part of the Viking Way (from the River Humber to Oakham) and part of the Greenwich Meridian Trail (following the Meridian Line of 0 degrees longitude from Greenwich, London, into Yorkshire).

The farms on the Wolds have long been large, and there are many grand country houses and estates to be seen in the area, such as Brocklesby, Gunby, Harrington and South Ormsby, and many more large houses have been demolished post-war. The prominence and success of sheep-farming on these estates and the desire to landscape these estates, often caused the demise of small tenant farmers, especially in the 15th and 16th centuries, and the resultant depopulation of some Wolds villages, which had often survived the ravages of the Black Death previously.  There are thus over 200 sites of Deserted Medieval Villages in the Wolds, which can often be traced out in the grasslands, such as at Driby and the beautiful spot on the Viking Way, Biscathorpe and also quite a few remains of ridge and furrow arable strip fields can be seen around the DMVs. Over the years, the farming landscape of the Wolds has changed, with arable cultivation becoming increasingly prominent. Today, large fields of grain are a familiar sight, as can be seen along the A153 between Horncastle and Louth. There were also over 100 monastic houses in Lincolnshire as a whole in the medieval period, with several in the Wolds, but few survived the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII, and also the scarcity of building stone locally in the post-medieval period.

There are some lovely river valleys to be seen in the Lincolnshire Wolds, such as those of the River Bain and the River Lymn, about which latter the poet Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote his famous poem ‘The Brook’ :

‘I come from haunts of coot and hern

I make a sudden sally

And sparkle out among the fern

To bicker down a valley  ….’

Tennyson’s father was Rector of the church at nearby Somersby, the village where Alfred was raised.

The upper reaches of the Rivers Bain and Lymn and of the Waithe and Calceby Becks are classified as Chalk Streams, a scarce feature nationally and globally, that has shaped the Wolds.  The crystal clear water emerges at ground level from springs and blow wells at a constant temperature of 10 degrees C, This cherished environment gives a home for some of our rare plants and animals such as water crowfoot, water vole, otter, eel and brown trout, along with providing high quality drinking water.

Many years ago the Lincolnshire Wolds were designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (now known as a ‘National Landscape’), and with good reason, but don’t take it from me, come and see for yourselves. You won’t find Bright Lights here, but history, both natural and ancient, peace and tranquility.  You won’t be disappointed.