Wansford and the Nene Way, 14th September 2025

Scott's walk started near the Haycock Manor Hotel just south of the bridge over the Nene.  We walked across Wansford Bridge and then followed the Nene Way to Yarwell Mill for a coffee stop. We passed through Nassington and through forests and nature reserves in old quarries before returning to Wansford. Lots of interesting river scenery and lovely stone buildings as well as nature reserves. Good tracks and no stiles.

Haycock Manor Hotel

The Haycock was known as The Swan Inn, in 1571, when devastating storms washed away three arches of the wooden Wansford bridge which was followed by such flooding that “at The Swan Inn, three storeys high, the water flowed into the bedrooms”

View upstream from Wansford Bridge

Wansford Bridge (~1600), the ancient crossing of the river Nene on the Great North Road

River Nene flood plain

One of many locks and sluice gates on the Nene.
The River Nene, the tenth-longest river in the UK, flows through the counties of Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Lincolnshire into The Wash

Yarwell Mill - coffee stop

Fine building in Nassington made from local limestone

St Mary the Virgin & All Saints, Nassington

Old Sulehay Wildlife Trust nature reserve, managed by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, and Northamptonshire. It covers 210 acres of limestone quarries, grassland, woodland, and wetland and includes Old Sulehay Forest, designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest for its varied geology and woodland vegetation

Wansford - raining on the recce

View from below bridge

Return to Haycock Manor Hotel