Gunthorpe and Burton Meadows, 10th June 2026

 

It was a lovely sunny evening for Howard's 5.2 mile walk when he led a very select group westward under the 100 year old Gunthorpe Bridge towards Burton Joyce. We walked past several large fishing and wildfowl lakes on the site of the former gravel pits, and which are home to a selection of wildfowl, before returning to Gunthorpe along the River Trent.

Thanks Val for the photos and description.

The start in the car park near Gunthorpe Bridge

Cocker Beck looking very insignificant despite being the cause of annual floods in Lowdham

Old gravel pits, now a nature reserve

The River Trent

Distant view of Shelford on the other side of the river

Waltham on the Wolds, Bescaby and Stonesby, 7th June 2026

Steve led 18 ramblers on an 8-mile walk starting from the north end of Waltham on the Wolds village. We crossed field paths to the NATS station acting as a beacon for East Midlands airport, before following the gallops of the old Croxton Park race track to Bescaby. Passing through Diamond Wood, coffee was taken at the Bescaby duck ponds. Further paths took us towards Saltby before we turned back towards Stonesby where lunch was taken at the church. Finally we passed through the old Stonesby Quarry to retrace our earlier steps back to the start.

Thanks Steve for photos.

Briefing in Waltham

Good tracks today

NATS beacon

Croxton Park gallops

Bescaby Oaks Diamond Wood

Coffee stop

Local wildlife

Lunch at Stonesby Church

Stonesby Church

Scott the horse whisperer

Southwell and Potwell Dyke Meadows, 3rd June 2026

Elaine took six members on a 4.8 mile stroll to explore the orchids in Potwell Dyke Meadows, the last natural remnant of the Archbishop of York's deer park and hunting ground.  Then it was over Cundy Hill to Westhorpe and through Norwood Park to reach the Southwell Trail before returning through Southwell Town Centre and through the grounds of the Minster.

You promised orchids!

Common Spotted Orchids, Southern Marsh, Bee and Pyramidal Orchids can in be found in Potwell Dyke Meadows. 

Crossing Potwell Dyke

Starkey's apple trees in Norwood Park

View of Maythorne Mill (1785) on the River Greet, a cotton mill which later became a silk mill and operated until the middle of the 20th century

Station House.  Southwell was connected to the Midland Railway network 1847 and the line was in continuous use until 1968.  The section to Farnsfield, part of which we walked, is now a nature reserve

Back through the grounds of the Minster

Stamford, Barnack and Burghley Park, 31st May 2026

Starting in the free, long-stay car park in Wharf Road, Stamford, Scott led eight members on a 9.2 mile walk out of the town, passing the remains of St Leonard’s Priory, then between the River Welland and the railway on the Torpel Way to Barnock for lunch at St John the Baptist Church. After lunch, we walked through the Hills & Holes Nature Reserve to join the Hereward Way (aka Ermine Street) and through Burghley Park to London Road and back across the river to the start.

Thanks John for the photos.

The briefing - Wharf Road car park

St Leonard's Priory - jointly refounded by William the Conqueror and the Bishop of Durham in about 1082

River Welland

Uffington Signal Box

One of the many buildings in Barnack made from the local limestone

The Old Chapel, Barnack

St John the Baptist Church - lunch

Arising from the rubble of a mediaeval quarry, Barnack Hills and Holes is one of Britain’s most important wildlife sites.  The unique hummocky landscape of the Hills and Holes was created by quarrying for limestone. The stone, known as Barnack Rag, was a valuable building stone first exploited by the Romans over 1500 years ago. Quarrying continued in mediaeval times when the Abbeys at Peterborough, Crowland, Ramsey, Sawtry and Bury St. Edmunds all used Barnack stone, and the monasteries frequently argued over the rights to it.

Barnack Windmill is a tower mill built of Barnack stone in 1797.  Its commercial use as a mill ceased in 1914 and for a time it stood derelict. Its interior machinery survives complete and the mill was restored in 1959–62

Burghley Park.

Fine avenue of trees in the park

North and South Bottle Lodges - entry to Burleigh Park

   

Back over the River Welland

Creswell Crags and the Welbeck Estate, 24th May 2026

 Sue took 9 members on an 8.2 mile walk through Creswell Crags Gorge, through the small hamlet of Belph, along field paths and some minor roads, to the Welbeck Estate before heading back to Creswell.

Thanks John and Terry for the photos.

Sue briefs the members at the Visitor Centre car park

Creswell Crags Gorge and lake

The cliffs in the Creswell Crags Gorge contain several caves that were occupied by Neanderthals and modern humans during the Last Glacial Period, between around 60,000 and 10,000 years ago

Pin Hole cave on the Derbyshire side of Creswell Gorge

More caves

Whitwell Quarry

Tarmac's 200 acre Whitwell Quarry produces high purity dolomitic limestone which is burnt in the kilns of the on-site lime processing plant for use in refractory products and steel manufacture. Other grades of limestone present at the quarry are used principally to produce agricultural lime and aggregates.

Coffee stop

Near the Welbeck Tunnels

Memorial dedicated to the five Canadian aircrew who died when their Wellington bomber from RAF Gamston crashed close to this place on the 5th August 1944.