Edwinstowe and Rufford Country Park

Sue's 6.2 mile walk took 18 members and guests from Occupation Lane in Edwinstowe and then alongside the High Marnham Test  Track originally used to deliver coal from Thoresby Colliery to High Marnham Power Station.  After crossing the River Maun near Ollerton, we took the bridleway to Rufford Country Park for a drinks stop. Then, after crossing the very busy A614, we followed the Robin Hood Way and the River Maun back into Edwinstowe.

The start in Occupation Lane

You'll miss it when it's gone - this attractive piece of industrial archaeology, Thoresby Colliery Junction Signal Box.

Breaking news - it's gone!  Last seen in 2025

Crossing the River Maun near Ollerton

Rufford Mill, once a corn mill for the Rufford Abbey Estate

Rufford Abbey was originally a Cistercian abbey founded in 1145.  It was converted into a country house after 1536 and significantly rebuilt in the 17th and 19th centuries. George Savile demolished much of the old monastery around 1680 and added a large north wing. Another major renovation in 1837 by architect Anthony Salvin introduced features such as the clock tower and an ornate Jacobean-style library. Most of the mansion was demolished in the 1950s, leaving only the medieval lay brothers’ range, which now houses an exhibition.

Rear view of Rufford Abbey

Sculpture in Rufford Country Park

Drinks stop

Front view of Rufford Abbey - in Summer

Returning to Edwinstowe across the test track and down to follow the Maun to Mill Lane

Oxton and Robin Hood Hill, 1st February 2026

Starting at Oxton Village Hall, todays 4-mile walk, led by Mansfield & Sherwood Ramblers, took 21 Nottinghamshire Area Ramblers past The Old Green Dragon and up Windmill Hill towards Robin Hood Hill and the old Roman settlement. Tracks were very slippy but improved on the descent back to Oxton on Honeyknab Lane.

The Notts Area AGM followed after lunch and we were later treated to a talk on The Capricious Trent – the Battle Between People and River by local historian Adrian Gray. He described what are believed to be alternative courses of the River Trent, particularly just upstream and downstream of Newark, and its effects on the people of local villages.

Briefing at the start

The Old Green Dragon

Windmill Hill

More mud on the track of Windmill Hill

Robin Hood Hill

Better tracks as we pass Fallows Farm on Honeyknab Lane

Oxton Village Hall

Notts Ramblers' displays

Distance: 4.1 miles.  Ascent: 117m

Beeston Lock and Attenborough Nature Reserve, 25th January 2026

From Beeston Lock, Dave took seventeen members and guests on an 8.6 mile walk past Beeston Weir to follow the Trent downstream on the Big Track before returning to the lock for a coffee at the Canalside Heritage Centre.  A walk along the Trent into Derbyshire followed before we cut off through the Attenborough Nature Reserve to the Centre for lunch.  We then went into Attenborough Village near the church before returning to the Trent and the Heritage Centre for refreshments.

Thanks John for the photos.

Beeston Lock and Heritage Centre

Beeston Canal meets the River Trent

Beeston Weir and Hydro (1.6 MW)
See this video of the weir in flood

New outfall from Toton Sewage Works to direct water directly into the Trent instead of the Erewash

Access to bird hide at the Centre

Sand Martin nesting banks

Mosaic at the Centre

St Mary's Church, Attenborough

Canalside Heritage Centre, formerly canal workers' cottages, restored in 2017

Stathern and Belvoir Castle, 18th January 2026

Paul led 12 members on a 9-mile walk starting at the junction of Main Street and Red Lion Street in Stathern.  The route took us up through Coombs Meadow and around Combs Plantation to join the Jubilee Way on the Belvoir Ridge.  After looking out for, but not seeing, the anticipated fine views to the north across the Vale of Belvoir, we reached Reeded Cottage, a 19th century gamekeeper's house on the Belvoir Estate, before dropping down off the Leicestershire Wolds escarpment to head for the Engine Yard and the entrance to Belvoir Castle for lunch.  We then rejoined the Jubilee Way back towards Stathern via Tofts Hill.

The start

Coombs Meadow

Coombs Meadow

 These meadows have spectacular views across the Vale of Belvoir and the Trent Valley. The nature reserve is 14 hectares of steep and sloping fields are permanent grasslands managed by grazing.

 Colonel Francis Hacker, 1605–1660

 Near this site stood the hall or farmstead of Francis and Isabel Hacker. Hacker was a prominent soldier in Oliver Cromwell’s Parliamentary Army and one of Cromwell’s closest confidants, rising to the rank of colonel.

Beacon Hill

Jubilee Way

Belvoir Castle

Newark's History and Riverside, 4th January 2026

Starting in the car park of Sconce and Devon Park, Elaine's 5-mile mornng walk took fifteen VBR members and guests to the four corners of the Queen’s Sconce earthworks before following the River Devon for a short distance. Then we crossed Fardon Road to Mill Gate (the old route of Fosse Way), past (the closed) Newark Castle and along Stodman Street to the Market Square to view old buildings in the centre of Newark.

We then headed towards The Wharf to view the work being done to the Castle but had to then walk along North Gate to Trent Lane to gain access to the Trent.  We then followed  the right bank of the Trent to Newark Nether Lock for a coffee stop.  After retracing our steps for a few hundred yards, we crossed the river and followed the left bank upstream to Riverside Park, Newark Town Lock, Mill Gate and back to the start. 

You might be interested in this leaflet produced by the Institute of Civil Engineers decribing a 1½ mile tourist trail looking at the ten bridges of the River Trent, most of whch we saw today.

The start in Sconce and Devon Park

Queen's Sconce is an earthwork fortification that was built in 1646 during the First English Civil War to protect the garrison of King Charles I based at Newark Castle. It was built using gravel from the River Devon

Royal cannon monument on one of the four arms of the Sconce

Bridge over the ditch surrounding the Sconce, the group examining ....

... a plaque showing Newark's defences at the time of the Civil War

One of many fine houses in Millgate. Millgate was developed as a dockland area as trade increased along the Trent with houses and businesses mixed together

The local blacksmith in Blacksmith Lane off Mill Gate and a large pile of horseshoes similar to the one in Scarrington

The Watermill, first licensed in 1794, the last of seven on Millgate

Otter Park next to the river - sculpture created by Judith Bluck depicting two bronze otters poised on a large piece of limestone rock

The Governor’s House earned its name during the English Civil War (1642–1646). Newark was a Royalist stronghold, and this building became the headquarters for the town’s military governors during the sieges of 1643 and 1646.
 

The Old White Hart Inn in the Market Square dates back to the 15th century

View of St Mary's from the Market Square

King Charles' Coffee House

Civil War statue showing a roundhead and cavalier, one a drummer, the other a soldier

Renovation work at Newark Castle

View of the Trent and the A46 Newark bypass approaching Nether Lock

Train to Lincoln

A 70kW, Archimedes Screw turbine, installed next to the weir in 2020, provides enough power for about 175 homes

View from rear

The King's Marina

Newark Castle from Riverside Park

Barge cutting through the ice near one of the remaining fine warehouses

Grade II listed Longstone Bridge (~1827), an old towpath bridge upstream of the Town Lock. The main flow of the river, by-passing the lock, flows under this bridge and then over a weir. It was built by the Newark Navigation Commissioners, replacing a timber bridge. There used to be a flour mill just downstream.