Walk in the Woods via Legsby Wood

This walk starts from Market Rasen and heads through fields and woodlands towards Willingham Woods, taking you through farmland over Coversands; soils that are very deep and acidic. On a clear day, the views of the Lincolnshire Wolds are impressive and you may be able to see the Claxby Radar Tower on the horizon.

Technical sheet

2454314
A Market Rasen walk posted on 20/08/19 by Lincolnshire Wolds. Last update : 08/02/24
  • Walking
    Activity: Walking
  • ↔
    Distance: 12.99 km
  • ◔
    Calculated time: 3h 50 
  • ▲
    Difficulty: Moderate

  • ⚐
    Return to departure point: Yes
  • ↗
    Vertical gain: + 39 m
  • ↘
    Vertical drop: - 39 m

  • ▲
    Highest point: 60 m
  • ▼
    Lowest point: 26 m
  • ⚐
    District: Market Rasen 
  • ⚑
    Start/End: N 53.386786° / W 0.33811°

  • Today’s forecast: … Loading…

Description

(S/E) Start in the car park in John Street, Market Rasen. Leave the car park by John Street entrance and turn right.

At the end, cross the main road into the Market Place. Go into the churchyard and follow the path to the left. Turn right, and then first left into Church Street. At the T-junction, turn left and continue to the end.

(1) Cross straight over the road to go down the footpath at the side of Waterloo House. Follow the path past the floodwater storage area.

(2) As you continue on this path, ahead of you is Hamilton Hill and Willingham Woods. The footpath continues straight across a field and into the wood.

(3) Keep straight on until the first path intersection then turn right, keeping the pines on your right. Follow the track over a small brick bridge and continue ahead.

(4) At the next crossroads turn right and continue on the gravel track until it reaches a T-junction by a yellow fire hydrant sign.

(5) Turn left, pass the building on the left and take the right-hand fork, along the gravel track to the T-junction. Turn right and take the path on the left at the second set of marker posts which leads to the car park and picnic area. There is a large Forestry Commission information board here giving useful information, and another at the road entrance, explaining all about the Lincolnshire Wolds.

The silver birch is known as the 'Lady of the Forest' with its characteristic white bark and graceful slender form. Its timber makes good spindles and bobbins for the textile industry, whilst its twigs have been used traditionally for making 'besoms' for beating and sweeping.

(6) Exit onto the Willingham Road and turn left keeping to the footway alongside the road, passing Wisteria House on the left.

About 100 metres further on, cross the road to take the byway on the right. Keep to the main track all the way passing Dog Kennel Farm. Ignore the footpath on your left and continue ahead to the road bend by the chevron sign.

(7) Continue to the left of the road to the hamlet of Little London. At the right-hand bend, ignore the waymarker off to the left, but follow the road around the bend until you reach another marker pointing to the right at Woodside . Take this path by the farm, cross over a stile and enter Legsby Wood. Keep to the main track throughout this broadleaf woodland.

(8) Cross straight over the gravelled Forestry Commission track, and then exit the wood by a stile. Continue through the fields, which can be muddy at times, keeping the woodland on your right until you reach the driveway entrance to College Farm.

(9) From here go across the next field diagonally left, aiming for the waymarker in Willingham Lane byway. Cross the next field, which can be muddy, on the same course to the large tree and marker post. Continue diagonally left to the corner of Woodhill Farm and around the hedge to the farm entrance. Over the farm track and enter the next field, crossing the field diagonally right, in line with the tree in the hedge.

(10) The path then follows the hedge downhill to a stile. Once over the stile, follow the fence on the right, and go over the next stile. Head to the corner of the bungalow and follow the path that goes between the houses to Legsby Road.

(11) At Legsby Road, walk left until you reach a footpath on your left. Follow this path beside the cemetery and through a gate at the end of a wall.

The chimney on Lammas Leas Road has once used to steam power a windmill, at least when there wasn't enough wind! One of four eight sailed windmills in Lincolnshire, it was destroyed by fire in 1923 (a similar eight sailed windmill can be seen at Heckington)

(12) Continue on this route, passing through a metalled gate and over the end of the cul-de-sac to emerge at the corner of Maltings Court in Serpentine Street. Turn left, cross over Linwood Road and go under the railway bridge, passing the impressing frontage of the Methodist Church into Chapel Street and then John Street, back to the car park.(S/E)

Waypoints

  1. S/E : km 0 - alt. 28 m - John Street Car Park
  2. 1 : km 0.84 - alt. 28 m
  3. 2 : km 1.65 - alt. 31 m - Hamilton Hill
  4. 3 : km 2 - alt. 45 m
  5. 4 : km 2.54 - alt. 40 m
  6. 5 : km 3.19 - alt. 43 m
  7. 6 : km 4.44 - alt. 43 m - Picnic Area
  8. 7 : km 7.28 - alt. 46 m
  9. 8 : km 9.28 - alt. 60 m
  10. 9 : km 9.94 - alt. 47 m
  11. 10 : km 11.25 - alt. 38 m
  12. 11 : km 11.83 - alt. 32 m - Legsby Road
  13. 12 : km 12.04 - alt. 33 m
  14. S/E : km 12.99 - alt. 28 m - John Street Car Park

Useful Information

Maps: OS Explorer Map 282

Parking: Car park in John Street, Market Rasen - Grid ref: TF 108 891 Postcode LN8 3HH.

Terrain: A mixture of footpaths, byways and fields - can be very muddy at times. Some verge walking. All on level ground.

Refreshments: Cafes and Pubs in Market Rasen.

Toilets: John Street, Market Rasen.

Stiles: Numerous.

The Lincolnshire Wolds is a National Landscape, designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) in 1973. Covering an area of 558 square kilometres or 216 square miles, the AONB contains the highest ground in eastern England between Yorkshire and Kent, rising to over 150m along its western edge. Rolling chalk hills and areas of sandstone and clay underlie this attractive landscape.

The Lincolnshire Wolds has been inhabited since prehistoric times and the appearance of the countryside today has been greatly influenced by past and present agricultural practices.

A Countryside Service helps to protect and enhance the landscape through partnership projects with local landowners, farmers, parish councils, businesses and residents of the Wolds.

Office Address :
Lincolnshire Wolds Countryside Service
Navigation Warehouse
Riverhead Road
Louth
Lincs LN11 0DA

Phone: 01522 555780 X @LincsWoldsNL FB @LincsWoldsNL

Website: https://www.lincswolds.org.uk

Always stay careful and alert while following a route. Visorando and the author of this walk cannot be held responsible in the event of an accident during this route.

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