A Taste for Lincolnshire - a Donington Extension

About trip

Lincolnshire is well known as one of the foremost English counties for food production. The fertile soils of the Fens in the south support vast and seemingly endless fields of arable crops, such as potatoes, onions, cabbages and sugar beet. The county is the leading producer of cereals and it’s also the world’s largest producer of daffodils. A new initiative has been launched within the county to promote Lincolnshire produce. Called ‘Tastes of Lincolnshire’, its members include tea rooms, BandBs, pubs and restaurants, as well as many of the local producers themselves. Look out for the stickers and leaflets. This walk starts and finishes near The Black Horse Inn in Donington on Bain, and there’s no better place to try the county’s produce after a bracing ramble. The pub specialises in Lincolnshire sausages, traditionally made with coarse ground pork and flavoured with salt, pepper and sage – though other varieties might feature pork with apples or venison with red wine. In villages and market towns such as Louth, Horncastle, Boston and Spalding, a visit to the local baker will reveal yet another subtle variation of the famous Lincolnshire plumbread, delicious spread with butter and accompanied by a cup of strong tea. Also look out for Grantham gingerbread and Lincolnshire curd tart. Other regional recipes include Lincolnshire dripping cake, traditionally eaten for lunch during harvest time. Lincolnshire’s hand-made poacher cheese has long been famous, and recently sheep’s milk products have been reintroduced, with herds of ewes now generating a growing supply of cheese, milk and yogurt. Another return to the county’s pastures are Lincoln Reds, a traditional breed of beef cattle with a handsome deep-red coat. The county is also well-known for haslet – a loaf of cooked, minced pig’s offal eaten cold – and chine. Stuffed chine harks back to an 18th-century way of cooking ham, peculiar to Lincolnshire, whereby gashes in the ham are stuffed with parsley, mint, thyme and other herbs before boiling. It is traditionally served cold, sliced, with vinegar and a salad. Finally, don’t forget about a drink to accompany all this decent food, and what better than Batemans ‘good honest ales’, brewed at Wainfleet. While you're there: The charming market town of Louth (25 miles away from start point) is a useful place to pick up some tasty local produce to take home. You can also pick up leaflets on local walks from the tourist information centre in the town hall. What to look out for: Unless it’s misty, you can’t miss Belmont Transmitting Station. Built in 1964 by the Independent Television Authority, it was originally 1,265ft (385m) high, which at that time made it the second tallest communications mast in Europe. It then gained a further 7ft (2.1m) when meteorological equipment was added. Since it stands pencilthin, only 9ft in diameter (2.7m), you feel that all it needs to round it off is a giant flag. Where to eat and drink: The Black Horse Inn at Donington on Bain (closed Monday) serves four different varieties of local sausages with creamy mash or colcannon (an Irish dish of cabbage and potatoes). Another speciality is Lincolnshire Red beef. Dogs are welcome in the beer garden. Directions: Walk out of the village northwards, past the Norman church and the post office, on to Mill Road. At the first junction turn right, signposted ‘Hallington’ and ‘Louth’, then in a few paces go left, over a stile. Walk along the bottom of successive fields, with the River Bain on your left and the lofty Belmont Transmitting Station dominating the skyline further west. After 0.75 mile (1.2km), and having passed a fishing lake, you reach a footbridge. Cross over the footbridge to reach Biscathorpe’s isolated little church, rebuilt in the mid- 1800s in a medieval Gothic style. Walk around its perimeter wall, then continue past a house and across a lane to cross another footbridge ahead. Now head half left across the bumpy outline of a deserted medieval village. The ditches, ridges and mounds give some indication of its layout, and there are more abandoned settlements to the north of the A157. Head towards the top of the hill and go through a gate for a path through a small plantation. Turn right on a lane and walk along this for 550yds (503m). Go over a stile on the right for a signposted public footpath down the side of disused workings, then left across a wide field, aiming for the far corner down by the stream. Go over a footbridge, then follow the farm track round to the left before crossing another footbridge and walking across a meadow to reach the lane at Gayton le Wold. Turn right and walk along the lane past Manor Farm’s whitewashed buildings and another miniature church, then out across the hilltop fields. In 0.5 mile (800m), where the lane bends right, go left on a broad track indicated ‘public bridleway’. Veer right into the field at the top and follow this obvious and waymarked route alongside huge ploughed fields. (Can you tell what crop is growing?) There are delightful views down across the Bain Valley to your right, back towards Donington. Continue around and above the back of Glebe Farm, by a thick hedge, and go straight over a lane. In just under 0.5 mile (800m) from the road crossing continue straight on along a wide track across the open hilltop fields. The large communications transmitter ahead to your left is still used by the military, while the huge satellite dishes nearby are a legacy of an early-warning system used in the days of the Cold War. When you reach Manor Hill turn right and follow the road all the way to the bridge at the bottom of the hill. It spans the former Louth –Lincoln railway, built in 1876 and eventually closed to passenger traffic in 1951. You can look down over the old station yard and building. Turn left, towards Stenigot, and walk along the lane to the first junction. Turn right (signposted ‘Market Stainton’) and after 0.25 mile (400m) go right where a waymark indicates a permissive footpath. This is the route of the Viking Way long-distance trail, which crosses the edge of fields alongside Fox Covert. Beyond the trees, walk along the left-hand side of a patchy hawthorn hedge to the end. Here you meet a public footpath, and turn right to follow this back across the dismantled railway. On the far side, where the farm track hairpins off to the farm on the right, go straight on for a clear route across the fields. Stay on this path, crossing four stiles and passing through several gates as you follow the Viking Way waymarks back to Donington on Bain. As you reach the outskirts of the village make sure you stop to admire the pond on the left, restored by, among others, the Lincolnshire Biodiversity Action Group and students from the Lincolnshire Rural Activities Centre at Kenwick Park. At the far end, turn right and walk along the lane to emerge opposite The Black Horse Inn. What better place to finish a walk?