Organising a walking festival is no easy task. It’s a fascinating, rewarding task, but it definitely doesn’t fall into the ‘easy’ category. We want to ensure that South Lincolnshire Walking Festival appears on every walker’s calendar next year as the region has so much to offer!

There’s a lot to think of, organisations to get on board, funding to find, routes to work out, ideas to develop…the list goes on. But perhaps one of the more challenging misconceptions to overcome is the opinion of many that Lincolnshire (apart from the Wolds) isn’t generally thought of as a ‘walker’s landscape’. Many people think that the whole of Lincolnshire is flat – yes the fens toward Norfolk are pretty flat with big, gorgeous skies that the Cloud Appreciation Society would love and huge cathedral-like churches reflecting the wealth of a bygone era, but south Lincolnshire has a surprisingly varied landscape.

If you ever have the good fortune to be travelling from Newark to Sleaford you’ll see ahead of you a ridge that stretches from north of Lincoln (Lincoln Cathedral towers above it) down to Grantham. This is known as the ‘Lincolnshire Cliff’, formed of jurassic limestone and dotted with pretty little villages. The Viking Way follows its route and there are some fantastic views to be had looking towards Rutland, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and the Lincolnshire Wolds and Fens.

The Cliff gives way to some lovely rolling countryside filled with history and we aim to showcase some of this during the course of the festival. The Knights Templar built one of the wealthiest preceptories in Britain here (yes, there will be a walk from Temple Bruer), the Romans built a fort near Ancaster, Ralph Cromwell who was Lord Treasurer of England built a castle here – south Lincolnshire is bursting at the seams with heritage and culture!

So don’t miss out, come and join us for this free festival between 25 September and 31 October 2015 and let us show you some of Lincolnshire’s hidden historical gems, walkers’ ways and havens for nature. Add it to your diary now!

Beverley

Heritage Lincolnshire Cultural Events Officer