Babbling Becks & Brooks

(S/E) Start the walk in Market Place and walk up the High Street. Take the first public footpath to the right at Wesley Mount.

(1) Continue along the footpath at the side of the fields, cross the bridleway and continue past Binbrook Top Farm cottages. Cross the track to the farm and follow the footpath across two more fields to the B1203 road.

(2) With care go down the bank and cross the road. Go through the hedge and follow the path downhill on the field edge, towards Kirmond le Mire. This path has been created by kind permission of the landowner so walkers do not have to walk along the road here. From the bottom of the hill, as you start to climb again, cross the road and go down the first bridleway on your left, opposite some buildings.

(3) Keep left where the track forks opposite a small wood and continue alongside the stream for just under half a mile. Cross the footbridge on the left, turn right and follow the bridleway alongside the stream and past a series of fishing ponds to Thorpe-le-Vale.

(4) Do not turn left here, but continue straight on with the cottage on the left and the farm buildings and house on the right. The track then passes through an avenue of trees before meeting the Ludford/Binbrook road.

(5) Turn left and follow the road with care. Shortly, as the road bends sharply left, go straight ahead and follow the public bridleway with a hedge on your left.

(6) At the top of the first field, turn ninety degrees right and continue for 100 yards before turning left again. Follow the bridleway ahead until you reach the road.

(7) Walk straight ahead along the road for a short distance. Turn left onto the bridleway before the road bends right. After crossing the first field follow the bridleway with the wood first on your left for one field. At the end of the wood, turn left then immediate right with a wood on your right now.

(8) After the wood, continue along the edge of the fields with the hedgerow on your right. The bridleway then passes through a small copse before continuing along the top of the Wolds and offering a splendid panoramic view of Binbrook with the former RAF station, now Brookenby village in the background.

(9) Where the bridleway ends, carefully cross the road, turn left and walk along the pavement past the church back to the Market Place.(S/E)

Maps: OS Explorer Map 282

Parking: Considerate parking in the village.

Terrain: A mixture of footpaths, tracks and roadside walking - may be muddy in places.

Stiles: One.

Refreshments & Toilets: Pub and shop in the village, (ask for toilet key in the village shop).

The Lincolnshire Wolds is a nationally important and cherished landscape. Most of it was designated as 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 Twitter: @LincsWoldsAONB

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

Natural Water - Water is important for all communities, and Binbrook has plenty of springs, streams and ponds! Even its name indicates this important resource - Binn is a name for manger (also another name for valley) and brook, indicating the streams through the village. As there are no streams on the higher ground surrounding the village, many farms had dew ponds to collect the water from condensation and rainwater.

Under hedgerows and in fields and woods are many pheasants. The male, the cock, has bright coloured plumage while the hen has more subdued browns. They are awkward flyers, struggling to fly far, often preferring to run on the ground.

In late summer, look out for greater knapweed a relative of the thistle. It is found in dry grassy areas, and often on the footpath near Binbrook Top.

Cross in the churchyard - In the churchyard at St Mary's and St Gabriel's Church is a rare example of a complete medieval standing cross. Standing crosses served a variety of functions. In churchyards, they served as stations for outdoor processions, particularly in the observance of Palm Sunday. Elsewhere, standing crosses were used within settlements as places for preaching, public proclamation and penance or even to mark boundaries.