Get Lost Mountaineering

Full Perimeter Walk of Hartsholme Country Park & Swanholme Lakes

Start/Finish

Car park just inside the entrance to Hartsholme Country Park. The entrance is off Skellingthorpe Road between the level crossing and Birchwood Avenue. If coming from the level crossing, go past the school and shops; the entrance is a little further. If coming from the A46 Lincoln bypass, it is about a mile. Go past the petrol station at the start of Birchwood Avenue. The park is after the houses on the right, you will see the lake before you reach the entrance. The car park can be muddy and soon fills up. There is a cleaner alternative on the other side of Skellingthorpe Road about 100 m towards the bypass.

Distance/Time

6 km/4 miles    About 2 hours

Introduction

Hartsholme Country Park and Swanholme Lakes are separate entities but are adjacent, joined by several paths and occupy the undeveloped area bounded by Skellingthorpe Road, Birchwood, Doddington Road and the railway line behind Tritton Road. Hartsholme Country Park is a former stately home so its grounds are well laid out; the former hall is no longer standing. Swanholme Lakes was formerly a series of gravel pits (common in this area). Work ceased in the 1960s and the land has gradually reverted to wild with some management in recent years. The gravel extraction left a number of fairly shallow lakes with very irregular shapes making for very pleasant walking. There are three major lakes: Dragonfly Lake, Sanctuary Lake and Coot Lake which has major and minor sections; there are many more unnamed lakes some of which are quite large. This walk takes in almost all of the perimeter of Hartsholme Country Park and Swanholme Lakes and also includes a walk around Sanctuary Lake. It is not possible to walk every inch of the perimeter because of a housing development at the Doddington Road end. Dragonfly Lake has the least access of all the major lakes but two short detours allow more of it to be seen.

Route

(1) From the main entrance, take a path which shadows the Skellingthorpe Road. This soon reaches the lake. Continue ahead, still alongside the road, on what is probably an old promenade. At the end of the promenade, follow the path left around the lakeside. A bank soon blocks views of the lake but look for paths going left which give better views before rejoining the main track. Follow the main track around the edge of the lake until White Bridge is reached.

(2) Continue ahead at White Bridge so the “river” is on your left. This leads to Black Bridge where you cross over the water. Turn right and follow the good track which would ultimately lead to Doddington Road but we don't go that far. About 100 m after Black Bridge, a wicker fence appears on the left which has a gap at its end. The gap is muddy but once through there are good views of Dragonfly Lake. A path appears to go south but it soon ends at a swamp so retrace back to the main track. Reach a sign which is one of the main entrances to Swanholme Lakes. You can turn left here and follow the path which soon improves and soon curves left to pass an information board before meeting a good track; on your left is Dragonfly Lake. Alternatively, you can stay on the track from Black Bridge until just before the houses where a path goes off left and is soon behind the fences. This path can be followed across the end of a small lake, often boggy or flooded to reach the path around a large lake. To avoid the boggy/flooded section, you can go round the other side of the small lake to reach the path by the large lake. Follow the path by the large lake, going away from the houses. This soon meets a major path. Go across*, turn right then drift left to pass the information board as described above then on to meet the good track. Turn left along the good track and soon reach a “shack” with Coot Major Lake behind and a path going off to the right. *Ahead is a spur of Dragonfly Lake. If you go slightly left, there is a rough path along the bank from which there are good views of the lake. The path enters swamp when it meets the lake so retrace back to the main track.

(3) Take the track going right by the shack which follows Coot Major Lake. Soon Sanctuary Lake appears on your right. Follow the track round to reach a meadow then continue round. When you are clearly heading back to the good track, take a path going off left, just before you pass between two lakes (the one on the right is Sanctuary Lake). Follow the path around the lake on the left then across a small meadow. Take the left fork which soon joins the good track by a lake between you and the houses. Turn left and follow the path which slowly converges with the backs of the houses. The lake on your left is Coot Minor. Reach the end of the houses where there is a gate and signs. Turn left onto the good track (right takes you to Doddington Road). Follow this track by the side of the lake. Soon there is an alternative off tot he right but this has worse views of the lake. There is a small wooded island which seems to have no land! Stay with the track which later goes left around the end of the lake before emerging onto a large sports field. There are houses on your right on this last section.

(4) Go diagonally across the field aiming for the corner of the wall around Lincoln United Football Ground. From the corner, an obvious path heads towards the tower block and soon joins the main track from the white house. Follow this track, passing the cricket ground and campsite, on the right, to pass the Visitor Centre, off to the left, and reach the main car park

Notes

(a) This walk took place in January, 2021.