In partnership with the Great Fen Heritage Group

4.8 miles (7.8 km)

​This walk is one of the few Fen Edge Trail walks that is able to follow the 5 metre contour (where the land is 5 metres above sea levle) for most of its route. Starting at the impressively located Stanground Church, the walk goes across quiet countryside, on field paths, with views over the higher land to the north and west. It crosses an interesting area where there is an ‘inlier’ of older rock that brings Jurassic limestone, similar to that underlying parts of Peterborough, to the surface, amidst the softer and younger Oxford Clay that forms most of the Fen Edge bedrock.

Passing woodland near to Holme, it enters the village and finishes at the ‘lowest pub in England’, the Admiral Wells, named after the grandfather of William Wells who was responsible for draining Whittlesey Mere in the late 1800s.

5.5 miles (8.9 km)

Starting at the famous Admiral Wells pub in the village of Holme, this walk heads south to wind along country lanes before crossing over the A1 to the village of Sawtry where it finishes on the Green near the village sign. Skirting the edge of this remote part of the south western Fens, it passes through the historic village of Conington with its attractive church being a notable feature of the landscape. A short detour from the village will take you to the Glatton Memorial Monument, an impressive black marble monument with gold writing. It commemorates the 457th Bomb Group that operated out of Glatton airfield during the 2nd Word War. To the south of the village is the site of Conington Castle, which you pass on the way to Sawtry.

Sawtry was a strategically important village, lying at the edge of the fenland, just above the 5 metre contour, and also on the main road north, Ermine Street (later called the Great North Rd). It was recorded as Saltrede in the Domesday Book (11th century), after ’salt stream’, as the village was an important place where salt, made in the Fens, was loaded onto transport to be taken further inland.

To the east of Holme is the northern part of the Great Fen, a major conservation initiative that aims to restore land for nature conservation. It includes Holme Fen, an National Nature Reserve (and SSSI), famous for the location of the Holme posts which record the dramatic amount of peat shrinkage that has occurred in the area. Walking access into the Great Fen is being developed in partnership with local landowners and Huntingdonshire District Council. At present, it is advisable to drive to one of the parking areas in the Great Fen from where you can walk a variety of way marked routes taking you through both the established nature reserves and the areas under restoration. The longest (6.5 miles) is the Last of the Meres Trail.

The Great Fen Local Geological Site

The Great Fen: Holme Fen and Whittlesea Mere LGS was designated in February for its importance in telling the story of the geology and landscape of the Fens over the last ten thousand years. The site comprises the land in the northern part of the Great Fen that is owned by The Wildlife Trust BCN and Natural England. More details here.

The additional walk will take you into the LGS to see the area that was once Whittlesea Mere and the Holme Post, which shows how much the Peat has shrunk since drainage 150 years ago.