This year’s Wolds Walking Festival, from 17th May to the 1st June, will see thousands of Lincolnshire natives and tourists alike discovering just how beautiful the Wolds can be. This month, we find out a little more about the programme of events designed to showcase some of the county’s most dramatic scenery…

Covering some 216 square miles and around 168m at the highest point the Lincolnshire Wolds is a bold challenge to anyone claiming that Lincolnshire’s landscape is flat or boring, and the county’s annual walking festival aims to prove just that when it is re-launched next month.

Having been designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1973, the Wolds is best viewed on foot and for that reason, Lincolnshire County Council in conjunction with East Lindsey, West Lindsey, and North Lincolnshire & North East Lincolnshire’s district councils held the first Wolds Walking Festival in 2005, as a way of ensuring that visitors and residents alike can appreciate the appearance of the countryside, can become fit and can appreciate Lincolnshire as a tourist destination par excellence. Three years on, the festival has really increased in size and the 2008 Wolds Walking Festival is set to be the biggest and best yet.

“We’ve a really great programme this year.” Says the Festival’s co-ordinator Karen East. “There’s plenty of opportunity to explore the beauty and charm of the Wolds and we’ve experienced and knowledgeable leaders keen to pass on their wisdom and enthusiasm for the area.”

The 2008 festival is a programme of 60 guided walks which will be run over 16 days and in addition to the themed walks also draw upon some of Lincolnshire’s most prominent features, including its Roman origins with a walk around Caistor (20th May) and rarely acknowledged 900 year old Limewoods (25th May) as well as tours around the Wolds’ towns such as Gainsborough. (25th May).

The programme of enchanting countryside walks, will also include special themed walks, taking in haunted pubs in Gainsborough (18th May), historical walks tracing the origins of Franklin and Tennyson near Spilsby, (21st and 22nd) ornithology near Swaby (26th May) and flora & fauna around Saltfleetby (25th May).

Equally, dawn and dusk rambles, and routes accessible to wheelchair allow everyone to join in the fun, and the Visit Lincolnshire Walking