{"id":533652,"date":"2026-04-16T06:59:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T06:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/533652\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T06:59:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T06:59:08","slug":"bath-harrogate-woodhall-a-short-break-in-one-of-the-uks-most-forgotten-spa-towns-lincolnshire-holidays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/533652\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Bath, Harrogate \u2026 Woodhall?\u2019 A short break in one of the UK\u2019s most forgotten spa towns | Lincolnshire holidays"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was 6.30am, the cockcrow slot at Jubilee Park lido<\/a>, and still not quite light. I hadn\u2019t wanted to come this early \u2013 it was the only time I\u2019d been able to book. But as I slid into the pool \u2013 heated to a delicious 29C \u2013 I realised it was a gift. Vapours rose dreamily into cool air laced with owl hoots and the whiff of dewy blooms, and I swam into a sunrise that became more vivid with every stroke. A man in the next lane paused to admire the reddening dawn too; he was hungover, he said, but had come to do his morning lengths nonetheless. A cure of sorts.<\/p>\n

The Guardian\u2019s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link.\u00a0Learn more<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bath, Harrogate, Buxton \u2013 Woodhall? This Lincolnshire village isn\u2019t one of Britain\u2019s headline spa towns. Most probably don\u2019t know where it is \u2013 18 miles (29km east of Lincoln, for the record. But at the turn of the 20th century, Woodhall Spa<\/a> was among the most fashionable places to be seen, to be healed.<\/p>\n

The Petwood Hotel, once the mess for wartime RAF officers. Photograph: Tim Scrivener\/Alamy<\/p>\n

Those wellness-seekers didn\u2019t come, as I had, for the 90-year-old lido (open April to November). They came for the springs. In 1821, a hopeful entrepreneur sank a mine shaft here, prospecting for coal. He discovered water instead, which was found to be high in iodine and bromine, thought to be beneficial for everything from rheumatoid arthritis to gout. The first proper bath house was built in 1838; trains arrived in 1855. Woodhall Spa was on the map.<\/p>\n

The village\u2019s Edwardian heyday is long gone. The railway has closed, the baths are no longer in use \u2013 the original building is now a beauty salon. But Woodhall Spa still has a deeply restorative feel. With its broad, leafy avenues, red-brick and half-timber villas, protective shroud of trees, numerous cafes and delis, and promise of simple, bygone pleasures, it\u2019s like a safety blanket; a place to escape the world\u2019s horrors for a few days.<\/p>\n

double quotation markThe Kinema in the Woods is a cinephile\u2019s delight, the lobby all rich reds, with separate counters for popcorn and ices<\/p>\n

Tina Delaney, a director at Woodhall\u2019s Cottage Museum<\/a>, agrees. She came here on holiday from Bedford six years ago and ended up staying: \u201cMy husband describes it as moving 100 miles north, 80 years back in time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The little museum occupies a rare 19th-century prefab of yellow corrugated iron and documents Woodhall\u2019s history, from its early fortunes to its part in the second world war. The 1st Airlanding Brigade trained here for Operation Market Garden, the ill-fated plan to seize bridges in the occupied Netherlands; of the 2,500 men who left, fewer than 500 returned. Many became prisoners of war. Also, Squadron 617 \u2013 the Dambusters \u2013 were briefly stationed at RAF Woodhall Spa; the officers\u2019 mess was in the grandiose mock-Tudor Petwood Hotel. I wandered there after the museum and sat on the terrace, looking out across the elegant gardens with a half of Petwood Bomber ale.<\/p>\n

The Kinema in the Woods, all rich reds and deep-plush seats, is housed in a converted 19th-century sports pavillion. Photograph: Sarah Baxter<\/p>\n

While officers hung out at the hotel, lower ranks frequented the Kinema in the Woods<\/a>. This late-19th-century sports pavilion was converted into a cinema in 1922 and nicknamed the \u201cflicks in the sticks\u201d by airmen, who were shown top-secret reconnaissance films here. It is now a cinephile\u2019s delight. The lobby is all rich reds and movie memorabilia, with separate counters for popcorn and ices. In screen one, deep-plush seats face a stage through which a Compton organ sometimes rises, played by the resident organist \u2013 but sadly not for my showing. There was an intermission, though, during which I devoured local-made Dennetts\u2019 apple pie ice-cream.<\/p>\n

When I emerged the owls were hooting again and I headed back to Bainland<\/a>, an 18-hectare (45-acre) holiday park of reclaimed-timber lodges on the edge of the village, large but nicely done. My lodge was smart and cosy, set on a teeny lake. The next morning I breakfasted outside, listening to acorns smack the decking, watching mallards skim through perfectly reflected trees.<\/p>\n

double quotation markIt was a joyful pedal along the river, fenlands spreading either side, dotted with sculptures, swans and defunct stations<\/p>\n

I was in no rush. My plan was to borrow one of Bainland\u2019s bikes and make the most of Lincolnshire\u2019s flatness. First, I headed north-east. The railway, so key to Woodhall\u2019s former prosperity, may be defunct but its old trackbed forms part of the off-road Spa Trail<\/a>, an easy ride (around three miles) to Horncastle, via ancient woods and excellent sculptures: there are steel Viking ships and oversized plants, nodding to Sir Joseph Banks, the botanist on Captain Cook\u2019s first Endeavour expedition, who grew up near Horncastle. Banks also brought the canal to Horncastle, transforming it from backwater to busy market town. The canal, which I followed briefly, is quiet and unnavigable now; these days, the town\u2019s main trade is antique and secondhand stores. I browsed around, wishing I had a bicycle basket to load with dog-eared books and comedy toby jugs.<\/p>\n

I also cycled the Water Rail Way<\/a>, a mostly traffic-free route following the former Lincoln to Boston Railway, by the River Witham. In the middle ages, Lincolnshire had one of England\u2019s greatest densities of monastic houses \u2013 abbey-averse Henry VIII called it \u201cthe most brute and beastly shire\u201d \u2013 and the greatest concentration was in the Witham valley. I started at one, Kirkstead Abbey<\/a>, where the merest sliver remains, and rode northward for six miles to another, in Bardney, where there was even less. But it was a joyful pedal, along the river, fenlands spreading either side, dotted with more sculptures, swans and defunct stations that now serve only walkers and cyclists.<\/p>\n

Woodhall town centre is full of cafes and attractive streets. Photograph: Eye35\/Alamy<\/p>\n

Finally, I followed the same route a few miles south to Tattershall<\/a>, home to the enormous, light-flooded Collegiate Church of Holy Trinity<\/a> and one of England\u2019s first brick-built castles<\/a>. My timing was good, arriving just as National Trust guide Nigel was starting a tour of the castle\u2019s moated 33.5 metre-high Great Tower. It was constructed in the 15th century by Ralph, third Baron Cromwell, treasurer of England, who wanted a show-off home befitting his self-importance. Nigel described it as \u201c eight million bricks and a fashion statement\u201d \u2013 exposed brick was avant garde at the time.<\/p>\n

We climbed up the storeys, from the vaulted basement buttery (used as a prison during the civil war) to the turreted roof. A superlative lookout \u2013 and power move \u2013 for Cromwell, it\u2019s still the highest point around; Lincoln Cathedral\u2019s gargantuan towers, visible when it\u2019s clear, are 18 miles away. I looked north towards Woodhall Spa, too flat to be perceptible amid the fuzz of green, hidden despite being so close. Indeed, the ideal spot to hide away.<\/p>\n

The trip was provided by Bainland Lodge Retreats<\/a>, which has lodges from \u00a3649 for four nights (sleeping two) and bike hire from \u00a315pp. For more information see visitlincolnshire.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was 6.30am, the cockcrow slot at Jubilee Park lido, and still not quite light. I hadn\u2019t wanted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":533653,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-533652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=533652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/533653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=533652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=533652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=533652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}