Historic Louth is the capital of the Lincolnshire Wolds. It is situated in Mid Lincolnshire, 25 km south of Grimsby, 40 km from Lincoln. There are no rail links to Louth, so car is the realistic way of getting there.

The town has a population of around 15 000, although there are lots of close surrounding villages.

Louth is well known for having been the home of Lord Tennyson.

You should expect to have to pay to park in the town centre, during peak hours.

The most striking feature of Louth is the tall St James' Church. This is the tallest parish church in England, built in the 16th century, 295 ft high. There are opportunities for people to go to the top.

There are lots of attractive buildings in the town centre which are of Georgian and early Victorian Era. Numerous street names end with "gate", such as Eastgate and Westgate. This stems from when the Danes conquered the region, in the 9th century. The Danish name "gata" meant "street".

Louth has more pubs than just about any other town of a similar size in England. There is somewhere in the region of 20-25 pubs. The market place has a good choice of restaurants, fish and chip shops, and varied eating establishments. The town also has a cinema and night clubs.There are market days on wednesday, friday and saturday, and these are very popular, along with the independent shops.

Often overlooked is Louth Museum. This is 100 years old, and has recently been awarded full national accreditation by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council. The museum contains some intriguing paintings and carvings, along with a book shop.

Just outside of the town centre, is the visually attractive Hubbards Hills, which is a well kept area of parkland, very popular on summer days.

Motor racing fans will be interested in Cadwell Park, a race track on the outskirts of Louth. There is some fairly high profile competitive motorcycle racing throughout the year. These races attract many international visitors. Pink Floyd drummer, Nick Mason has swiftly steered around the track in his Ferrari 512.

There is a good choice of hotels, which are relatively cheap for England. Also, many of the pubs have rooms which can be rented.

Overall Assessment

I've visited Louth on many occasions, and although it is a small place, I never get tired of going there. It is nice for a relaxing afternoon, seeing the historic buildings, walking round the shops. Hubbards Hills is a nice extra dimension to the place. It would be silly to suggest that there is enough to do to last a whole week, or even a whole weekend. However, it is worth a visit, perhaps for an afternoon, say, if you were staying in the nearby coastal town of Cleethorpes. Or perhaps you are driving through, it might be a good idea to stop and take a look around for a while. There are certainly lots of friendly people, and the place is much cheaper than parts of the South of England.

Overall, a nice place to go, but probably just for half a day, unless visiting Cadwell Park.



I originally wrote this review on www.helium.com under the name "carl marshall".