Visit

Footpaths, bridleways, and green lanes criss-cross the John Clare Countryside. Many of these public rights of way are accessible from villages and surrounding urban areas.

All are marked on the Ordnance Survey’s 1:25,000-scale Explorer maps of the area (sheets 234 and 235), along with three waymarked trails: the Hereward Way, Nene Way, and Torpel Way. Also shown are pockets of open access land, tinted yellow with peach-coloured borders, where walkers are free to roam off path responsibly, as John Clare himself loved to do.

Check out the John Clare Trails for walking ideas and inspiration.

Visiting the John Clare Countryside on two wheels couldn’t be easier – or lovelier. National Cycle Route 63 threads together rural roads and cycle paths between railway stations in Stamford and Peterborough. It overlaps parts of the Peterborough Green Wheel, which loops through countryside to the west of the city on quiet lanes. Both routes are shown on The Fens Cycle Map from Sustrans.

Byways and bridleways suitable for hybrid and mountain bikes are marked on the Ordnance Survey’s Explorer (234 and 235) and Landranger (142 and 141) maps of the area.

Two main bus routes serve the John Clare Countryside.

Between Peterborough and Stamford, the hourly number 201 runs from Monday to Saturday, calling at Burghley House, Pilsgate, Barnack, Bainton, Helpston and Glinton.

To the south, the number 27 runs four times a day, Monday to Saturday, between Stamford and Peterborough, via Castor, Ailsworth, Wansford and Wittering.

Trains from London, Leicester, Norwich and further afield call at railway stations in Peterborough and Stamford. Bus stations are located nearby. Heritage services on the Nene Valley Railway from Peterborough stop at stations in Wansford and Ferry Meadows Country Park.