Lincs effect

SOUTH West Lincolnshire might not sound among the most glamorous destinations in the lexicon of leisure. But broadening people's horizons is one of the aims of travel in the first place, and a recent weekend trip organised by the local council's tourism department converted me, a Lincolnshire novice, to the delights of a particularly picturesque part of England.

Lincolnshire is off the beaten track - literally. There are no motorways and the county is not on the way to anywhere else, so the sparse population of the rural areas makes for empty roads.

Perhaps partly because of this, and partly because of the straightness of a lot of the roads, the county has a worryingly high accident rate, which the authorities are determined to reduce.

So, the sign on entering the county urging motorists to 'Stay Alive' shouldn't have come as such a surprise. In fact, you can potter along country roads in SW Lincs without encountering another motorist for ages.

The main towns in SW Lincs are Grantham and Stamford, and the rest is mostly beautiful countryside.

On our way to the first visit of the day - a chocolatier in a quiet village - we passed a horse trotting along a main road and then a farm run by a Mr Tickler and boasting a 'Slurrystore' system. Of course, there is plenty of countryside in North and East Yorkshire, but little that feels quite so remote as parts of SW Lincs.

Jan Hansen the Bruges-trained chocolate man is charm itself, and the real Belgian-style chocolate he makes and sells in his village shop is unbelievably delicious. Next spring he plans to open a tearoom, and he also sells his wares, which include taste revelations like Earl Grey chocolate, via mail order.

A few miles away at Lenton is something extraordinary. St Peter's Church is the venue for The Host of Angels, an exhibition of work by artist Roger Heaton. He has recreated images of angels from 2,000 years of art, some tiny, some 13 ft high, and placed them - sometimes by dint of scaffolding - all around the medieval church. The result is stunning and spiritually uplifting.

The Belton Woods Hotel outside Grantham - where the Sri Lankan Under 19 cricket team were staying during their Test Match versus England at Trent Bridge - is an immensely-relaxing conference and sporting hotel.

A couple of miles away is stately Belton House. Death duties meant hereditary owner the Earl of Hardwick could not maintain the house after the Second World War and it is now the property of the National Trust. However, as recently as the early 1980s Belton was a candidate to be the country home of the Prince and Princess of Wales. Especially from the outside, with cricket being played on the lawns in front of the house, Belton is a wonderful sight.

The second day of our two-day jaunt was spent in Stamford, without doubt one of the finest towns in England. If you have time, it is well worth taking a guided tour of its honey-stoned Georgian streets, famously adapted a few years ago to provide the backdrop to the BBC's version of George Eliot's Middlemarch.

The George at Stamford is one of the most elegant and welcoming old hotels in England, and it is essential that any visit to the town should include at least afternoon tea in its thoroughly civilised lounge.

The last highlight of our trip was being punted along the River Welland by Ashley Hatton, a young man who had the idea for this unusual business last summer. This is an astonishingly relaxing way to see the town, and as you might expect, gives you a very different view from any you can get from a vehicle or on foot.

All in all, the variety that can be found in SW Lincs is amazing, and a stop-over in this area, exactly half way between York and London, can be whole-heartedly recommended.