New Holland

New Holland is not a hotel destination in its own right — it is a small, low-key village that grew up around a ferry crossing rather than tourism, so formal accommodation on the spot is limited. Most visitors looking to explore this stretch of the Humber Bank base themselves a few miles away in Barton-upon-Humber, which has a better choice of pubs with rooms, guest houses and small hotels, or further afield in Grimsby and Cleethorpes, both of which offer a wider range of hotel chains and budget options along with easy access back to the estuary.

Staying nearby rather than in New Holland itself has practical advantages: Barton-upon-Humber puts you within walking or cycling distance of Waters' Edge Country Park, Far Ings National Nature Reserve and the Humber Bridge, as well as a working town centre with shops and places to eat. It is also on the same local rail line as New Holland, so it is easy to combine a night's stay with a stop at the old ferry village to see what remains of the pier and station buildings.

For those who want to be closer to the water and the birdlife of the estuary, a handful of bed and breakfasts and holiday cottages are dotted around the villages along the Humber Bank between Barton-upon-Humber and Immingham. Booking ahead is sensible in spring and summer when birdwatchers and cyclists exploring the Humber Bridge and reserves push up demand for the limited number of rooms in the area.

New Holland itself is modest, but it sits within easy reach of the Humber Bank's nature reserves, historic towns and the bridge that made the old ferry redundant.

• Humber Bridge — one of the UK's longest single-span suspension bridges, a few miles west near Barton-upon-Humber, with a riverside country park at its southern end.
• Far Ings National Nature Reserve — reed-fringed former clay pits on the estuary near Barton-upon-Humber, good for birdwatching and waterside walks.
• Waters' Edge Country Park — a Barton-upon-Humber park with trails, ponds and a visitor centre looking out over the Humber.
• Barton-upon-Humber town centre — a historic market town with the Anglo-Saxon St Peter's Church, independent shops and cafes, a short drive or cycle from New Holland.
• Humber Estuary foreshore — the estuary itself is a huge draw for walkers and birdwatchers, with wading birds and wildfowl along the mudflats at low tide.

New Holland is a small village and options directly on the doorstep are limited, but Barton-upon-Humber a few miles away has a reasonable spread of pubs, cafes and takeaways to cover a day out along the Humber Bank.

Camping directly in New Holland is essentially non-existent — this is a tiny former ferry village rather than a holiday hotspot, and there are no established campsites within the village itself. As in the rest of England, wild camping on the Humber foreshore or surrounding farmland is not permitted without the landowner's explicit consent, and the estuary's soft mudflats and tidal range make informal pitches both impractical and potentially unsafe.

Campers exploring this part of North Lincolnshire generally look towards sites around Barton-upon-Humber and the wider Humber Bank, or inland towards the Lincolnshire Wolds, for proper campsites with facilities. The flat, exposed terrain around New Holland — reclaimed estuary land criss-crossed by drains and sea banks — offers little natural shelter, so a pitch with hedging or windbreaks is worth seeking out if camping nearby, particularly given the winds that come straight off the Humber.

The best season to camp in this area runs from late spring to early autumn, when the reed beds at Far Ings are at their most active for birdlife and the estuary paths are driest underfoot. Winter camping here is a harder prospect, with cold winds off the water and little tree cover to break them.

For those who want the outdoor experience without a tent, a small number of glamping options — shepherd's huts, pods and static caravans — can be found scattered across North Lincolnshire farms further inland, offering a more sheltered base from which to explore the Humber Bank, Barton-upon-Humber and the bridge, while still being within a short drive of New Holland's quiet estuary views and industrial heritage.