West Stockwith

West Stockwith is a small village on the Nottinghamshire bank of the River Trent, sitting right on the county boundary with South Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, close to Gainsborough and Bawtry. It grew up as a river port and shipbuilding village, and its whole layout still makes sense once you know that: a huddle of brick cottages and a Georgian church clustered around a lock and a basin where the Chesterfield Canal, opened in 1777, finally reaches the tidal Trent, 46 miles from its start in Chesterfield.

There is no high street of shops here, no visitor centre, nothing dressed up for tourists. What West Stockwith has instead is a genuine working waterway junction: a huge double lock built to cope with a tidal rise and fall of several metres, a marina full of masts, and a handful of pubs that have served bargemen, sailors and now leisure boaters for generations. It is a place people come to for the water, the walking along the riverbank and towpath, and the quiet, rather than for entertainment laid on for visitors.

Top things to do in West Stockwith

West Stockwith is a small village, so its attractions are modest and mostly free — but they are real and distinctive, built around the meeting of canal and river.

• West Stockwith Lock and Basin — the reason the village exists. This is one of only a handful of double locks on the Chesterfield Canal, built deep and strong to link the calm canal with the tidal Trent. Watching boats work through, timed around the tide, is the village's main spectacle.
• West Stockwith Marina — a working marina packed with narrowboats and yachts, run by the local yacht club, right beside the lock. A good spot to watch river traffic and see just how many boaters use this junction.
• Chesterfield Canal towpath — head west out of the village and you can walk (or cycle) the flat towpath alongside the canal towards Misterton and beyond, part of the wider Chesterfield Canal, which the Chesterfield Canal Trust has spent decades restoring.
• River Trent riverside walk — the Trent Valley Way passes through, and the flood bank gives open views across the wide, tidal river towards Lincolnshire on the opposite bank.
• St Mary the Virgin's Church — a Grade II* listed Georgian church of 1722, paid for by local shipyard owner William Huntington, who also funded ten almshouses in the village for the widows of mariners and ship carpenters. A plain, dignified building that tells you a lot about the village's maritime past.
• Idle Valley Nature Reserve — a large Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust reserve of former gravel pits a short drive south, with lakes, reedbeds and hides, good for a few hours of birdwatching.
• Gainsborough Old Hall — a well-preserved medieval manor house a short drive over the Trent in Lincolnshire, worth combining with a day around West Stockwith.

Getting to West Stockwith

West Stockwith sits just off the A161, between Gainsborough in Lincolnshire and Haxey/Epworth in North Lincolnshire, and within easy reach of Bawtry and the M18. It is roughly 10 miles from Gainsborough, 15 miles from Doncaster and around 20 miles from Retford, which has the nearest mainline railway station on the East Coast Main Line. There is no station in the village itself, so a car is by far the easiest way to arrive, with limited local bus links connecting to Gainsborough and Doncaster.

Best time to visit West Stockwith

Spring and summer are the best months, when the towpath walking is at its most pleasant, the marina is busiest with boats, and the lock sees the most activity as narrowboats move between the canal and the tidal Trent. Because so much of what there is to see here happens on the water, it is worth checking tide times if you specifically want to see boats working through the lock. Winter can be atmospheric but bleak, with the flat, open Trent Valley landscape offering little shelter from the wind.

Where to stay in West Stockwith

Accommodation in the village itself is limited to a small amount of pub accommodation and a touring caravan and camping site by the marina, so many visitors base themselves in nearby Gainsborough, Retford or Bawtry, all of which have a wider choice of hotels and guest houses, and are within a short drive.

Food and drink in West Stockwith

For such a small village, West Stockwith has a decent choice of pubs, reflecting its long history as a stopping point for river and canal traffic. The Waterfront Inn sits right by the marina and basin, popular with boaters and walkers for its riverside position and regularly changing real ales. The White Hart is the other village pub, a short walk away. Beyond that, options are limited within the village itself, and most visitors head into Gainsborough for a wider choice of cafes, restaurants and takeaways.