The Macmillan Way - Boston to Abbotsbury

Boston, a North Sea Port on the mouth of the river Witham in the Lincolnshire fen-lands, is the start of this 290-mile long-distance footpath that leads to Abbotsbury in Dorset.

Passing through the mid-England countryside. Leaving Boston, following the course of the long oolitic limestone belt, through delightful towns and pretty villages, with buildings of toffee and honey coloured stone, brimming with hidden treasures waiting to be discovered, passing briefly through Northamptonshire into Rutland, England's smallest county with its hilly terrain.

Back into the broad uplands of the Northamptonshire countryside, with its unspoiled villages, briefly into Oxfordshire and the delightful Oxford canal, on to Warwickshire with views of the battlefield of Edge Hill and the Vale of the Red Horse and in the distance the Malvern Hills. Touching Oxfordshire again along the ancient green road of Ditchedge Lane and into the Stour Valley into Gloucestershire and the heart of the English countryside, the classic Cotswolds. Picture postcard villages with flower-strewn cottages and babbling streams.

Southwards into Wiltshire through farming country and the beautiful village of Castle Combe before dropping down to Bradford-on-Avon, with its tiny Saxon Church. Into Somerset and the Frome Valley, on through the woodlands of the Somerset and Stourhead Estates. Through Bruton, Castle Cary and North Cadbury.

Dorset our final County and to the old town of Sherborne with its Abbey and Castles, through the great park of Melbury and delightful Evershot Village. Southwards through Cattistock and Maiden Newton, over the renowned chalk Dorset downlands to Abbotsbury.