New to Woodhall Spa, Horncastle or Coningsby with a dog
Moving house with a dog is hard work, and moving somewhere you know nobody is harder still. We hear this a lot from people arriving in this bit of Lincolnshire, and especially from families posted to RAF Coningsby. So here is the guide we wish someone had handed us.
This corner of the county is quietly brilliant for dogs. Woods, heath, rivers and lanes, a market town, and a lot of people who will stop and chat about your dog whether you want them to or not. The trick is knowing where everyone goes, and having a reason to be there at the same time.
The lie of the land
Three places matter, and they are close enough to count as one. Woodhall Spa is the village in the pine woods, with the big walks. Horncastle is the market town to the north east, with the vets, the pet shops and the Wolds on its doorstep. Coningsby and Tattershall sit to the south, side by side, with the RAF station, the castle and the river. Ten to fifteen minutes in the car links any of them.
- Woodhall Spa
- Ostler's Plantation, the Spa Trail and Kirkby Moor. The best off-lead walking around.
- Horncastle
- Market days on Thursdays and Saturdays, the River Bain, and the start of the Wolds and the Viking Way.
- Coningsby and Tattershall
- Lakes, the castle grounds, the river, and jets overhead on flying days.
The first week
Resist the urge to show your dog everything at once. A house move is a lot for them, and a dog who is unsettled at home will be unsettled on a walk. For the first week we keep things short and repetitive. Same route, same time, lead on, home for a sleep.
Settling in
- Register with a vet in the first few days, before you need one. Horncastle has practices, and Woodhall Spa and Coningsby have options nearby.
- Update the microchip address and the tag on the collar. It is easy to forget and it matters most right now.
- Walk the same short loop for a few days so your dog learns the smells of home.
- Keep the lead on until you know the roads, the livestock and the water.
- If you are near RAF Coningsby, expect jets. Short walks and a treat when one goes over help most dogs settle fast.
If anything about your dog's behaviour worries you after the move, a chat with your new vet is the right first step. Our guide to walking a dog who needs space is useful if the stress shows up as barking or lunging at other dogs.
Where everyone walks
Once your dog has settled, go where the other dogs are. In Woodhall Spa that is Ostler's Plantation on a weekend morning and the Spa Trail at any time. In Horncastle it is the river and the lanes out towards the Wolds. In Coningsby and Tattershall it is the castle grounds, the lakes and the paths along the Bain. We have a full guide to dog walks around Woodhall Spa and another on walking from Tattershall Lakes, which works just as well if you live there.
Market day in Horncastle is worth a mention of its own. The town fills up, lots of people bring dogs, and a slow lap on the lead with a coffee is a very good way to feel like a local in your first month.
A note for service families
If you have just been posted to Coningsby, you know the drill. New house, new school, new everything, and two or three years before it happens again. Dogs make a posting easier, and they also make it lonelier if you are the one walking round the patch at seven in the morning wondering who to talk to.
We built Packmates for exactly this. It is a noticeboard, not a walking service. Owners post walks, other owners ask to join, and you stay with your own dog the whole time. Everyone is over eighteen, verifies their email and phone, and takes a quick private Proof of woof photo so you know they have a dog too. The station community team may well have a copy of our card. If not, the links below do the same job.
Finding walking company
Search your village on Packmates and you will see walks posted by owners within about fifteen kilometres. That radius is the useful bit here, because Woodhall Spa, Horncastle and Coningsby all overlap. A walk posted in any one of them shows up in the others.
Have a look
Open the page for your nearest village and see what is on this week.
Ask to join one
Pick a walk that suits your dog and say hello. The organiser decides who comes along.
Post your own
If the board is quiet, be the one who starts it. Say where, when, how long, and a line about your dog.
Make it regular
A weekly walk at the same place and time is how acquaintances turn into friends.
Meeting someone new always deserves a little care, even somewhere as friendly as this. Our guide to meeting a stranger for a dog walk safely covers the sensible bits, and our first walk etiquette post covers the rest. Then it is just two people and two dogs on a path through the pines, which is how most of the best friendships around here seem to start.
