THE FLOODED FEN in the disastrous August of 1912 over miles and miles of corn-*land where the tall sheaves stood up out of a vast expanse of water, the result of the abnormal rains and the burst dyke which made Whittlesea Mere once more resume its ancient appearance.
Below Scremby the road runs to the left to Candlesby, and so rejoins that starting-place of so many byways—Gunby.
There was a church at Scremby in Norman times; at the dissolution the manor came to the all-acquiring Duke of Suffolk. Now-a-days the handbook dismisses it as "of no special interest," but eighty-five years ago it was thought worth while to mention that "at the west end of the nave is a neat and commodious singing-gallery."
Those who wish to see the beauties of the country must leave the high ridge every here and there and make a round into the little villages which lie at the foot of the Wolds, mostly on the western slopes where they escape the strong sea winds.
From the Spilsby-and-Louth road a byway branches westwards, close to Walmsgate, which will illustrate this, for it quickly drops into the pretty village of South Ormsby, and, skirting the park on two sides, runs on to the village of Tetford with its red roofs and grey-green church tower nestling under the hill. Thence the white line of road goes north over Tetford hill to Buckland and Haugham, and so rejoins the main road again about four miles north of Walmsgate.
But before leaving Tetford we should take a look at the fine grassy eminence of "Nab hill" with its entrenched camp, behind which lie the kennels of the Southwold hounds at Belchford.
The road from Alford to Louth, by Belleau and Cawthorpe, which runs along the eastern edge of the South Wold and gives such a fine view over the marsh, is interrupted at Louth, and you must go out for the first four miles on the Louth and Grimsby main road, but on reaching Utterby a turn to the left will bring you to a road which goes all the way to Brocklesby without passing through any village but Keelby in the whole sixteen miles. This solitary road begins better than it ends for when it gets opposite to Barnoldby-le-Beck, which is just half way, it sinks to the level of the marsh.
There are plenty of roads between Louth and Caistor, to the
