Woodhall Spa

Situated on the "Drier side of Britain", in between the famous cathedral City of Lincoln and the beautiful Lincolnshire Wolds (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty).

Woodhall Spa owes its existence to the discovery of natural mineral water in the early nineteenth century. The village is set against a backdrop of magnificent pine and birch woods, and is home to one of its most popular attractions, the Kinema in the Woods and Kinema Too, a cinema unique for retaining its rear projection system and operational theatre organ. The village was also home to the famous '617' Squadron, the 'Dambusters' during the Second World War, where they based their Officers' Mess at the Petwood Hotel. There is a memorial to the men and women who died in Royal Square.

The water was first discovered in 1811 after an entrepreneur, John Parkinson, decided to sink a coal shaft. At five hundred feet problems occurred when water began to enter the shaft, as a result of this Parkinson went bankrupt in 1823 and work ceased. The shaft was covered over, water eventually overflowing into a ditch in the nearby Coal-Pit Wood.

The Lord of Woodhall Manor, Thomas Hotchkin found that the water helped with his condition of gout. When analysed, the water was found to contain quantities of sodium, calcium and magnesium chlorides and more bromine and iodine than any other spa. This analysis induced Hotchkin to build a pump room and bathhouse, giving rise to the foundation of Lincolnshire's only Spa.

The Spa became an increasingly fashionable inland resort especially with the advent of the railway. Visitors were attracted by the medicinal properties of the water and although some drank it for its quality as a very salty laxative, most bathed in it.

The Spa is no longer operational but Woodhall Spa still retains a unique atmosphere. The excellent quality and range of accommodation, restaurants, shops and tearooms combine to give the village a timeless tranquillity and graciousness.

Woodhall Spa is also the home of the English National Golf Union!