There are two waymarked routes starting from the Nature Reserve car park. A short walk of about 3.2 km (2 miles), known as the 'Water Holt Trail', has orange markers. There is also the 'Snipe Dales Round' of about 6.4 km (4 miles), marked in red, which takes in the whole of the Nature Reserve and the Country Park. Along the route there are information boards that explain in greater detail some of the features to be seen.
The reserve consists of two main valleys fretted by streams. The higher slopes are covered by rough grassland, while lower down, at the junction of the sandstone and clay, the springline is indicated by tufted hair-grass, rushes and ferns. The valley bottoms and other wet areas have a dense, tall, herb flora in summer, comprising meadowsweet, great willowherb and great horsetail.
Drier slopes are clothed by extensive stands of bracken and rosebay willowherb. There is evidence of much more woodland in the past: oak and ash on the higher slopes where a woodland flora with bluebells and primroses survives, and alder and willow chiefly in the lateral valleys. Oak and ash have been planted to restore woodland cover, while alder and willow have been planted in some of the wetter holts.
Prior to the Trust taking over the reserve in 1974, the grassland had deteriorated due to lack of grazing. Grazing by cattle and sheep has now been resumed with the aim of restoring a varied grass and herb community.
From the Nature Reserve car park, pass through the churchyard of the former St Mary's church. Note the rookery in the sycamore and ash trees ahead. Blackcap, sedge warbler and spotted flycatcher nest here, while swallows and house martins hawk for insects. Wild arum and violets flourish beneath the sycamore. Yellow flag, marsh-marigold, meadowsweet, lady's smock, marsh thistle and primrose bloom in the holt bottom.
An old hydraulic ram thuds regularly in the valley bottom as it pumps stream water to the farm on the hill at Winceby. The footpath follows the stony bedded stream, which is rich in aquatic invertebrates and where water voles may be seen. The streamside plants include ragged-robin, water avens, water figwort, marsh-bedstraw, water mint and water-cress. Snipe and meadow pipit are found in the grazed paddocks.
Eventually the path turns left up the hillside, the home of grasshopper warbler, whitethroat, willow warbler, linnet, yellowhammer and reed bunting.
A short detour path leads to a viewpoint from which the Wolds can be glimpsed through oak trees planted in the 1970s. From here you can see much of the reserve and the changing vegetation at the springline. Barn owl, short-eared owl and kestrel regularly hunt here, and green woodpecker may be heard.
Continue past a small plantation and gorse thicket to the main stream, where a path to the Country Park ascends the slope to the left (the red route). The orange path (Water Holt Trail) passes through a wet area with betony, tormentil, bird's-foot trefoil, alder and willow. Eighteen species of butterfly have been recorded, some of which may be seen on the brambles along the next dry section of the route, where there are also common spotted-orchid, meadow saxifrage and great horsetail. The path rejoins the entrance path at the footbridge.
The link path is accessible from both car parks and is waymarked with white arrows and posts along its entire length. The path continues alongside the alder-lined brook, passing through the Snipe Dales extension at the eastern end of the Country Park, which was added to the Nature Reserve in 1992, and leads to the ford at Hagworthingham.
Cross the road and find the path, which continues through the Furze Hill Nature Reserve. After crossing the bridge follow alongside the brook to the eastern end where a public footpath re-crosses the brook. This path follows the brook for a further kilometre or so before branching right along a hedgerow and climbing up the open grassland of the hillside.
A headland path then crosses the ridge of land, which carries the B1195 Horncastle--Spilsby road. Cross the road to a field edge path, which leads to the head of Sow Dale. The path drops steeply into the alder/birch wood before emerging on the open meadows of the valley bottom, which are grazed in summer and autumn by cattle.
