The best walks and hikes around Over

Wandering the waterways around Over

If you’re after quintessential fen walks from Over, you’re absolutely spoilt for choice. The village sits in the southern fens and has easy access to the majestic River Great Ouse as well as the southern end of the Hundred Foot Washes, a Site of Special Scientific Interest comprising two arrow-straight drains and home to vast quantities of birds. Both the river and the drains have beautiful trails alongside them, allowing you to follow one out and another back with relative ease, although it’s important to note where crossings are. 

For birdlife, you can hike from Over year round and not be disappointed as the fens are a vital habitat for many resident and overwintering birds. If you’d like to see them en masse, hike westwards to Fen Drayton Lakes Nature Reserve which will treat you to fluffy cygnets and other chicks in spring, tufted ducks and widgeons in summer, warblers in autumn and great crested grebes in winter. 

Linking villages and windmills

Fen country means windmills, and some of the best hiking trails from Over lead you past these pretty remnants of a time gone by. There are three mills within easy walking distance of Over; head east to the neighbouring village of Willingham to find its early 19th-century smock mill; at the junction of Gravel Bridge Road and the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway sits Over Windmill in all its restored glory; finally, to the south west, is Swavesey Windmill, now a house and easily visible from the adjacent Mill Way footpath. 

If you can’t decide, a great way to explore Over’s tranquil trails is to link the villages together and enjoy the splendid flat fields between. Willingham, Longstanton, Swavesey and St Ives are all charming villages in their own right and you can find pubs and cafes in each, a perfect way to enjoy a spot of lunch mid-walk. 

To reach Over without a car, you can take a bus on the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway. Buses link rural communities in the area with Cambridge, running on concrete tracks through the countryside. It’s quite a unique way to get around and you can hop off at a stop just south of Over with a short walk to the village.