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I was watching Southwell today and I thought I might go there in the spring as I live in Doncaster not to far but I don’t drive….
Well it appears everything is done to make sure you can’t get there
The train from Doncaster to Newark is fine only 20 minutes then a 7 min journey to Rolleston however the trains to Rolleston the first is at 9.56 and another at 12.58. So you can’t get there for the first race (during winter season) unless you prepared to stand there for a couple of hours.
To come back first train is 13.44 then 16.42 again totally unsuitable for the racecourse times.
National Rail want to charge £20-£30 for a combined journey of 30 minutes. Then £12-£16 to get in it seems just not worth it really.
Do Southwell provide a bus service from Newark?
Maybe if there was better transport people might give it a go.
Very much the back of beyond is Southwell [you try driving there in icy weather as well]. What I will say is that it’s a lovely place and you could spend a nice hour or so just wandering round the town and seeing the Minster and, once you are at the racecourse it’s worth it for the fish and chips. Might be worth contacting the racecourse and telling them of the lack of transport; they’re probably not aware that anyone wants to go; we’ve been there when it was just us and Nicky Henderson
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Do Southwell provide a bus service from Newark?
There’s a bus at least once an hour from Newark to Southwell,both destinations are walkable from train/bus stop and it takes 30mins.
The racecourse is over 2 miles from the town centre, by the shortest route, which is a straight road built on the line of an old railway track. It seems never ending when you drive down it, so I wouldn’t want to walk down it, especially on a bad day (there’s no shelter).
There’s a station near the course at Rolleston Junction, which is on the Nottingham – Newark line but I’m not sure how frequent the trains stop there.
I have mentioned this before but still can’t believe that, in my days as a callow and foolhardy youth, I once hitch-hiked all the way to Newark and got dropped off by a lorry on one of the roundabouts just outside the town.
I then managed to get a lift from a kindly woman who evidently took pity on me and gave me a lift to Southwell racecourse, where she was going. She wisely didn’t offer to give me a lift back and, after the meeting, I scoured the car park asking for someone to give me a lift back to Newark.
A jockey gave me a lift and proved very good company during the journey, regaling me with tales of his various rides.
I still can’t believe I chose to get to Southwell this way but, then, I was a young shaver not long out of school and apparently short of common sense (something that continues to this day).
I used to love the old Southwell when it was a pleasant country jumping course. It had so much character, what with the small, green-painted wooden stands and trees everywhere.
It was still a nice place to visit when it became an all-weather course. The fish and chips and the row of shops and stalls was a bit of a feature.
I don’t think I have been there since losing some money on backing supposed certainty and multiple course winner Suluk in a three-horse race there many years ago. It was supposed to be a licence to print money that day, even when odds-on, but duly finished third and tailed off….
I had to go to Southwell Minster last May. In the car on the way back out of town, I was just putting my camera away after having taken a few parting shots of the Minster. I noticed the road-sign pictured below, and just managed to get this picture. It is a bit fuzzy because the car was still moving – I was not doing the driving!!. I am sure it is well known by all the regulars, but it made me laugh to think that the road to the Racecourse also leads the Workhouse. How apt.
http://s16.postimg.org/if8mqz5dx/Southwell_3.jpg
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