Let’s move to Louth, Lincolnshire: ‘Worth the slog’

What’s going for it? Unless en route for Mablethorpe (and, let’s face it, most of us aren’t), one rarely passes by Louth. You have to make the effort. Pack sandwiches and a flask. Crawl behind tractors, caravans and lorries laden with potatoes, past squelchy fields and countless villages ending in -by. Twist and turn and rise and fall through the Lincolnshire wolds. And then, just when you have abandoned hope of ever seeing another living soul, there it is: the fabulous spire of St James’ church rising over the dashboard. After all that, you’d fall upon Crawley as if it were Venice. But Louth is worth the slog. It’s one of those just-wonderful places. Trust me. Relative isolation and feisty locals mean many of the ills of modern life have been kept at bay. Eve & Ranshaw department store still sells antimacassars. The Playhouse cinema still has intermissions. Only Aldi has breached their defences. That’s not to say the place is a museum: Louth is beautiful, but it’s a working market town with few airs and graces. And a damn fine cheese shop. Told you it was worth it.

The case against All on its lonesome ownsome. The one-way system drives me to insanity each time I come.

Well connected? Trains: you’ll be lucky. Driving: half an hour to the coast at Mablethorpe, 45 mins to Lincoln, an hour to the A1.

Schools Primaries: St Michael’s CofE and Lacey Gardens are both “good”, says Ofsted, with Kidgate “outstanding”. Secondaries: King Edward VI Grammar is “outstanding”; the new Louth Academy has just opened.

Hang out at… A Tipsy Toad by the fire at the Wheatsheaf is what you want. The newly reopened Masons Arms, with its cocktail bar, might shake things up.

Where to buy A simply delightful town centre, mostly a conservation area listed up to the hilt with brick Georgian townhouses and cottages its speciality. Some pleasant roads heading out of town, like Horncastle Road. The usual suburbans. Large detacheds and townhouses, £300,000-£800,000. Detacheds and smaller townhouses, £130,000-£300,000. Semis, £130,000-£250,000. Terraces and cottages, £100,000-£250,000. Flats, £70,000-£150,000. Rentals: a one-bed flat, £400pcm; a three-bed house, £550-£650pcm.

Bargain of the week Well, it is £450,000. But then it is a five-bedroom Georgian detached with 250 square metres to play with (masons-surveyors.co.uk).

From the streets

John Cullinane “Great cheese shop, and lots of good pork products (haslet, chine) if that is your thing. Narrow pavements are tricky with a double buggy. Very isolated.”

Amanda Turner “A real foodie’s paradise: Lincolnshire poacher cheese, Lincoln red beef, and plum bread – perfect with a cuppa.”

Live in Louth? Join the debate below.

Do you live in Chipping Campden? Do you have a favourite haunt or pet hate? If so, please email lets.move@theguardian.com by Tuesday 16 January.