The bridge at Gunthorpe carries the A6097 over the Trent on three concrete arches, poured in 1927, and it's the only road crossing of the river between Nottingham and Newark.
Below it the river does the work that makes the village worth stopping at. A lock and weir, dug 1922-1925 as a job-creation scheme, deepen the Trent enough for barges to reach Nottingham. Boats still use it — Princess River Cruises stops at the lock for lunch — and the towpath draws walkers, cyclists and anglers. Across the water a wooded escarpment climbs away from the bank, the start of what the county calls the Trent Hills.
You're not short of somewhere to eat by the river. The Unicorn Hotel is a big 17th-century building on the water's edge, first recorded as an alehouse in 1695 under the name Ferry House — a reminder that a ferry, not a bridge, was how you crossed here for most of its history. It's dog friendly, with wooden floors built for muddy paws, a beer garden onto the Trent, and 14 en-suite rooms if you don't fancy the drive home.
The Anchor reopened in May 2025 after standing closed as a pub for sixteen years, first as an Italian restaurant, then nothing. It's back under head chef Andy Goodbourn, a Michelin Bib Gourmand from his time at The Reindeer in Hoveringham. There's a courtyard with a fire pit, brunch from 8am at Spouges Café, and the Anchor Express — a free model train that runs hourly round the grounds at weekends.
Lock & Larder sits right at the lock, with a terrace looking over the water. Sunday lunch is pork belly, Yorkshire puddings, cauliflower cheese and pigs in blankets. One reviewer called it "excellent food in an outstanding location," though a few mention the terrace can be slow for service on a busy afternoon.
For something smarter, Tom Browns Brasserie occupies a converted Victorian schoolhouse on Trentside, holds two AA Rosettes (2008 and 2019), and relaunched in 2025 under Jack Pearce, named Best Young Chef in Nottingham. The Bridge & Bayleaf serves North Indian food out of the restored 1875 toll house from the original Gunthorpe Bridge, with the current bridge visible from the tables.
The walking starts at your door. The Trent Valley Way runs riverside from Gunthorpe to Fiskerton, about eleven kilometres, and a circular route from Hoveringham brings you past the locks and a reclaimed gravel pit now used by water birds.
The village turns up in Domesday as Gulnhorp, valued at £15 before the Conquest and £10 after — 52 households, putting it in the largest fifth of settlements recorded, ahead of Newark's 39. A Neolithic henge, one of about 80 known in the country, sits scheduled and mostly invisible in a field south of Lodge Farm. St John the Baptist church cost £518 to build in 1850, £200 of it from Earl Manvers.
Lowdham station is just over a mile off, with trains to Nottingham and Newark, and the Rushcliffe Villager bus runs hourly on weekdays. But the best way to arrive is on foot along the towpath, past whoever's fishing off the lock wall, as the little train from The Anchor rattles past with a carriage of children in it.
