A FLAT, desolate field near Scunthorpe has earned the unlikely distinction of being the most featureless part of Britain.
There is nothing in this square kilometre on the outskirts of Ousefleet requiring the work of Ordnance Survey cartographers except for part of an electricity pylon and some overhanging cable.
Square SE830220 on Landranger map 112 is as near as one can find to a completely blank square in the 250,000 square kilometres featured in the best-selling OS map series.
Even the most remote parts of Scotland or the flattest fen in East Anglia have a ditch, bridleway, stream or contour to provide something to break the monotony on the map.
The search for Britain's most boring place was triggered by a listener to John Peel's Home Truths show on Radio 4. An OS spokesman said that this unprepossing square of farmland was identified after a lengthy trawl of all the 204 Landranger maps, which use the scale 1:50,000.
Tom Ella, 57, and his wife Avril, 56, are now bracing themselves after the first of what may be many map enthusiasts arrived at the field in North Lincs that they have farmed for years.
"We don't have animals any more and we use the field to grow wheat, barley and sugar beat," Mrs Ella said. "The fields are flat and it's true that there is not anything of note apart from the pylon.
"In the distance there are hills and a lovely church, and up the road is a bird reserve. We don't have a pub or a shop, and the school closed in the 1970s. But we have a very nice, small community.
"There has never been anything of great interest here. Hopefully as word spreads that Ousefleet is home to the most desolate place in Britain more map lovers will come."
But the OS warned that the field's claim could be challenged by more detailed maps. "They might reveal a ditch or something," a spokesman said.
