Friday 10th August – Lovely (but wet) Lincoln

I woke up to glorious sunshine, seen from the skylight and side window of my caravan.

A few hours later and it was like this…..

British Summer Time!

Two stops today – Lincoln and a couple of antique/vintage shops I’ve been following on Facebook/Instagram for a while.

First Stop – Hemswell Antique Centre

This place did not disappoint! It’s not just 1 building, its 5 (At least I think it’s 5 – I got lost/confused!) all open in an old RAF base at Hemswell. The Guardsroom is particular was the best set-up, most beautiful antique/vintage shop I’ve ever seen! Full of big pieces of furniture from over 200 years ago to the Art deco period, to present day as well as smaller retro pieces like kitchenalia, to gorgeous paintings from a range of artists from across the world, from affordable to ‘in my dreams’! I had a smile on my face all the way round (and to my fellow vintage seeker, Jay – not a Lurpak toast rack in sight!) I even met the Queen… I visited their other buildings and quite honestly got a bit overwhelmed and antiqued out, but it was absolutely worth the visit.

My one purchase of the day….. I couldn’t resist this 1940s illustrated guidebook of South Cornwall. One of my favourite places in the world and such a find! This book has fold out maps, black and white photos, suggestions on what to see and where to stay – all in lovely old fashioned language. Love it!

Next I moved on to – Astra Antiques.

Also on the same old RAF base, and equally as impressive. Some great vintage bits and pieces as well as big, expensive antiques – and room after room of it too! I especially liked the kids car selection – could just see my nephew Tom racing around in one of these – though I’d have to save up. They were thousands of pounds to buy!

After about 3 hours at these 2 places, it was time to travel 30 minutes away to Lincoln and visit the Cathedral and Castle.

I found parking easily. Directly opposite the castle and then spend £4.50 on 3 hours parking! Glad I parked so close though as the sky opened and I had to sit in my car for 15 minutes while lightening streaked the sky and it thundered, poured with rain and finally threw down hailstones!

Not the sunshine welcome I was hoping for, so waterproof on and I was off to explore. I had a quick wander around the streets surrounding the castle and cathedral and popped in to a couple of shops, including a delicatessen (name escapes me) where they helped me select some local produce to try for dinner tonight. These were;

• Lincolnshire Poacher cheese
• Lincolnshire Haslet – Lean pork mince with breadcrumbs and onion, flavoured with sage. Baked as a loaf and served cold
• Lincolnshire stuffed chine – The meat, with fat and skin, from alongside a pig’s spine, salted and part-dried, then slashed deeply and the cuts filled with a herb mixture – usually parsley, chopped onions and butter – the whole then rolled up and boiled in muslin.

(I’m now very glad I googled these AFTER I has eaten them – ahem) More on dinner later.

So, to Lincoln Castle. I bought a combined ticket for both the castle and cathedral for £17.50 so I could visit them both while I was in the town for the day.

If I’m honest, I was a little bit disappointed with the castle. Mostly my fault, as I didn’t google it before I went, so was expecting a castle, history, stories of how they lived in room looking like they did back in the day. What I got was a Victorian prison! Very interesting, but not at all what I was expecting. The Magna Carta exhibition was interesting and I’m sure the walk around the walls would have been great, with some fab views on a good weather day – sadly, I didn’t get that. I spent about an hour maximum here and then moved on to Lincoln Cathedral.

The Cathedral was beautiful, even with scaffolding on some of the building. There was an event being held there tonight to celebrate the RAF, which meant….can you see it in the photo?…..

There was a real SPITFIRE in the Cathedral! Absolutely amazing and a HUGE surprise and bonus for me!

Was so lucky to be there today – look how close I got to a Spitfire?! I touched it! (Don’t tell anyone) Absolute highlight of my day.

With all the excitement I needed a sweet treat before looking around the rest of the cathedral. The stained glass windows were breath-taking and it was a real treat to walk around to the sound of the organ practise. My only gripe was that I seemed to have missed the memo on children being allowed to run around churches/religious buildings screaming? Very disrespectful and not fair on everyone else who was there to take in the atmosphere and even try to reflect and pray. I wasn’t the only person to feel this way and I witnessed a very upset elderly lady who had gone to the Cathedral to pray for her husband (who she met in Lincoln on an airbase and married in a nearby town) who had passed away recently, confront the parents and give them a piece of her mind. Embarrassed parents, told off children and the lady was rewarded by a round of applause from surrounding visitors (myself included!).

Spent a lovely hour or so wandering around and staring at the spitfire and then decided I was too damp and cold to do anything else, so headed back to my car.

I drove back to the site via a petrol station so I have a full tank for tomorrow (still don’t want to fill up with a van on the back) and then relaxed with a book (in the sunshine now!) and a glass of wine.

Now I know you’re probably thinking – what was your dinner like? Well, here is a photo and it was all rather lovely! I will try to continue to try local delicacies as I travel around – watch this space!

Have I showed you my caravan cocktail cupboard? I don’t think so……

Will be filling up with some more ‘tipples’ as I go along…. Any suggestions or recommendations – send them to me!

Anyway – hot chocolate while watching the BBC Proms (wow – their voices!) and then to bed – I’m moving on to a new site tomorrow, so feeling nervous already about packing everything up and attaching the van to the car…..hope I sleep ok tonight.

I will leave you with a quote I saw in the Cathedral that resonated with me, related to Sir Joseph Banks, one of Lincolnshire’s most famous sons and one of the greatest figures in Georgian England. Find out more about him here.

‘….wide as the world is, traces of you are to be found in every corner of it…’

(Robert Hobart, 1793)