Hannah Cole for Whistlefish
Lincolnshire is a beautiful county situated mostly on the coast. Inland you’ll find the city of Lincoln. But this is mostly coastal Heaven, including the popular seaside resort of Skegness. Find more ways to help your local wildlife rescue and animal shelter.
Regarding wildlife, the main attraction here are grey seals (England is home to half the world’s population, along with small rounder-faced harbour seals). Read more on how to help our seals (mostly by leaving them alone, picking up litter and keeping dogs away, for safety of both species). Also don’t play frisbee nearby (one seal was almost decapitated recently when one got stuck around its neck). Seals are mammals so don’t worry if you see them on land (most are having a rest, baby seals could drown if put back in the sea, before they are ready to swim).
Lincolnshire has 50 miles of coastline, with wonderful fertile land (growing a good portion of England’s food. Lincoln Cathedral used to be England’s tallest building (until the spire blew off in a storm) and despite having a vast land area, has one of the lowest populations.
The East Coast is known as ‘Bird Airport’, due to the amount of feathered friends that frequent these shores. From pink-footed geese and brent, to bitterns, marsh harriers and bearded tits, this is a birdwatcher’s paradise.
Stamford was voted Britain’s top place to live in 2013 by Sunday Times, with its beautiful Georgian buildings and medieval churches. It was named one of England’s best ‘high streets’ in 2023 by Daily Telegraph and also has regular farmers’ markets. It was praised for indie shops galore amid the 600 listed buildings, with the Lincolnshire limestone ‘especially lovely in low winter sunshine’.
Chapel St Leonards (Geraldine Segre) is a popular holiday village just north of Skegness, and close to the Lincolnshire Wolds. It’s popular with bird watchers, as many migrating birds visit here, including Mediterranean gulls. Here are more of Geraldine’s lovely Lincolnshire prints to treat yourself to!
Anderby Creek
Mablethorpe Beach
A Moving Tale from the English Fens
Flatlands is the moving tale of unlikely friendship and the beauty of nature, set in the wild wetland landscape of the English Fens, during World War II. It explores the connection between Philip (a conscientious objector) and Freda (a young London evacuee, who has been sent away to escape the unexpected German bombing).
In her new temporary home in Lincolnshire, Freda finds herself staying with a strange and abusive couple, whose lives mirror the barren landscape in which they live a hand-to-mouth existence – based on subsistence farming and poaching. There, deprived of any warmth, she meets a young man who has left Oxford and his prospective vocation in the church, following a nervous breakdown.
Together they explore the wild beautiful landscape of the Wash, teeming with migrating birds. And nurse an injured goose back to health. As they do so, Philip introduces Freda to the wonders of the natural world, and its enduring power to heal.
A Fenland Garden is the story of how the author created a haven for people, plants and wildlife, in a remote corner of the Fens. In this fragile English landscape in southern Lincolnshire, the writer has a very particular relationship with landscape and soil, thanks to his distinguished career as an archaeologist and discoverer of some of England’s earliest field systems. If planting alongside animal friends, learn how to make your garden safe for pets and toxic houseplants to avoid. Never display foliage near garden windows, to help stop birds flying into windows.
The book describes the vision, planning and building of a garden in a sometimes hostile place, and the challenges, setbacks and joys this entails. Also it’s a book about reclaiming a patch of ground for nature and wildlife, and of repairing the damage done to a small slice of Fenland landscape by decades of intensive farming. Above all, this is the story of bringing something beautiful into being; of embedding a garden in the local landscape, and deepening and broadening the idea of home.
Botanical Non-Alcohol Spirits from Lincolnshire
Seedlip Drinks makes quality non-alcoholic spirits, made to an ancient recipe devised by a medical doctor around 200 years ago. Made with herbs and spiced in copper pots, they are expertly blended without sugar or sweetener, to create a sophisticated alternative, when mixed with tonic water. The name comes from the basket used to sow seeds, back when herbs and spices where used in apothecaries to make non-alcoholic herbal remedies.
Avoid quinine (in tonic water) for pregnancy, low blood sugar or abnormal heart rhythm, stomach/kidney issues or liver disease. Avoid grapefruit for certain medications (check paper inserts). The range includes:
- Garden 108 – a herbal drink with handpicked peas.
- Spice 94 – a complex blend of allspice, bark & citrus
- Grove 42 is a blend of orange, ginger & lemongrass
Æcorn Bitter Non Alcoholic Aperitif is a blend of English-grown Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Meunier grapes, with notes of grapefruit, bay leaf and orange. Best served with soda (paired with roasted almonds, cashews or pimiento-stuffed green olives – keep in fridge once opened, use within 4 weeks). Also in 2 other versions:
- Aromatic has notes of smoked cherrywood, vanilla, kola nut and chinotto, with warming notes of clove, cassia and oak.
- Dry has notes of clary sage and chamomile, with finishing notes of black tea, quassia and oak.
Nogroni is a non-alcohol version of the Italian spirit. With chinotto orange, grapefruit, all spice and gentian (not for high blood pressure).
Vegan Lincolnshire Sausages!
Lincolnshire sausages are made with parsley and thyme, known for their chunky texture. You can now buy plant-based versions (always chop sausages lengthwise then lengthwise again for people at risk of choking, and keep away from pets as made with ingredients that may be toxic to them like nutmeg or allspice).
One company recently changed its popular Lincolnshire sausages from vegetarian to vegan, but did not do their homework, and they have awful reviews. Instead go for brands that know how to make good plant-based sausages and taste-test them beforehand! Look in stores for VBites (above) that are great with mash, in a casserole or in a toad-in-the-hole. Also good in a classic sausage sandwich or in sausage rolls. Other good brands are Zebra and Clearspot (made in Yorkshire, not Lincolnshire – eek!) Recycle packaging at supermarket bag bins.
