I had a good night’s sleep and was awoken by both the alarm clock and the construction workers refurbishing the White Hart Hotel on the opposite side of the road. I thought that 7am was a little early for such noisy activities to be taking place.

We crossed the courtyard to the breakfast room where we chose a window table. Breakfast was as good as I remembered it and, this time, I was able to relax and enjoy it.

The weather was lovely so we decided to visit Lincoln Castle for the wall walk and to see the Magna Carta and Forest Charter. We were pleasantly surprised to find that there was a cheaper day ticket option that allowed us to experience both of these for a reduced price. However, when we started to buy our tickets, we were disappointed to find out that the Magna Carta had been removed the previous morning and that only a replica was on view so we bought a ticket for the wall walk only. The views over the city and into the castle precinct were well worth the climb up the stairs, the lift being out of order.

After the lofty heights we descended the hill, the long way round, into the lower town where we caught the end of the Freedom Parade which was celebrating the 80th anniversary of D-Day and the 65th anniversary of the granting of the Freedom of the City to RAF Waddington.

Before heading to the Lincolnshire Museum we had lunch in Madame Waffle where I chose cherry bakewell with morello cherries; it was delicious.

We always enjoy the displays in the Lincolnshire Museum but on this occasion, we particularly wanted to see the Roman dodecahedron found nearby during an archaeological dig. It is one of the largest of only 33 dodecahedrons found in the United Kingdom and, despite research, it is not known what the object was used for.

Afterwards, we had time to spare so we returned to the Cathedral in search of the Lincolnshire Imp which I knew was located in the Angel Choir, to the left of the ‘Our Lady of Lincoln’ sculpture. As luck would have it, we arrived just as a tour guide was explaining the area. I was patient and waited until she shone her torch on the little imp and explained why he might have been carved there.

Back in our room we played a board game, 7 Wonders Duel (I lost miserably) before getting ready for our anniversary meal in a restaurant, La Trattoria da Vincenzo located at the bottom of Steep Hill. The food was delicious but the restaurant was lacking in atmosphere.

After dining we embarked on the challenging walk up Steep Hill stopping off at the Wig & Mitre for a nightcap before returning to Castle View for the evening.

Courts have been held at Lincoln Castle since it was first built. Back then the sheriff, who was William the Conqueror’s right hand man in Lincolnshire, presided over the castle’s shire court. Today the Gothic Revival courthouse, built in 1826 for the Lincolnshire Assizes, is still a working building where criminal trials are heard by Lincoln Crown Court.

Wave opened at Lincoln Castle on Thursday 26 May, specially presented by 14-18 NOW to mark the centenary of the First World War.

A sweeping arch of bright red poppy heads suspended on towering stalks, the sculpture is from the extraordinary installation Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red by artist Paul Cummins and designer Tom Piper.

Wave and its sister sculpture Weeping Window were initially conceived as the key dramatic sculptural elements in the installation, which was shown at the Tower of London in 2014.

Now, the two breath-taking sculptures are being brought to audiences at venues across the country. And for the remainder of 2016, Lincoln Castle is the only place in England to host the poppies.

As with all 14-18 NOW projects, the presentation of these sculptures to new audiences across the United Kingdom aims to prompt a new, nationwide dialogue around the legacy of the First World War.*

Lincoln County’s War-Time Connections

Lincolnshire will be commemorating 1916, a turning point within the four terrible years of the First World War, that saw this country to begin to change in every conceivable way.

Lincolnshire has strong connections with both world wars and, during the first, Lincoln Castle was used by the Lincolnshire Regiment and for fundraisers and parades.

Lincolnshire engineering companies who had formerly revolutionised agricultural machinery carried on innovating, moving from tractors to tanks.

It was during this period that the first operational tank was developed by Fosters of Lincoln, went into full production, and was first used on the Somme battlefield. Between 1915 and 1919 Lincoln became one of the largest centres of aircraft production in the world.

A veritable army of Lincolnshire women – the munitionettes – many as young as 14, moved into the towns and factories of Gainsborough, Grantham, Grimsby and Lincoln to make tanks, aircraft and munitions.

There were also 37 military aerodromes across the county by 1918 and this number grew in WWII. Many aviation heritage sites remain, including the Battle of the Britain Memorial Flight.*

*From 14-18 NOW leaflet

The 1st July marks the beginning of the Battle of the Somme, one of the most important battles of the First World War. The losses incurred on just this day were terrible: some 57,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers were made casualty including 19,000 killed; the French suffered 20,000 losses. Never had Great Britain and its allies from the Commonwealth been involved in such a conflict and never had they experienced such a military catastrophe. When the battle came to an end in late November 1916, more than one million French, German, British and Commonwealth soldiers had been killed, wounded, reporting missing or captured.

The hotel breakfast was nice, although it was served in an unusual way. The toast was served stacked on the plate with the breakfast rather than in a toast rack. After breakfast it wasn’t time for the castle gate to open so we walked around ‘The Lawns’ which was formerly a lunatic asylum.

When the gate was open we entered the castle to look at the Poppies Wave both from the ground and the wall walk. On my way to see the poppies at ground level I saw a mother duck and her cute ducklings sitting at eye level on a wall. By the time I got back from looking at the poppies the mother duck and some of the ducklings were on the ground below the wall. Four ducklings however were running frantically backwards and forwards on the top of the wall squeaking loudly whilst mum waited patiently. A Lincoln Castle grounds attendant gentle herded the ducklings along the wall towards mum, when all but one wildly jumped off the wall to join the others. The last one eventually launched itself off the wall landing on its back needing a little assistance to right itself. For a few moments it looked like it was wounded, but all of a sudden it joined the back of the line of ducklings following mum.

After this excitement we climbed the stairs to the castle walls where we enjoyed views of Lincoln and the Poppies Wave from above. When we had finished at the castle we walked to the nearby museum of Lincolnshire Life stopping for a cup of tea along the way. The museum had some interesting exhibits, including life size models of men fighting on top of WW1 trenches and a WW1 infantry tank Mark 4. When we had finished looking around the museum we made our way to the Cathedral Cloisters for lunch.

After lunch we ventured down to the low town area intending to find the arboretum but decided that it was to far in the time we had available. Instead we browsed around an arts and crafts shop where they had a large collection of colour art pencils. I was almost tempted but Mr C had bought me some for our anniversary so I thought I would wait until another occasion before getting any more. We walked back to the hotel through the Temple Gardens which were enjoyable in the sunshine.

For our evening meal we dined in the White Hart Hotel which we had enjoyed on our previous visit to Lincoln. The food was nice but the service was rather disappointing. Sherry was served in a tumbler and the wine list disappeared meaning the starter arrived before the wine was ordered. The wine list was requested for a second time and the head waitress quickly sorted out our requirement. The staff were not in a hurry to engage in conversation with us and we are not in a hurry to return which is a shame because we had excellent service on our previous visit. To finish the evening off we called in at the Wig and Mitre before returning to the hotel.

We set off on our journey a bit later than we intended but we still managed to arrive at the cafe we planned on visiting in time for lunch. There was a bit of a saga getting served, we were being ignored by the waitress. Eventually we got served and the food was as good as I remembered it from our last visit there.

After lunch we made our way to lower Lincoln which we did not explore when we were in Lincoln last year. We visited the waterside and viewed the Empowerment sculpture along with the high bridge. I popped into Bon Marche to see if they had a jacket that I had seen on their website. It was something I thought would be suitable for my brother’s wedding later in the year. They had the jacket, but not in the colour I was after. I tried it on but one of the assistants pounced and put me off exploring further. We visited a small indoor market which had an interesting second hand book shop which had a lot of military and religious/spiritual books although neither of us was tempted to buy anything.

There were some interesting and colourful characters wandering around this part of Lincoln. As we walked under a bridge we had to negotiate three rough sleepers, one of whom was high on drugs. I was left thinking that if I had stayed in that part of Lincoln last year I wouldn’t have wanted to return for a second visit. We returned to the car and made our way to the Charlotte House hotel where we checked in and took our bags up to the room which was in fact a suite. It was a fabulous room with his and hers tellies and his and hers shower and bath.

There was champagne waiting for us on arrival but we left this for later and made our way through the castle grounds to see the Poppy Wave which is currently being displayed there. After taking a few photographs we made our way into town for a drink and a slice of lemon cake before returning to the hotel to enjoy the champagne whilst we got ready to go out for our evening meal in The Old Bakery. The food was delicious and the service excellent. After dining we visited a pub called The Strugglers which was rather small with no seats available. Mr C asked if there was another room to sit in and we were advised that there was but the room was a snug with only two tables so we would have to share. We popped our heads through the door and a gentleman plumped up the cushions on the end of the bench next to him, inviting us in. After a while we got into conversation about the upcoming EU vote, Timothy Taylor beer and micro breweries in Lincoln.

After the conversation it was time to return to the hotel for a well earned sleep in the fourposter bed.

The fine Gothic building near the West Gate was built as an administrative centre for county business and a court of law in 1826.*

It replaced an earlier court house dating from 1776, which suffered from subsidence, and which in turn replaced the old shire hall which stood in the middle of the bailey. It was built for the twice-yearly sittings of the Lincolnshire Assizes, visiting judges who heard the most serious cases. The criminal Assize Court dealt with major crimes such as murder, rape, theft and forgery, and punishments included hanging and transportation.*

*Lincoln Castle guide book – Scala Arts & Heritage Publisher Ltd 2015