After breakfast we walked down Steep Hill in order to join the 10.30 guided tour of Lincoln’s Stonebow and Guild Hall which has been the meeting place of the City Council since Medieval times. We arrived early so we spent a few minutes in Waterstones where I perused the board game section.

When it was time to join the tour, we returned to the Guild Hall where a few minutes later we were greeted by Richard, who, because as we were the only two, treated Mr C and I to a personal guided tour.

The tour and talk covered the council chambers, the history of Lincoln, the Mayors and Sheriffs of Lincoln and the basement where all the city’s ceremonial regalia and other treasures are stored. We learned about ceremonial swords versus swords used in combat and the orientation of the markings on the hilt.

One of the swords in the collection is the actual sword used by King Henry VIII (Henry Tudor) at the Battle of Stoke Field in 1487. He presented it to the city in an attempt to secure the loyalty of Lincoln’s aldermen and with them the city.

The mace in the collection is from the time of Charles I and is unusual because it is unaltered. Most such maces had their Royal markings removed by Cromwell’s government during the period of Commonwealth.

In this room we were also shown various charters and seals presented to Lincoln by different monarchs over the years. This almost made up for the missing magna carta.

As we walked round the building, we noticed a photograph of a more recent Royal visit which also pictured Richard in his ceremonial hat. We recognised seeing him it the day before as part of the Freedom Parade.

The tour was excellent, I would recommend it to anyone interested in history.

After the tour we returned to Waterstones to finish browsing the board game section before visiting another local independent board game shop. We were specifically looking for games that accommodate 6 players or more but these are few and far between. We left empty handed but by now Mr C was on a mission and there was just one more board game shop in Lincoln. This turned out to be further away than he thought and when we arrived it turned out to stock mostly miniature figures for war and fantasy games rather than board games. Our route to the shop took us past the 16th century St Mary’s conduit which supplied drinking water to Lincoln until 1906.

The owner chatted to us and it turned out he was originally from Walsall and we started reminiscing how that area including Birmingham had changed over the years. When we had finished chatting it was time for lunch. Suitable lunch options were a bit sparse in the lower town so we returned to Madame Waffle before embarking on the walk ‘up’ Steep Hill.

Mr C stopped to enjoy the model shop and I continued walking up the hill. I paused at the bottom of the steepest part of the hill and a passing lady stopped to ask me if I was alright. I was, but how lovely of her to stop and ask.

Back in the cultural quarter we visited the Museum of Lincolnshire Life where I was captivated by the same displays, I enjoyed on my previous visit in 2016. We then sought out a nearby secret garden, the John Dawber Garden, which on arrival we realised we had visited before when we stayed in the adjacent Charlotte Hotel.

We made our way back to Cathedral View stopping for drink at the Lion and Snake on the way. The weather was lovely so we were able to enjoy it sitting outside in the sunshine. Back at the B&B I was challenged to another game of 7 Wonders Duel and just to be consistent I lost again…

We dined in Thailand No. 1. We found it to have a warm and vibrant atmosphere and delicious food. We returned to the Lion and Snake (next door) for a night cap before returning our billet for the evening.

Proverbs 8:17

This is a very ornate cast iron urinal, dating from around the turn of the 19th/20th century. It was removed from the Woodhall Junction Station and brought to the Museum of Lincolnshire Life in 1972.

The very thin flat casting of iron is an example of the great skill of engineers of the time. Today it would not be possible to make such thin and flat designs, as the additives used in the casting process are now considered too damaging too the environment.*

*Information taken from a signboard at The Museum of Lincolnshire Life.

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.