This was our rescheduled trip to Lincoln after we had to cut short our Easter trip due to mum being ill. We chose the dates to coincide with our wedding anniversary.

We set off early enough to reach the Daisy Made Ice Cream and Coffee shop in time for lunch. We know from previous visits that it is good and, on the plus side, it is located just outside Lincoln.

After lunch, a ten-minute journey and we were parked at the back of Cathedral View, the B&B we were staying in for the next few days. We made a quick phone call to let the proprietor know we had parked the car and were about to set off into town when a lady who was servicing the rooms noticed we had arrived. Although it was too early for us to check into our room we were given the keys in advance.

Admin sorted, we walked the short distance to Lincoln Cathedral. When we stepped inside, we were enveloped by the peace and quiet within. The atmosphere was calming and we spent some time exploring the various spaces within. I was reminded why I was drawn to Lincoln for the Easter service, which, unfortunately, despite best laid plans, I was unable to attend on my first trip to Lincoln this year. The Cathedral is currently hosting the ‘Table for the Nation’, a 13-metre-long table made from a 5000-year-old fossilised oak tree trunk.

We took advantage of Lincon Cathedral café where I enjoyed a refreshing Elderflower drink accompanied by a slice of Cherry Bakewell traybake. Suitably refreshed I spent time in the Cathedral shop where I purchased books on the cathedral, the oak table and the Forest Stations artworks that are displayed in the nave of the Cathedral.
Next, we spent a short time walking around the Cathedral quarter calling in at the Visitor Information Centre to purchase ‘Lincoln – A Walking Guide’ so that we could locate some historical places of interest that we hadn’t previously seen.

It was now time for us to check into our room, unpack and chill out before a pre-dinner drink in the Wig & Mitre which is located next to Brown’s Pie Shop where we dined. The food was every bit as good as I remembered it from our first visit of the year. The waitresses were lovely and we were able to have a banter and giggle with them.

We had a nightcap in the Wig & Mitre before retiring to Cathedral View and the cosy bed inviting us for a good night’s sleep.

Breakfast, cooked to order was excellent. Unfortunately, two of our party were under the weather for different reasons but despite this we visited Lincoln Cathedral. It was mum’s birthday and a treat for her but her legs were a little wobbly so she only made it part way around the cathedral, having to sit down whilst the rest of us completed the tour of the Cathedral.

We had elevenses in the Cathedral Café which turned out to be rather cold due to drafts. It didn’t help that the staff kept leaving the outside door open when they served customers in the outside eating area. No matter how many times I shut the outside door, it was open again a couple of minutes later…

After our morning refreshments we walked the short distance into town where mum picked up some items from the chemist. The ladies had a mooch around EWM clothes shop where mum found a lovely gilet which she just had to buy, a birthday gift to herself. We then had a wander around the cathedral square and mum managed to walk to the castle grounds where I showed her the dragons!

At lunch time the party split into two, Mr C, mum and I had lunch in a lovely café Grayz that Mr C and I had enjoyed on a previous visit. It didn’t disappoint.

Mum, on her wobbly legs, enjoyed browsing around antique and bric-a-brac stores and craft stalls. She had become tired so we took her back to her room to relax, then we walked down steep hill.

At the bottom of steep hill, we remembered why we prefer the upper part of the town. The upper town is calm in contrast to the busy and boisterous nature of the lower town.

Rather than walk up the steepest part of ‘Steep Hill’ we took a detour through Temple Gardens with its slow winding pathway upwards.

Mum’s birthday dinner was in The Old Bakery, which is operated as a training ground for students from Lincoln College. We had a lovely evening and the food was delicious.

Mr C drove back to Cathedral View guesthouse where all but Mr C and I retired for the evening. The two of us visited the Wig & Mitre for a nightcap. It was a bit boisterous in the bar area but calm & chilled in front of the fireplace where we chose to sit. Just what the doctor ordered.

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.