Lincs to do: Whisby Nature Park

Suitable for: all, including dogs
Duration: We spent 4 hours, easily
Best for: all; dress for the weather as it’s currently all outdoors.
Cost: Free (£2 to park all day)

This is a Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust park boasting a café, education centre, long trails around lakes and plenty of play areas for children.

On the walks there is lots of opportunity to stop and spot a range of wildlife: birds including terns, swallows and martins; plants such as flowering cowslip and insects such as dragonflies. There are several ‘viewing points’ along the way with information boards about the type of wildlife you could see.

There are a range of walks you can complete with a dog on a lead and one walk which can be done with the dog off the lead. There are fences alongside the tracks but nothing a determined dog couldn’t overcome. We took the Thorpe trail so we could let the dog run freely. The path skirted a lake filled with ducks and black-headed gulls. It was lined with trees, some in blossom, and our toddler and dog loved running along the path. At points where the path curved around the lake we found great areas for tree climbing and running down slopes. Although the ground is uneven, you can get around with a pushchair, but may have more difficulty if it’s been raining.

Shortly before the end of the track we found a ‘beach’; a small sandy area next to the lake. Despite the chill the toddler insisted on taking off wellies and socks for a paddle. Other dogs were leaping into the lake for a swim. Our dog, however, was having none of it. This beach proved the ideal spot for a little picnic.

This trail emerges at the children’s play area, near the main car park. At the play area there’s an activity frame in an area filled with sand, an assault course and some outdoor exercise points. The area is fenced in on three sides, with picnic benches to the fourth side. Dogs are allowed at the benches (on a lead) but no further. This area is still open during the pandemic, with a small hatch offering takeaway hot drinks and food. There are also some cabins near this area offering toilet facilities.

Currently the indoor facilities are closed; however, these usually provide an indoor café and play area in addition to the education centre (which we haven’t visited).

We didn’t take many good pictures whilst there, but here’s the link to their website which has some lovely images: Whisby | Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust (lincstrust.org.uk)

Lottie

Lincs to do – Gunby Hall

Suitable for: all, including dogs (gardens only)
Duration: You can get a good few hours here
Best for: all – even on a rainy day you can take a brolly and jump in the puddles
Cost: (House/gardens only) adult £9.25/ £6.75, child: £4.75/£3.75, under 5s go free and there are family discounts to be had. This is a National Trust property – free for members. (Free entry to the teahouse alone)

 

Situated on the A158 between Horncastle and Skegness, Gunby Hall is a National Trust property from the 1700s which is set in Victorian landscaped gardens. With our toddler, we’ve tended to bypass the house itself, mostly because she runs without really looking where she’s going and I’m a bit worried about her ploughing into some priceless object. This post, therefore, will focus on the gardens.

We’ve been a few times to Gunby Hall gardens at various times of the year and we’re never disappointed. We love to meander through the established beds, the orchards and the rose gardens. There are a lot of walls dividing the gardens and popping through each gate does feel like a little adventure.

There are vegetable plots and you can purchase the produce and chat with the gardeners about what’s growing. Every time I’ve visited I’ve found the staff to be friendly and knowledgeable.

Eventually you come onto the lawn of Gunby house, where there are National Trust deck chairs and lawn games to be played – great fun for all ages. There is plenty of space here to spread a blanket and relax while the children tire themselves out. This is what I’ll be doing in the summer months. After a wander around the gardens, we’ve always enjoyed some tea and cake from the café.

Our latest visit was for Gunby’s apple day – a celebration of the apples they’ve produced and an opportunity to receive some expert advice on the care of your own apple trees. It had rained incessantly the night before and we were worried it’d be rained-off, but actually, the drizzle only served to add to the autumnal atmosphere and made the gardens smell beautiful. It also created some excellent puddles to jump in – I’m very pleased we wore wellies!

Gunby Hall is definitely worth a visit if you’re on the way to the seaside, staying on Lincolnshire’s coast or exploring the Wolds.

Lincs to do – The Woodhall Spa Trail

Last weekend we decided to walk about half of the Woodhall Spa Trail. The trail is the old railway line linking Woodhall Spa and Horncastle and it also follows part of the Horncastle Canal.

Suitable for: all, including dogs
Duration: We took about 2 hours to do the first stage.
Best for: dry days (cold and/or windy will be fine)
Cost: free.

Horncastle can be found on the A153. Down a track just off the A153 you will find the official start of the trial at Thornton Lodge. The toddler and mummy started here (you are here on the map) and the dog and daddy drove to Sandy Lane at Woodhall Spa. The aim was to meet about halfway and then walk on/back to Sandy Lane.

The Spa Trail is popular with walkers and cyclists. It’s flat in the sense that it’s not hilly, but there are a few bumpy parts and some muddy sections after the rain. There should be no reason, however, to prevent someone with a pushchair or wheelchair from accessing the trail.

 

From the trail you will have access to beautiful views across Lincolnshire and its vast skies. The track runs alongside fields and the canal at the Horncastle end – this is fine with the toddler and dog because there is a thin fence to dissuade escaping. Although off the track the ground is uneven and the grass long – I recommend wellies if it’s rained! There are wild animals, such as rabbits running across the path and lots of birds and butterflies to spot, especially in the summer.

The path forms part of the Viking Way as it approaches the Martin Picnic Site and along the trail artists have produced sculptures, some of which are inspired by Viking design.

 

We really liked the distance markers.

Our toddler did about a mile, so we didn’t make it to Sandy Lane. We stopped at the first parking place – the Martin Picnic Site. Don’t be fooled by the name – you can’t really have a picnic here. It’s a good place to park to begin or end your walk – parking is free but limited. There are a few potholes here which are great for splashing in when it’s rained. A word of warning though – this is a concreted area close to a busy road – keep dogs on a lead and children away from the entrance here.

Next time we fancy the trail we’ll pick up the walk from Martin Picnic Site and try to get into Woodhall – it’s a lovely village with lots to do, but that’s for another post.

 

Lottie.

New series: Lincs to do

It’s the summer holiday and up until now I’ve not had to think too hard about what I want to do with my time: laze around with a book, garden, take a trip, go abroad. But… up until now I didn’t have a 2 year old to contend with (it’s a battle of wills – I tell you!)

Whilst asking and looking for things to do, I found long lists of ‘family friendly’ activities in Lincolnshire, but when I dug a little deeper into these family friendly activities, it seemed they were great for 5+, but not so great for littler people with the attention span of a gnat!

I decided to start this series of tried and tested things to do with a toddler (and beyond as she ages). It’ll be sporadic rather than guaranteed weekly as 1) I’ll only post about things/places we’ve actually done together and 2) I’ll still be contending with said toddler as I’m trying to post. In some cases we’ll have tried things with the dog and the toddler (basically two infants!) – I’ll make that very clear in the post in case you too have furry friends you’d like to take along on your adventures.

All posts can be found under the ‘Lincolnshire Living’ category and I’ll title each with ‘Lincs to do + the thing’. I’ll use the hashtag #lincstodo on Twitter too.

Please feel free to share with your Lincolnshire based parents who are looking for ways to entertain their younger children. And, of course, please do send recommendations for us to try – we’re always looking for activities (read: ways to attempt to influence an early bedtime!)

Lottie.

Day 4: Sweet William

On day 4 of 30DaysWild, my partner had spent the day travelling for work and on his travels, he’d found some Sweet Williams. We now have some in a vase in our kitchen.

Our toddler is very interested in the colours, so for day 4 we researched Sweet Williams.

Sweet William is a type of carnation. It is a biennial flower which is fairly hardy. Its seeds can be sown directly outdoors in well-watered soil. The appearance of Sweet Williams (shading, shape and colour) makes these the ideal flowers to grow in a traditional cottage garden. The plants are considered relatively easy to grow and so are perhaps a good flower for children to grow from seed.

There are various claims as to the origin of the name ‘Sweet William’, with some claiming that it’s dedicated to William Shakespeare or even William the Conqueror. Other claims are that “William” is an evolution of oeillet, the French word for carnation or ‘eyelet’.

All in all, we’re very pleased with these flowers and they look great in the kitchen. I’d love to try to grow some from seed.

Pumpkin Risotto

Oops, I meant to post this a few weeks ago. We had a mishap with the large pumpkin in that, when it was carved to make the spooky face, it had turned to mush inside. Perhaps our house is too warm…

 

Anyway, here is the risotto we made.

Oil – for frying
1x onion
1x smoked garlic clove
Chicken bits, in chunks (optional)
Duck stock (chicken will also work) – we were using what was left from earlier in the week when we’d had an absolutely gorgeous Gressingham duck. We used about 1.5 litres.
Dash of white wine
Risotto rice
Red pepper
Pumpkin
Some chilli
Salt & Pepper
Parmesan cheese

 

1. Fry the onion, garlic in the oil until the onion is soft.
2. To the same pan, add the chicken pieces and colour off (skip this step if you’re going for the veggie option).
3. Add the risotto rice (our rule is ‘tip in until it looks filling’).
4. Add a dash of white wine.
5. Add stock gradually, stir until rice has absorbed all stock before pouring in some more.
6. Whilst doing this, throw in the pepper and pumpkin – mix in well & continue adding stock as per point 5.
7. When the rice has absorbed the stock, add salt, pepper, chilli and parmesan cheese (for creaminess).

 

Then eat. You can serve with a salad, or just a large glass of white wine.

Doddington Hall, Lincolnshire

We visited Doddington Hall. Well, that’s not strictly true. We visited the grounds of Doddington Hall. During half term, the Hall has a scarecrow competition where they exhibit scarecrows created, on a theme, by local organisations and primary schools. You can choose and vote for your favourite by taking a photo and posting it to Twitter with the hashtag #Doddingtonhalloween

We’ll definitely visit the house and gardens at some point (probably in spring). It’s a beautiful example of an Elizabethan mansion and has a lovingly restored kitchen garden. We bought a lot of its produce from the Hall’s farm shop.

Currently the Hall also has a PYO pumpkin offer. It’s completely free to enter, you just pay for whatever you pick. They have a great size guide – different sized holes cut into a piece of wood, which you have to fit your pumpkin through.

It was fairly busy for a Sunday, but we had great fun rummaging for a suitable size and colour.

In the end we picked two: one to carve a spooky face into and one for pumpkin soup for dinner.

I’ll be posting a series of recipes this week to use up all the pumpkin!

Readying for winter

Today we spent a lovely afternoon prepping the garden for winter.

First, the vegetable patch was de-weeded and manure was dug in, hopefully to fertilise over winter. The patch was then covered to try to protect it some more – mostly from the dog! The solar garden lights have all been taken down so the panels aren’t damaged during any frosts.

Then the meadow was tackled. The meadow was planted during #30dayswild this year and has done a fantastic job of bringing colour & height to the garden and attracting pollinators. The success of the meadow inspired me to buy more bee-friendly seeds which we scattered across the garden. Many of these plants are still budding and flowering. I love that bees are still being attracted to the garden even at the end of November. The actual meadow, however, has done its job for one year.

Before the meadow was cleared I went around the garden gathering as many seeds as I could. I realised that I’d probably left it too late to get a successful harvest of seeds, so that’s a lesson learned for next year. Nevertheless, I did get some poppy seeds and a mountain of seeds from the aquilegias. Hopefully these will thrive next year.

For the first time I also encountered the seeds of the fuchsia plant. I had to do a google to find out how to harvest these.
Apparently, if the fruit are squishy, they’re ready to be picked. Then you slice them open with a knife (carefully!) and try to remove the seeds from the flesh. Lay them out on a paper towel or kitchen roll to dry for a week and then store in an airtight container until spring.

It was a bit like harvesting seeds from a cherry tomato.

Originally I’d planted the meadow on a wasted corner of land, hoping it would do something. I applied lots of compost to try to give some depth. As we harvested the meadow this year, it was noted just how wonderful the soil there now is: absolutely thriving with bugs and earthworms. We had a selection of bulbs which we’d bought over the year and many of those have been planted. We also have a random selection of bulbs which were a lovely gift from the Creative Countryside launch party. These too have been planted in this lovely, fertile ground. I’m really looking forward to seeing what pops up in the spring.

I’m very excited about the garden. I have a plan to try to be as self-sufficient as we can in vegetables next year. We are borrowing some green houses owned by a family member. The idea being, we do the planting and most of the care except the regular watering needed. The family member looks after the plants on a day-to-day basis: opening & closing the green house, watering, checking for bugs… And then we share the crop. Hopefully there we can grow tomatoes & cucumbers. This borrowed garden also has an unused vegetable patch, so I’d love to be able to grow cabbage, cauliflower and perhaps broccoli.

In our own garden we have some well-established raspberry plants, although the birds always seem to beat us to the harvest! The vegetable patch is going to be dedicated to the growing of potatoes. We have some herb seedballs to plant in the spring. I would love to get some deep planters for our patio area for vegetables such as carrots. I plan to try again with peppers and hopefully repeat this year’s success with salad leaves.

If there’s room, onions and garlic would be lovely too.

That’s quite a range and it’ll require some proper planning over the winter months, but planning is something I’m good at. Most of my anticipating comes from the fact that our baby is mobile now, so she should be toddling around by the time planting out occurs – I would love for her to get involved.

How have you prepared for winter? And, excitingly, what do you hope for your garden next year?

Gainsborough Old Hall

As part of our October half term activities we visited Gainsborough Old Hall in Lincolnshire.

Gainsborough Old Hall is a medieval, timber-framed manor house built in 1460. The Hall has an impressive Great Hall and in the kitchen there are two fantastically preserved, massive fireplaces. I stood in one and couldn’t reach the sides.

The Hall has played host to Henry VIII, Katherine Parr, Katherine Howard & Richard III to name but a few.

A visit to the Hall probably only takes an hour. Obviously, viewing the Great Hall, kitchen & servants’ quarters are a must – the places are decked out with props to bring the rooms to life. Upstairs you can view the bedrooms and there are mannequins modelling contemporary dress. Excitingly, there is a turret you can climb to gain access to the roof which offers beautiful views over Gainsborough and the surrounding countryside.

We’ve visited during half term with children as they can complete the Hall’s pumpkin trail around the house. It seemed to be great fun.

There is some difficulty with access if you have wheels. We had a pushchair with us and had some difficulties over the ground floors, which I suppose is to be expected with such an old building. Getting upstairs with the pram was not an option.

Gainsborough Old Hall is owned by English Heritage and Lincolnshire County Council. There is a gift shop and café on site. Parking is in town in pay & display car parks, but there are several within a few minutes of the Hall.

 

 

Stay wild

Thought I’d share my #30dayswild calendar