A high sky and a low land, the vaulted space of Lincolnshire Standing on the battlements at Tattershall Castle, what a dizzying height and what an extraordinary aspect unfolds before you. The creator of this great 15th century brick built edifice, Ralph Cromwell, must have stood in much the same way, surveying his dominion. And indeed, what a dominion; for the county of Lincolnshire comprises myriad and unexpected wonders.
Surging through the verdant plain (incidentally so ideal for the camper and caravanner) is the Lincoln Edge culminating at its highest point in one of the mightiest cathedrals of Europe. Any visitors to the city of Lincoln must proceed without delay up the aptly named Steep Hill and if they make it, to pass through the mediaeval gateway into the environs of the cathedral. Moving through the county at a leisurely pace, make your course as circuitous and ramshackle as time will permit, so as to create unexpectedness, surprise, sudden delight.
Perhaps by happy chance you may find yourself on the coast, in Boston, once the second city of England after London and, to this day, with the largest open air market in the county. The 272 foot tower of St Botolph's church, better known as the Boston Stump can be seen far out to sea and has been used by generations of mariners as a navigational aid. Or chance upon its inland rival, Grantham, its parish church with one of the tallest spires in England and where no less a genius than Isaac Newton was a schoolboy.
Equally, you may discover Stamford, 'England's most attractive town' (John Betjeman) with its unspoilt Georgian streets, or indeed Burghley House nearby, one of the largest and most opulent works of architecture of the Elizabethan age. Or you can find yourself meandering through any number of little known, golden stone market towns with their Regency houses, their warm pubs and restaurants and entrancing names like Boothby Graffoe and Carleton Scroop.
Finally, don't forget, for camping and caravanning, fantasy and firm sandy beaches there is only one Skegness with, as Lord Tennyson wrote, 'Oh, so bracing sea air!'
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