Lincolnshire Pride April 2019 by Pride Magazines Ltd

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Easter in Lincolnshire

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An Easter message from the Dean

Spring at Doddington

Claire Birch shows us around the hall

Dining Out near Lincoln

Coleby’s pub rings a bell this April

PRIDE MAGAZINES

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WELCOME

nintentionally, our April edition is celebrating the incredible women of Lincolnshire this month. As we head into Easter, we have several interviews including Dean Christine at Lincoln Cathedral, Claire Birch at Doddington Hall, Amarylis Midgley at Woodhall Spa and Sophie Allport at Stamford.

In addition to these fabulous females all with incredible stories to tell in their respective fields, we are of course celebrating all things Easter. The Dean at Lincoln Cathedral is offering her personal Easter message to the readers of Lincolnshire Pride, there are plenty of family Easter egg hunts in our What’s On guide and as part of a new feature focusing on a luxury brand each month, we look into the fascinating story of Fabergé’s eggs. Our food section also features eggs alongside asparagus, a product our county should certainly pride itself on, and we’re dining at the Bell at Coleby, offering another restaurant for our readers to try in April. We’re finally getting into gardening weather, so Gardener’s World’s Adam Frost discusses the benefits of growing your own vegetable patch and offers handy tips and advice. With all this and more, all we need now is some bright sunshine, blue skies and fresher spring temperatures! Best wishes for another great month,

Editor, Lincolnshire Pride tilly@pridemagazines.co.uk 3

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CONTENTS

NEWS & EVENTS

HOMES & GARDENS

WHAT’S ON The best spring events in Lincolnshire for Easter.

LINCOLN CATHEDRAL An Easter

NEWS Our roundup of good news in and around the area for April.

HIGHLIGHTS 28

129

message from Christine Wilson.

THE INTERVIEW Meet the owner of Doddington Hall - Claire Birch.

116

MY TOWN Amarylis Midgley on why Woodhall Spa is her favourite town.

DINING OUT We visit Paul Vidic at

FOOD & DRINK 50 60

The Bell at Coleby near Lincoln.

SPRING DINING Food for thought with our most delicious restaurants.

IN THE KITCHEN Delicious recipes using local asparagus this spring.

WELCOME HOME A very unique property situated in The Deepings.

CUSHIONS So good for sofas with cushions from Designer’s Guild.

108 GARDEN Get your growing going

LADIES & GENTLEMEN

with Adam Frost in the kitchen garden.

122 WEDDINGS A wonderful spring

event and beautiful wedding flowers.

129 FASHION Ispirato present its latest

range of occasionwear for summer.

137 BEAUTY Spring beauty products

to make your April go with a glow.

THE HIGH LIFE

147 HIGH SOCIETIES Woodhall Spa’s

Farmers’ Ball and The Burton Hunt Ball.

156 MOTORS Small but perfectly formed, Porsche’s compact SUV, the Macan.

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THE WEALTHIEST PEOPLE IN THE AREA READ LINCOLNSHIRE PRIDE

Lincolnshire Pride Magazine is delivered free of charge, via Royal Mail, to high value homes in the county. Our circulation is to properties in the top three council tax bands - homes which are predominantly worth over ÂŁ300,000. This guarantees the magazine has an affluent readership commensurate with our content. In addition the magazine is also sold in supermarkets and newsagents including Waitrose, Marks & Spencer, WHSmith Tesco, Asda, Co-Op and Morrisons. Our in-house distribution team also works hard to hand-deliver the magazine to selected hotels and restaurants, doctors, dentists, executive motor dealerships and golf clubs. This helps to ensure we have a continued presence, right across our catchment area. Our magazines also have more social media fans than any other local magazine, and we are available to read free of charge, online on your tablet, computer, laptop or mobile phone via our website and via the Readly and Issuu platforms. If your business would benefit from being showcased to the wealthiest people in the area, please call our friendly sales team on 01529 469977.

THE LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE FOR HIGH QUALITY HOMES

In print, and to view on your computer, tablet or mobile device from www.pridemagazines.co.uk

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PRIDE MAGAZINES

By supplying editorial or advertising copy to Pride you accept in full the terms and conditions which can be found online at www.pridemagazines.co.uk. In the event of an advert or editorial being published incorrectly, where Pride Magazines Ltd admits fault, we will include an advert of equivalent size, or equivalent sized editorial, free of charge to be used in a future edition, at our discretion. This gesture is accepted as full compensation for the error(s) with no refunds available. Selected images in our content may be sourced from www.shutterstock.com.

THE PRIDE TEAM

Managing Director: Julian Wilkinson. Production Director: Ian Bagley. Sales Director: Zoie Wilkinson. Sales Manager: Charlotte Aiken. Executive Editor: Rob Davis. Editor: Tilly Wilkinson. Customer Care Manager: Mandy Bray. Distribution: Joe Proctor. Office Managers: Sue Bannister and Melissa Trestrail. Aftersales Managers: Hannah Boyle and Carissa Clay. Sales Executives: Cassy Ayton and Emily Brown.

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NEWS & EVENTS

Stamford students Oxbridge-bound

OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE ARE BOTH BECKONING FOR STAMFORD’S SMARTEST

STAMFORD Three students at the Stamford Endowed Schools have received offers from Oxford and Cambridge Universities. Head Girl Holly Farrow, of Stamford High School, aims to read Engineering at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. From Stamford School, Charlie Kidd has received an offer to study Maths at Somerville College, Oxford, and Jonathan Mason has been offered a place to read Chemistry at Jesus College, Cambridge. Will Phelan, Principal of the Stamford Endowed Schools, said: “Our students have worked tirelessly to prepare for their Oxbridge entrance examinations, and it is testament to their hard work and dedication that they have been rewarded with these offers. They should be immensely proud of their achievements.”

LOCAL NEWS In Brief

Bauer Media acquires Lincs FM Group... Bauer Media Group has bought Lincs FM Group, which comprises of nine licences across the region. The company has also bought Celador’s radio division, which includes 25 analogue stations and two digital services. The Celador and Lincs FM Group stations add 1.1 million weekly listeners to the Bauer portfolio. n

“These will be the first of many offers which our Stamfordians will be receiving at a wide variety of universities and courses,” “Our focus at the Stamford

Endowed Schools is on preparing young people for the jobs and priorities of the future, and I am delighted that these offers from Oxford and Cambridge reflect the passion

Pilots in a spin at Cranwell NEW GENERATION OF TOP GUNS WILL USE A SWISH NEW £44M SIMULATOR DESIGNED TO IMPROVE SAFETY...

and enthusiasm that our pupils develop for pursuing these vital skills at the highest level. My congratulations to them.” n For more information see www.ses.lincs.sch.uk. SLEAFORD Britain’s fighter pilots are training for action in a new £44m Top Gun-style simulator based at RAF College Cranwell. The new High-G Training and Test Facility trains fast-jet pilots to withstand high G-forces in the air and has been designed to improve fighter pilot safety and provide realistic training for pilots exposed to high G-forces during combat missions. At the High G Training and Test Capability Facility is a new human training centrifuge, which can accelerate from 1G to 9 G in just one second! The centrifuge will allow pilots flying the Hawk, Typhoon or new F35 Lighting II aircraft. n

REFRESH FOR SPALDING RAILWAY STATION

A controversial £300,000 Margaret Thatcher statue will be erected in Grantham. The 10ft monument to Britain’s first female Prime Minister will be sited in St Peter’s Hill on a granite plinth of the same height in a bid to avoid potential vandalism. The bronze statue by sculptor Douglas Jennings had originally been proposed for Parliament Square in London. n GRANTHAM

East Midlands Trains has announced improvements to building at Spalding station. East Midlands Trains says the work will include the restoration of windows, floorboards, and ceilings, working alongside Railway Heritage Trust and Network Rail. East Midlands Trains are improving the appearance of the Grade II listed three storey building at Spalding station over six weeks with no anticipated disruption to rail SPALDING

customers travelling to, and through Spalding station. Once the restoration work on the building is complete, Network Rail will begin work to improve accessibility at the station in a £2.5million investment. Network Rail will install lifts at the station providing step-free access to platform two and improving the customer experience. Work will also take place to install additional CCTV cameras and improve lighting. n

Showing off the Coast

NEW WEBSITE AND VISITOR GUIDE HAVE BEEN CREATED TO PROMOTE THE WONDERS OF LINCOLNSHIRE’S NATURAL COAST, ENTICING VISITORS TO THE COUNTY...

CHAPEL ST LEONARDS A brand new website and visitor guide will help the public to find out more about Lincolnshire’s East Coast. “Lincolnshire is well-known for its seaside towns, which have been popular holiday destinations for generations, but we want to remind people that our wonderful coast has much more to offer,” says Colin Davie. “There are great opportunities for walking, cycling, and bird watching all year round, and during the warmer months, our unspoilt beaches are the ideal location for paddling, picnics, sandcastles, beach cricket and kite flying.” n To view the new website visit www.lincsnaturalcoast.com.

£25,000 Jackpot

Train Improvements

Thatcher statue to be erected in Grantham...

LincoLn Community Lottery is officially opened to the public recently with the chance for players to scoop a £25,000 jackpot and help local good causes. 60p from every £1 ticket will go to local charities and good causes in Lincoln and surrounding areas. Players have a 50 to one chance of winning one of the prizes. n

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LocaL

news

In Brief DEEPINGS

TourisM in souTh KesTeven GeTs £120,000 BoosT A £120,000 programme is underway to promote South Kesteven in the ‘visitor economy.’ Andrew Norman, head of visitor economy for InvestSK, told a council meeting the team plans events to promote South Kesteven’s WW2 heritage, as well as The South Kesteven Walking Festival in September which will develop further walks in the district, especially around Bourne and the Deepings. The team will also run the Bourne CiCLE Festival and create a new visitor information point at Deepings Library. A further visitor guide will also be produced, and during the spring and autumn, gatherings will be held across the district for those in the visitor economy sector to get together and provide mutual support to each other and the area. n

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76 SPILSBY ROAD Boston | Lincolnshire | PE21 9NS

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If you are buying a second home, have you budgeted for higher rate stamp duty? By Sally L Wright, Solicitor in the Conveyancing Department at Wilkin Chapman solicitors. PUTTING money into bricks and mortar has long been seen as a safe investment and has resulted in large numbers of people investing in second properties.

If you are considering such a move, then you will most likely be busy factoring in all the costs involved but have you remembered the 2015 Autumn budget statement that introduced an extra stamp duty charge for those purchasing more than one property?

You may be considering a personal holiday home or a work-based flat or apartment, a buy-to-let investment property or even a purchase for a family member. Relationships are more diverse than ever before too, and you may be buying a home with a new partner, whilst holding on to a property you already own. If this is the case, you may be inadvertently caught by additional rates of stamp duty. At the point when you decide to instruct a solicitor on a second home purchase, they should enquire as to your current property portfolio and ensure you are aware of the extra cost, which is an additional three per cent of Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT). It applies on any property over the selling

price of £40,000 with the only possible exception being a holiday home that is let out for part of the year and is regarded as a business. So, to give you an idea, on a second purchase worth £80,000 the SDLT will be £2,400. At the other end of the scale, if the second home is being

“You may be inadvertently caught by additional rates of stamp duty”

purchased for £500,000 then the charge increases to £30,000. Such SDLT will be payable upon completion of your matter. There are reliefs available in certain circumstances that enable you to claim a refund of the additional element of the stamp duty which you paid on your purchase if you sell your previouslyowned property, which was occupied as your sole or main residence, within three years of the date of completion of your purchase.

In making the changes, the Government stated its commitment to supporting home ownership and first-time buyers.

In fact, first-time buyers are in a far more favourable position with the introduction of no SDLT on firstpurchase properties up to a value of £300,000, which is a stark contrast to a second home buyer who would have to pay £14,000 on a property with a value of £300,000. While the additional SDLT costs should not necessarily deter a wouldbe second home purchaser, it can be a significant additional cost that should be factored in at the outset to enable you to consider the true cost of such a purchase. For more information,please contact Sally L Wright at Wilkin Chapman on 01472 246681, email sallyl.wright@wilkinchapman.co.uk or visit wilkinchapman.co.uk

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Main: The Very Reverend Christine Wilson was appointed Dean of Lincoln in 2016 and is overseeing Lincoln Cathedral Connected, a programme of works which will see a new visitor centre and various green spaces opened to the public in 2020.

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LINCOLN 20 Things You Didn’t Know About

CATHEDRAL

The Dean of Lincoln, the Very Reverend Christine Wilson, shows us around the magnificent structure that is Lincoln Cathedral and discusses facts we never knew existed about the landmark! She also has a special Easter message to readers...

How well do you know Lincoln Cathedral? After all, it’s easy to take for granted the incredible feature of Lincoln’s skyline or to assume you already know all of its secrets and all about its history. Whilst I’d hardly call myself an expert on the building, though, a recent tour with one of its 93 floor guides, 22 roof guides and 15 tower guides shamed me into realising how little I knew of the building’s most dramatic or amusing secrets. I beg and implore you to book a tour even if you’ve been a Lincoln resident for decades... you’ll still find new appeal and fresh information about the Cathedral from such knowledgeable guides as Stuart Welch, our personal Cathedral guru. Here, we’re letting you into just 20 of the very many secrets we discovered during our tour! 1. The Bishop doesn’t get the best seat in the house...

Whilst the Bishop is the chief pastor of the Diocese of Lincoln, he merely sits in the Cathedral. It’s the Dean of the Cathedral, currently The Very Reverend Christine Wilson who is, as it were, in charge. The Dean, Sub-Dean, Chancellor and Precentor are the Residentiary Canons who each have their own seats in St Hugh’s Choir. The monarch (or their representative in the county, the Lord Lieutenant) also has a seat in the Cathedral. At one time the Diocese reached from the Thames to the Humber. 53 canons each have their own prebendary and seat in the Choir. Each canon is assigned at least one psalm and each recites their psalm every day wherever they may be. This ensures that the entire psalter is recited in full each day.

Above: The front view of Lincoln Cathedral. The Cathedral has its own quarry, with a supply of 162 million year old stone for renovation work to the ancient structure. Photos in this Feature: Chris Vaughan.

2. Lincoln Cathedral is double glazed. Sort of...

The Dean’s Eye window in the north transept of the Cathedral was subject to a 16 year £2m restoration which was completed in April 2006. It’s one of the finest examples of early 13th century English plate tracery in the world and contains mainly medieval glass. Originally the glass was exposed to the elements, but following its restoration, it’s protected by a clear secondary isothermal ‘modern’ glazed window in front of it. This is exposed to the outside world. So technically the Cathedral is double glazed! >> 19

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L I N C O L N

CAT H E D R A L

>> 3. Construction of the Cathedral is a bit iffy in places! Sacrilege, surely? The Cathedral is beautiful! Well yes, but there’s still some questionable construction in places. In particular, stand in the nave and look back at the West Front. When the current nave was created under St Hugh from 1190-1250, the masons worked back from the east in a westerly direction. When the nave’s ceiling reached the West Front, the ceiling didn’t line up. It’s about a metre out and visibly wonky! Either someone miscalculated or the money ran out before they could replace the Norman West Front with a gothic version so they had to ‘botch’ the join! Also the lancets to the north and south sides of the West Front are visibly uneven. So are the lancets below the Bishop’s Eye window. Southfacing walls of the nave aisle have five arched lancets between pillars. The north side has four and a half lancets dissected by pillars. 4. The Cathedral is also held up by braces and concrete!

In the 1920s, the Cathedral’s south-west front tower was leaning. Rather a lot. In fact, the problem of a visible lean to the south was at one stage getting worse by about a sixteenth of an inch every day. Dean Fry began fundraising, estimating repairs at £50,000. By the time of his death, Fry had raised double that amount but still more would be needed. Delta bronze reinforcements were put into the West Front to arrest the Cathedral’s continuing structural problems. Unfortunately as part of the works, the repairs also saw workers pumping concrete into the Cathedral’s cavities - a sort of cavity insulation - which we now know is less than ideal as limestone

Made In 1072: Bishop Remigius was a Benedictine monk from the Abbey of Fècamp. William the Conqueror commissioned him to create the original Cathedral in Lincoln, and to become the first Norman Bishop of the diocese. The Cathedral replaced an old Saxon minster. Remegius died three days before the building’s consecration.

The Tallest Building in the World

The Great Pyramid of Giza was the tallest man-made structure in the world for over 3,800 years until Lincoln Cathedral in 1311. It was the tallest building for 238 years. Until the Washington Monument, the world’s tallest buildings were churches or cathedrals.

The Great Pyramid Giza, Egypt 146.6m

Lincoln Cathedral (with it’s former spire) Lincoln, England 160m

Washington Monument Washington DC, United States 169.3m

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and concrete interact badly. Nearly 100 years on the concrete filler is crumbling, and the Cathedral once again faces the need to address structural preservation of the building. Fortunately we’ve a better understanding of building conservation these days, and any works completed to address the problems will be healthier for the building’s fabric in the long term, but again hugely costly!

5. Naughty children make great fenders for bells...

During the 1920s when the Cathedral discovered the structural problems, the bells were prevented from completing their usual full circle ringing. Instead, they were ‘plucked’ to prevent too many vibrations shaking the Cathedral. There are bells in both the West Front (the change-ringing bells which ring on Sundays and for weddings) and in the Central Tower (which strikes every quarter of an hour to indicate the time). When Great Tom, the Cathedral’s 5.5 tonne bell, was recast in the 1830s part of the central tower ceiling had to be removed to accommodate the new bell. Those installing the bell were so concerned about the bell banging into stonework as it was being raised that they came up with a novel solution. They tied (presumably very naughty) young children to the outside of the bell to provide padding next to the tower. Perhaps the children could have used their feet to brace the bell if it began to swing as it was being raised. Or perhaps they would just have squished the unfortunate

children. Either way, it was an innovative solution as Great Tom was raised and has chimed since 1835 40,880 times a year. 6. The Cathedral’s limestone is coloured pink in places...

After fire ravaged the Cathedral in the 1120s, the temperature reached over 300°c at which Lincolnshire Limestone turns pink. Masons investigating stonework in the aftermath scrawled an ‘X’ into the individual pink stones on the inside of the West Front. If the pink colour went too deep they were individually replaced, but if the colour was only to a superficial depth, the pink stones were retained. So, some of the internal stonework is bright pink! 7. Lincoln Cathedral is home to the world’s first ‘flat pack furniture...’

Bishop Alexander (1123-1248) modestly styled himself Alexander ‘The Magnificent,’ and upon his appointment, treated himself to a swish new font of Tournai marble. It arrived in ‘flat pack’ form, and was assembled on site. It’s the oldest piece of furniture in the Cathedral and came as a ‘buy one, get one free,’ with a free grave slab which the Victorians incorrectly attributed as the resting place of a previous bishop Remigius. There’s a fissure in the middle of the slab thought to have been caused by the earthquake of 1185. 8. There’s more than just one Lincoln Imp...

There are in fact a number of imp grotesques around the Cathedral, not just the single one in the Angel Choir. >> Empire State New York, USA 443m

Eiffel Tower Paris, France 324m

Burj Khalifa Dubai, UAE 826m

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L I N C O L N

CAT H E D R A L

>> 9. There are some rather cheeky carvings and murals... The choir screen which separates the nave from St Hugh’s Choir was carved in the 1330s and features roses and other carvings. However, there’s also a rather rude grotesque of a carver showing his bottom in a rude gesture. Meanwhile, the Russell Chantry features murals painted by Duncan Grant in 1953 and designed to reflect the county’s wool-trading heritage. Unveiled in 1953 they caused rather a shock and the Chantry was closed to the public until 1990. The reason? The artist - a member of the Bloomsbury Set - introduced a little too much of his personal life into the mural...The Chantry was finally reopened to the public in the more socially enlightened nineties. The choir screen was once highly colourful, with red, gold and blue highlights. In the Cromwellian era, such gaudiness was an anathema, so the whole screen was whitewashed. As they were considered idolatrous, the carved bishops were beheaded then replaced at a later date. The problem was the figures were not in fact all-male bishops, but saints of both genders. The heads were replaced randomly, hence the screen today features some bearded heads on female bodies. 10. The Cathedral features a number of ‘selfies...’

In the same way that an artist signs a painting, masons have ‘signed’ the Cathedral’s stonework since medieval times. Likewise, on the choir screen there’s an early ‘selfie’ of a stonemason with a mallet and his leather cap on. Meanwhile, after restoration of the South West Pinnacle in 2012, one modern mason replaced like-for-like one ‘selfie’ grotesque with a modern equivalent holding a mallet and a pint of ale! 11. St Hugh’s Choir includes an acoustically perfect ‘bone...’

St Hugh’s Choir features an odd ‘bone-shaped’ medieval floor stone with the inscription ‘cantate hic;’ or sing here. It’s the spot in the choir designed to be acoustically perfect. 12. Lincoln Cathedral has served as the county’s parliament building...

Window to the World

The Cathedral’s ten-sided Chapter House was built in the 1220s as a meeting room to transact Lincoln Cathedral has over 700 the business of the Cathedral Chapter. However windows, 140 with stained it was also used as Parliament during the reigns glass. They date from as early as 1220 to as recently as of Edward I, II and III, was was the scene of the 1960. They are maintained first trial of the Knights Templar in 1320 and of by the Works a gathering during the Lincolnshire Rising of 1536 Department. to hear Henry VIII’s curt response to their demands. 13. Lincoln Cathedral is now home to the Virgin Mary...

The full name of Lincoln Cathedral is the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lincoln. Since 2014 it has had a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary created by Aidan Hart, the renowned liturgical iconographer It weighs 1.5 tonnes, having been hewn from a three tonne block of limestone quarried in Great Ponton. Nine layers of colour were added, using egg tempura and natural pigments including semi-precious azurite for the blues plus red and yellow ochres. >> Right from Top: The Bone indicates the Cathedral choir’s acoustically perfect spot. The Virgin Mary statue was installed in 2014.The choir screen between the nave and St Hugh’s Choir features a ‘selfie’ carving of a mason with a leather cap and a rather cheeky carving of a grotesque bearing his bottom!

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>> 14. The Cathedral and others like it were places of origin for the phrase ‘on your own head be it!’

DEAN CHRISTINE’S

EASTER MESSAGE “There is something particularly wonderful about the newness of springtime. The greening of the landscape, newborn lambs in the fields, birds busy with their young, everything resounding with hope. The metaphor of new life rising from the darkness is all around us in the spring bulbs breaking through the soil with a great burst of brightness and joy. It echoes the Easter story with all its message of life restored and renewed.” “We all face times when we are confronted with darkness and death. Moments in life when everything seems to have gone utterly wrong and hope abandons us, occasions when we make a mess of things and long to begin again. Easter powerfully declares that we are not left without hope. It is an opportunity to celebrate faith that believes love is stronger than death and that light eradicates darkness.” “We see it enacted in society when communities resist evil and defiantly declare that love will win the day.” “Think back to the response of the people of Manchester when

violence visited their city in the bombing of young concert-goers.” “For some the resurrection of Christ seems unbelievable. The account of the first disciple’s records living witness to what they saw and believed.” “Christians continue to encounter the joy of renewed hope, forgiveness for actions that diminish and destroy life and an invitation to a restored relationship with a merciful God.” “At Easter the Church proclaims ‘Christ is Risen! Alleluia!” We ring bells and celebrate with 50 days of feasting. As you enjoy the spring bank holiday festivities and time with loved ones may you encounter something of that message of joy and hope restored.” “Services of celebration will be taking place in the Cathedral and across the County. All are welcome.” n

Above: Christine prepares to welcome worshippers into the Cathedral to celebrate Easter in April. Roundel: King Edward I’s beloved wife Eleanor of Castile. Right: The choir.

We’ve all used the phrase ‘on your own head be it,’ to warn others that they bear responsibility for their actions. The phrase may come from the construction of structures like the Cathedral’s vaulted ceiling which was created by stone ‘ribs’ between which stone was inserted. ‘Plaster’ was then smothered over the surface of the stone, but not before the timber supports were removed. The moment they removed the supports was the moment when the tradespeople found out whether the construction was solid. It was always the senior tradesperson or foreman who would remove the last of the supports. If he had supervised the job poorly, the structure would come crashing down, quite literally on his head! On successful completion of the roof structure, the tradespeople would expect to hear a very audible ‘groan’ as the supports were removed and the structure settled into place. 15. The Cathedral has its own trampoline. Sort of...

Remaining with the theme of the Cathedral’s roof, a single medieval stone beam spans from one tower to the other in the West Front. It’s a beam which is designed to test the tension in the structure by flexing when it’s jumped on. Before rather more scientific methods were established, it was the job of one plucky Cathedral employee to jump up and down on the beam periodically to test the integrity of the structure! 16. You can follow the route of Eleanor of Castile to London...

When King Edward I’s beloved wife Eleanor of Castile died in Harby in 1290, Queen Eleanor (left) was taken 10 miles away to St Catherine’s in Lincoln to be embalmed and eviscerated. The viscera were buried in the Cathedral and the cadaver was moved to London, then a 12 day journey. Crosses were erected at points where the funeral procession stopped overnight. There were crosses in Lincoln, Grantham, Stamford then at Gedington and Hardingstone in Northamptonshire, Stratford in Buckinghamshire, in Woburn, Dunstable, St Albans, Waltham (now Waltham Cross), Westcheap (now Cheapside) and finally at Charing. It’s the final Eleanor Cross which gave Westminster’s Charing Cross its name. The original cross stood at the top of Whitehall on the south side of Trafalgar Square, but was destroyed on the orders of Parliament in 1647 during the Civil War, and was later replaced by an equestrian statue of Charles I in 1675 following the Restoration. 17. Some tourists become a little bit muddled...

To our amusement some of our Transatlantic friends have visited the Cathedral and taken pictures of it, only to find themselves scratching their heads at a building which looked a little bit larger in the guide books. Querying the diminutive structure with local hoteliers or barkeeps, they’ve been less than amused to discover that they had actually been taking pictures of Lincoln’s 120ft tall water tower on Westgate, which holds 1.3m litres of water and dates back to 1911, not 1072! As water towers go, Sir Reginald Blomfield’s is impressive, but let’s face it, it’s no Lincoln Cathedral!

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L I N C O L N

18. Bellringers in days of old could get quite tiddly...

Bell ringing is thirsty work. And constantly trudging from the bar to the belltower is a bit of a trek. Fortunately the problem was solved with The Jack. The specially commissioned leather tankard holds between 16 and 22 pints - nobody has been brave enough to test the exact quantity for a while - minimising the number of trips to the bar. We’re assured that the quantity of ale in The Jack was designed to serve all ringers, not just a single sturdy inebriate. In these modern times of health and safety and insurance conditions, the bellringers do not now use The Jack but they do go to the pub! 19. Running a Cathedral is difficult...

Lincoln Cathedral is a huge estate, with 200,000 people visiting each year, and varying structures and materials used in different parts of the building. The oldest timber used in the roof of the Cathedral has been dated by dendrochronology to 906AD, whilst the Lincolnshire limestone used in the building’s construction has been millions of years in the making prior to its quarrying. Fortunately the Cathedral has its own A-Team of craftsmen and women in the form of the Works Department, which comprises five craft teams: Stonemasonry and Conservation; Glazing; Carpentry/Joinery; Leadwork and Domus (Engineering & Maintenance). The Department also has its own Archivist and is supported by a small office team. The Cathedral has its own quarry, with a supply of 162 million year old stone. But the site off Riseholme

CAT H E D R A L

Road in Lincoln will run out of stone as early as 2021. The search is already on for another local quarry of suitable limestone. 20. Running the Cathedral is also expensive... that’s where you come in!

It costs around £3.5m a year to keep the Cathedral open, and an investment of £1.6m each year into the fabric of the building is required to ensure its condition doesn’t worsen. But it is not only a heritage building, it is also a place of worship which has been its primary purpose continuous on this spot for well over 1,000 years. There is a duty Chaplain and side Chapels available for private prayer, and a number of services take place daily, including beautiful singing by the choir at Evensong in the late afternoons - full details are on the Cathedral website www.lincolncathedral.com all are welcome.

A team of 600 volunteers and 70 employees run and maintain the Cathedral but they can’t do so unless we continue to visit the building. So, if you think you know Lincoln Cathedral, we challenge you to join a tour to discover its hidden secrets. Your entrance fee will help to preserve the building for centuries to come, and provide a hugely entertaining insight into the building you thought you knew!

n Admission to Lincoln Cathedral is £8/adults, £6.40/conc which includes a full floor tour by an experienced guide. Roof and tower tours can be booked at an additional charge. Call 01522 561600 or www.lincolncathedral.com. 25

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T H E

I N T E RV I E W

Claire BIRCH

OWNER OF DODDINGTON HALL

This month, Tilly Wilkinson interviews the owner of Doddington Hall Claire Birch on her mission to make the stately home self sufficient and sustainable...

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Britain’s beautiful historic houses are central to our nation’s history and culture. By avoiding war on English soil since the 1640s and by having a tradition of primogeniture, our country has an unequalled number of great houses and family collections of art and furniture, that are the envy of the world and a great attraction to visitors. These houses constantly appear as the stars of dramas like Downton Abbey (Highclere), Harry Potter (Alnwick), The Crown (Belvoir Castle) and The Favourite (Hatfield). Lincolnshire has its share of ancient castles, Tudor Halls and fine Georgian manors.

The fortunes of these buildings have been hit hard by the cost of repairs, maintenance and inheritance tax. A number of great Lincolnshire Houses like Aswaby, Bayons, Easton, Hartshome and Scrivelsby were demolished after the Second World War because they were considered to have no future. Others like Belton, Gunby, Gainsborough Old Hall and Tattershall Castle have been saved by the National Trust or English Heritage. But perhaps the best outcome is where the great houses continue to be family homes, the collections remain intact, and the history goes on. These include Burghley, Grimsthorpe, Scawby and Doddington. Since it was built in 1595, Doddington Hall has never been sold and is very much a family home. The current owners Claire and James Birch are doing everything they can to ensure it remains a family home and a benefit to the public for many years to come. What are your earliest memories of Doddington Hall?

I lived with my parents in Norfolk when I was young. My first memories of Doddington were visiting my grandparents at weekends and school holidays. When I was six, my father decided he wanted to become an architect so we went to live in Cambridge for several years while he studied.

When my grandparents took over the house from my greatgrandparents, the house was very run down thanks to two lots of inheritance tax which had resulted in a lot of the farmland being sold and a lack of income to spend on looking after the house. The top floor of the house was full of bathtubs catching the rainwater that was leaking through the roof which was desperately in need of repair. They managed to get a grant from the government to fix the roof on the condition they opened the main rooms in the house to the public. That was back in 1954 and Doddington has been open to the public ever since.

My grandfather died in 1974 just after my father had completed his degree so we moved to Doddington. I was 11. My father wanted to complete his training so he took up a job in an architect’s practice in Lincoln, running Doddington in the evenings and weekends. He soon realised that he was losing more money on the farm in a month than he was making from his current employment in a year, so he gave up his architectural ambitions to focus, with my mother, on making Doddington a success. Your parents played a big part in Doddington’s success then?

Yes they played a huge part in it. They worked incredibly hard to get Doddington to where it was when I took over. When they inherited the house they were presented with a huge Death Duty bill of £50,000 (approx. £770,000 in today’s money). They had no way of paying this and were really worried they would have to sell some of the contents of the house or land to pay the bill but they knew that this would make Doddington less able to be self-sufficient in 30

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T H E I N T E RV I E W C L A I R E B I R C H

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Top/Left: A view to the fields behind Doddington’s gardens. Top/Right: Claire in her office she shares with husband James. Centre: Unicorn topiary still trimmed by Claire’s father Anthony! Claire in the gardens by a very old oak tree. Bottom: The tapestry on the walls in the first image cost £400,000 to clean, repair and conserve! They are now displayed in two of the rooms open to the public. The process of cleaning these took two years in total and a new exhibition is themed around the work. Left is Claire (centre left) with her parents and sisters at Doddington.

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“

T H E I N T E RV I E W C L A I R E B I R C H

”

Ensuring Doddington Hall survived was of the upmost importance to me. It held 400 years of my family’s history, 400 years of various family occupations and hobbies, 400 years of diﬀerent eras and generations. It’s such a unique historic home. We had to ensure its survival for not just our generation, but future generations to come...

the future so they worked on an innovative solution that has subsequently been adopted quite widely. They held discussions with the government, and it was agreed that the most important painting at Doddington (by Sir Joshua Reynolds) would be handed over in lieu of the inheritance tax. Fortunately, it was such a big painting, they couldn’t fit it out of the doors of the house, so it stayed put in the Long Gallery where visitors can enjoy it - while it is technically owned by Temple Newsam Museum in Leeds.

In their 35 years at Doddington, my parents made huge improvements to the house, gardens and estate. A lot of it was done through their own hard work – thousands of hours in the gardens, repairing furniture, making curtains, sorting through archives. They built up the visitor numbers and won prizes for their schools’ programme. They held concerts, exhibitions and started planting and selling Christmas trees and Pick Your Own strawberries. It was hard and unglamorous work and it was clear to me and my sisters that whoever took over from them would have to work very hard too!

They also unknowingly planted the seeds for our first project, the restoration of our walled kitchen garden. As children all our vegetables came from a small patch of the kitchen garden so the pleasure of growing and picking veg and eating with the seasons is something that’s been ingrained in me from a young age and ultimately inspired our project to restore it. Knowing all this, what made you take on the property?

I met my husband James while I was still at school, we went to the same university and got married shortly after we graduated. James then worked in finance and I had a career in advertising, and later, in an environmental charity. We lived in London and later in Bombay and Hong Kong while our children were growing up. We took over Doddington Hall when my mother died in 2005. If you had asked me when I was a teenager, witnessing on a daily basis how stressful and tiring running Doddington was for my parents, I might have said ‘I don’t want to take it on’. But in 2005 it was different. While I could see it would be hard work, James and I could also see that there was huge potential in Doddington. The fact that the house had never been sold or cleared out since it was completed in

1600, was another factor. There is something very special about somewhere with 400 years of family history - 400 years of furniture, clothes, household items, collecting, hobbies and stories - and we didn’t want to be the first generation to turn our backs on that. What was it like?

It was very quickly apparent what a struggle it was to raise enough money to pay the annual costs for things like insurance, cleaning, upkeep, mending, repairing, fixing, up-grading and just general running costs of the hall and gardens. However when we took over James had been working for 20 years and had some savings from his career. At the same time there was a new Heritage Lottery Fund grant scheme for houses like Doddington, along with EU grants newly available to help farmers diversify, create employment and develop tourism in rural areas. This combination gave us a great opportunity to invest in and get grant funding for some new projects that could make Doddington more financially viable for future generations. What were the first steps you took to make Doddington self-sufficient?

I had the idea of developing the kitchen garden and opening it to the public as a new attraction. When we took over, about 1/4 of it was still in use for the family and the rest was a weed-ridden paddock. This was the ‘Jamie Oliver’ moment when people were starting to care more about where their food came from, seasonality, food miles and healthy eating. We managed to secure funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund towards this project which meant that we could maximise the educational potential of the Kitchen Garden restoration, and welcome schools and volunteers as well as the general public. At the same time we managed to secure a grant from the European Union to convert some old farm buildings into a Farm Shop and Café where we could showcase the produce from the gardens and offer our house visitors some refreshments. This was at a time where the concept of a farm shop was relatively new and there were only a handful in Lincolnshire. We had been selling home-grown Christmas trees for decades and felt that there might be a market for fresh produce too. We knew that couldn’t compete on the supermarket on price, but we hoped that quality, excellent customer service and offering a really pleasant shopping experience would win over customers.

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T H E I N T E RV I E W C L A I R E B I R C H

There is so much more at Doddington now. What did you develop next?

The Farm shop and Café were both very popular from the start and we over-achieved all our grant targets in terms of creating jobs and supporting local producers. We quickly realised that just two years after opening we needed to extend them both. We were successful in a second EU grant application which allowed us to extend the Farm Shop & Café, and benefit from the footfall it was attracting by converting further farm buildings into Country Clothing and Interiors stores. We also invested in our wedding business by building a beautiful wedding reception venue and dedicated banqueting kitchen in the garden of our Coach House. My parents had got a Civil License for weddings in the 1990s but the Coach House could only seat 40 people. With our new extension we can seat up to 120 people and, more importantly, feed them with Doddington-reared beef, game and kitchen Garden produce. We have plenty of mid-week corporate clients now too who also love the rural venue and delicious food. We also had grant aid towards installation of a huge wood-chip boiler which heats and provides carbon-neutral hot water for the hall, holiday cottages, shops and several other buildings; entirely from waste wood from the estate. Our latest initiative is our bike shop which, in combination with a newly tarmacked farm track giving a smooth, traffic-free route into Lincoln, has quickly become a major cycling hub for the area. And this summer we are launching the largest E-bike hire fleet in the county! What are you most proud of what do you credit that to?

I’m certainly proud of our progress towards making Doddington Hall a more environmentally sustainable and financially self-sufficient property for future generations. We take no profit whatsoever from the businesses. We’re always investing to improve Doddington financially and environmentally. We never stand still.

Every single penny we make from commercial enterprises helps maintain, repair and support the hall and gardens for future generations to visit and enjoy. I’m also really proud of the impact that has made on the local economy. We support scores of local producers and suppliers, we have 50 wonderful volunteers working in the hall and gardens and 120 staff on the payroll.

We have certain ‘core values’ that we try to stick to in everything we do: Quality, Creativity, exceptional Customer Service, and Sustainability. Our main aim is to offer everyone who comes to Doddington a great experience and to go the extra mile to give exceptional customer service – basically we want Doddington to be somewhere Yellow Bellies are proud of, a really lovely place to spend time. I hope we have achieved that. What does the future of Doddington Hall look like?

At the moment, our focus is to keep improving our current offering and to make sure that everyone who visits Doddington has a brilliant time. Only then can we continue to generate the money we need

Images: Editor Tilly Wilkinson interviewing Claire Birch in the private quarters of Doddington Hall. Opposite is Claire flicking through an old family photo album filled with memories.

to fund the upkeep, repairs and conservation work to the hall and its contents. We also want to make it a viable and environmentally sustainable enterprise for the next generation to take on. We are looking out for new opportunities in farming and wildlife conservation that might emerge in the coming months and years and making sure we keep on offering experiences that you can’t get anywhere else, least of all online!

James is currently President of Historic Houses, an association which represents over 1,600 architecturally important houses, almost all of which remain family homes. Of these some 350 are regularly open to the public and include Blenheim, Chatsworth and Castle Howard. By contrast the National Trust has about 200 open houses and only a handful are still inhabited. Part of Historic House’s mission is to remind the government that the nation benefits from the time and money private owners spend on their homes, without the help of public funds. The houses are also more interesting and sustainable as lived in homes, rather than as museums. Doddington is just one of several wonderful lived-in Historic Houses in the county. An important part of James’ role with Historic Houses is to make sure that ideas, experience and best practice are shared widely between owners of houses like Doddington. What do you both enjoy away from the Hall?

We love the countryside, cycling and walking when we get the time. I love cooking, sewing, ‘wild’ swimming and spending time with our three children, George, Luke and Alice - all working in London, but regular weekend visitors. We love to travel too but I’m passionate about the environment so try not to fly too much. Truthfully, our passion is the Hall. We spend our spare time visiting other properties and learning from them. When we’re not doing that, we’re fixing things for the house, stitching a curtain, polishing an antique. We absolutely love Doddington, it is a privilege to live here, we are incredibly proud of our staff and volunteers and we get a huge thrill when we see how much our visitors enjoy it here. n For more information visit www.doddingtonhall.com.

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COME FLY WITH US!

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DISCOVER SOME OF THE MOST INCREDIBLE EXPERIENCES ON EARTH! From spotting wildlife as the sun sets over a South African plain, to a private viewing of the Faberge collection in St Petersburg, or even a private candlelit dinner in the Thai jungle, against the backdrop of a gushing waterfall. At Clare Lockett Travel Counsellors we can shape the perfect holiday for you, and help you to discover adventures you didn't even know were possible

Call 01778 338530 or 01733 210687 www.travelcounsellors.com/clare.lockett clare.lockett@travelcounsellors.com

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WHAT’S ON

What’s On... DODDINGTON

BOSTON

Sunday 21St april

Food and drink FeaStiVal

Vienna FeStiVal Ballet - GiSelle

The Doddington Food & Drink Feastival is a celebration of fresh, seasonal and local produce with tasty treats! A fabulous range of local artisan food and drink suppliers will be showcasing their produce including tastings and exciting new line introductions. Come and meet our passionate Farm Shop team and find out more about their favourite products and recipe ideas.

The ultimate romantic ballet, Giselle is a tale of innocence, love, betrayal and madness. With music by one of the 19th century’s best composers, Adolphe Adam, and choreography by the late Nicholas Beriosoff, VFB’s traditional staging of this 1841 masterpiece moves from the sunny optimism of Giselle’s idyllic village life to an ethereal world of mystery and menace. Giselle, a peasant girl, has fallen in love with Count Albrecht, who has told her he is a villager named Loys. Her discovery of his true identity has devastating consequences. Giselle is the perfect way to discover classical ballet.

n For more information, visit www.doddingtonhall.com. WOODHALL SPA

Sunday 28th april

WeddinG open day Come and see the Petwood’s wonderful wedding venue. This is a great opportunity to explore the beautiful venue and grounds and meet the brilliant Events team if you’re getting married soon.

n Tickets: Adults £19.50, Conc. £18.50, U16 £14.50. 2pm & 5pm. Call 01205 363108 or visit www.blackfriarsartscentre.co.uk.

Countryside Lincs Returns

A FUN PACKED FAMILY DAY OUT ABOUT FOOD, FARMING AND THE COUNTRYSIDE...

LINCOLN

Sunday 14th april

CountrySide linCS Back for its fifth year, Countryside Lincs returns to the Lincolnshire Showground with a fun-filled and interactive day all about food, farming and the countryside. Meet producers, crafters, farmers and lots of animals all in one place to inspire young minds all about Lincolnshire's heritage. With a huge variety of activities in both our indoor and outdoor zones, Countryside Lincs is the perfect day out whatever the weather. n Adult £7, Child (5-16 years) £4, Family £18, Under 5's are FREE! Call 01522 522900 or visit www.lincolnshireshowground.co.uk.

n To book your place please email events@petwood.co.uk or call 01526 352411. CRANWELL

Saturday 1St april

hiGh FlyinG Women - the aViatorS Discover the incredible stories of women who fought against adversity to achieve aviation history at Cranwell Aviation Heritage Museum. From world famous Amy Johnson to the Episcopal Priest’s wife who became a world class stunt pilot come along and be inspired from Saturday 1st April to Sunday 24th September. n Call 01529 488490 or visit community.lincolnshire.gov.uk.

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Send your press releases and events to: the Features Editor via editor@pridemagazines.co.uk.

SPALDING

thurSday 11th april

national theatre liVe: all aBout eVe

NEWARK

Saturday 20th monday 22nd april

the neWark Garden ShoW The Newark Showground will burst into a gardening extravaganza in April 2019 as the Newark Garden Show returns for the 16th year. The wonderful three day event celebrates the very best of gardening, home and lifestyle. The Showground will be filled with inspiration,

flowers & plants and everything you need for your home and garden. The show is a celebration of the great outdoors. You will find an abundance of indoors and outdoors trade stands, selling everything from unique garden gazebos, greenhouses and arbours to gardening sundries and hundreds of other products from over 100 leading exhibitors n For more information, visit www.newarkgardenshow.co.uk.

An Egg-Citing Easter...

HEAD TO THE LINCOLNSHIRE WILDLIFE PARK FOR AN EGG-CITING DAY OUT FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY

Gillian Anderson and Lily James star in this new stage adaptation broadcast from the National Theatre. Gillian Anderson and Lily James lead in All About Eve, broadcast live to cinemas from the West End in London. All About Eve tells the story of Margo Channing: legend, True star of the theatre. The spotlight is hers, always has been. But now there’s Eve. Her biggest fan. Young, beautiful Eve. The golden girl, the girl next door. But you know all about Eve… don’t you? n Call 01775 764777 or visit www.southhollandcentre.co.uk. LOUTH

Friday 26th april

eSCape preSented By riChard JoneS Richard Jones was the winner SKEGNESS

monday 15th - monday 22nd april

linColnShire WildliFe park Have an ‘Egg’citing Easter at Lincolnshire Wildlife Park. Bring the whole family along for a great day out. Follow Alice down the rabbit hole with the special Easter trail, meet her friends along the way and collect clues to win some great treats! Enjoy some extra special activities on the way round including mini beasts, face painting and fundraising games to really top off your

of Britain’s Got Talent 2016 and is a British Army soldier as well as one of the world’s greatest magicians. With his captivating performances, Richard has travelled every continent with his first-class show. With news of his next tour, Escape being announced, Richard has something very different in store for fans – this time, he’s attempting ‘meaningful magic,’ that’s not just your normal set of tricks, but a programme by which to live your life. n Call 01507 600350 or visit www.louthriverheadtheatre.com. ALFORD

thurSday 18th monday 22nd april

eaSter CraFt market Held in The Corn Exchange, Market Place, as well as all the craft stalls, there will be live music, children's make and take Fimo clay modelling, plus tea, coffee and cakes.

n www.lovelincolnshirewolds.com.

day with the Lincolnshire Wildlife Park. With wild and endangered species to visit including tapir, puma, panther, meerkats, lemurs, emus and hundreds of cheeky parrots, as well as the Wildlife Park’s Rainforest Diner to stop and refuel, you’re guaranteed a memorable day out this Easter at the Lincolnshire Wildlife Park. n Call 0871 384 1130, email

sophie@lincswildlife.com or visit the website www.lincswildlife.com for more information. Visit Lincolnshire Wildlife Park on Dickon Hill Road, Friskney PE22 8PP.

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WHAT’S ON

Send your press releases and events to: the Features Editor via editor@pridemagazines.co.uk.

A Traditional Summer Day Out

DON’T MISS 2019’S ENTERTAINMENT AT NOTTINGHAMSHIRE COUNTY SHOW AT THE NEWARK SHOWGROUND... NEWARK

saTurday 11Th - 12Th May

newarK show

Experience a great traditional family day out this Spring at Nottinghamshire County Show. New for this year are British Ridden Heavy Horse of the Year and, following on from the success of the dedicated ‘Heavies Ring’ in 2018, the Heavy Horse ‘Village’ will have even more to entertain, including ‘working horse’

demonstrations on both days. This first show of the season showcases the best cattle, sheep, goats and pigs alongside superb equine events.

In addition to usual farm favourites will be gun dogs, hunting hounds and birds of prey. Children will particularly enjoy the animals in the Countryside Area. Featuring as the main attraction is Dzhigitovka, an exciting Cossack trick-riding spectacular, straight

from Russia, with fabulously costumed riders and dare-devil horses, performing to music.

There will be lots of fun, a tasty Food Experience area, and ample opportunity to shop for crafts, gifts and clothing, many items on sale will not be available in the high street stores.

n See the show’s website www.nottingamshirecountyshow.com for further details and Membership information or to speak to a friendly member of staff, call 01636 705796.

WELBECK

saTurday 27Th apriL

ForaGinG ThrouGh The year

Make the most of nature’s rich and abundant larder and discover more about wild food with professional forager James Wood.

Considered as one of the UK’s top foraging and wild food experts, James’ mission is to share his knowledge and show people that wild food is some thing we can all forage, prepare and enjoy.

During this evening demonstration, James will share his vast experience and knowledge alongside recipe inspiration to maximise each season’s unique flavours and wild produce. He will showcase his favourite ingredients, provide foraging advice and share his top tips on where to find ingredients, as well as teach you how to transform simple foraged produce in to show-stopping meals. n Price £20pp, 6pm - 9pm, 01909 532171 or visit www.school ofartisanfood.org

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LINCOLN MINSTER

Bringing Learning to Life at

LINCOLN MINSTER With trips as close to home as Lincolnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s The Lawn and as far reaching as Tanzania, there is no limit to the active learning engaging pupils at Lincoln Minster School...

The school believes that a rich and varied education reaches beyond the classroom and are proud to offer a wide-ranging trips programme to their pupils. There is undoubtedly no substitute for real experience and school trips provide a great opportunity for pupils to gain such experience and face a range of challenges that contribute significantly to their personal development.

Residential trips allow classmates and teachers to interact in a completely new dimension challenging their interpersonal skills; including teamwork, leadership, trust and respect. These trips have the profound ability to inspire pupils into having greater aspirations, hence Above: The wonderful Harper Building on campus for Music and Drama. Roundel: Headteacher JM Wallace. Main: The school is situated right near Lincoln Cathedral.

broadening their horizons for the future.

Preparatory pupils have recently returned from Madrid, where they were able to further develop their language skills and gain a better cultural understanding, boarders have enjoyed a day trip to Warner Bros. Harry Potter Studio Tour and Senior School pupils are currently in the process of preparing for a world record attempt in the Himalayas for the highest game of Hockey! Careful thought goes into the itinerary of trips and activities in order to test, inspire and develop pupils, taking their learning well beyond the confines of a classroom and preparing them for the wider world.

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An Education on the Move

Junior Ski Trip: Pupils from Year’s 5 through to 9 headed to the French Alps in December. Great progress and memories were made both off and on the slopes with the group enjoying a treasure hunt through the local town, ice skating and bowling.

Tanzania Expedition: Summer 2018 saw 15 pupils from the Senior School fundraise to cover the costs of travelling out to Tanzania. Whilst there, the pupils helped out with the initial stages of renovating a school before going on safari in Tarangire National Park and the trip concluded with a 4562m trek up Mount Meru.

Fosse House: Pre-Preparatory pupils are making fortnightly visits to Fosse House Care Home as part of the initiative ‘Bridging the Generation Gap’. Creating connections is beneficial to both age groups, with the children benefiting from praise and feedback and developing an understanding of the differences between generations.

n For more information call us on 01522 551300 or attend our Open Afternoon on Friday 28th June, register your interest online at lincolnminsterschool.co.uk/visit.

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FOOD & DRINK

IN TUNE WITH DINERS

The Bell at Coleby

For whom does The Bell at Coleby toll? Anyone seeking stunning quality dining in a relaxed setting with wine fit for a connoisseur. Lincolnshire’s Paul Vidic is one of the most well-known and well-respected pan-rattlers in the area, trained by none other than Monseigneur Raymond Blanc... Tired of Brexit yet? Us too. That’s why we’re forming a new political party. The Bell Party. So-called because the idea came to us as we drove to this month’s featured restaurant.

Having endured yet another radio debate on the subject of Brexit we were glad to arrive at the pub restaurant; even more so to be reunited with one of the county’s best chefs, Paul Vidic who I’ve decided will be the party’s chief minister in charge of really good food, and together a manifesto formed. The party’s spiritual leader is maestro Monseigneur Raymond Blanc, responsible for Paul’s training. That’s not to say that Paul can’t trade on his own reputation - rather than off the back of Raymond’s - especially in this part of the world where he’s regarded as one of the best cooks in Lincolnshire.

His Coleby restaurant has become a superlative example of what really good dining can be, in a relaxed but comfortable environment. It sets the manifesto for The Bell Party as follows: We demand classically trained chefs, ones who demand the best ingredients and use them to their fullest potential. We demand a good choice on the menu. We demand great flavours. We demand skill, talent, and creativity. We also demand really good wine.

“IF YOU’RE ONE OF HIS DINERS, ASK FOR PAUL’S WINE RECOMMENDATION. YOU WON’T REGRET IT...!”

Words & Images: Rob Davis.

meet the CHEF PAUL VIDIC CHEF PATRON

Paul is not just a connoisseur when it comes to wine, but a keen trader, too, with plenty of market knowledge. He told me how much he spent recently, buying some ‘too good to pass up’ bottles from a contact in the industry who recently offered them. He jumped at the chance, with a view to either to flipping them, laying them down or purchasing them to sell to his diners.

Whilst I won’t prove so indecorous as to reveal his exact spend on fine wine, I’ll point out that if you ever find yourself going out for a drink with him, you should watch the bar bill; he can’t resist high end wine. “I really am overdue to get into the cellar and catalogue it.” The problem is, Paul’s far too busy being one of the county’s best restauranteurs to curate some dull Excel document of his vintages. Besides, wine should be enjoyed with a glass... definitely not a spreadsheet.

However, if you’re one of his diners, ask for the chef ’s wine recommendation. You won’t regret it and the chef will love to dig out something from the cellar that’s really special.

Food History: Born West Yorkshire, trained in the Lakes at Kendal College and Michael’s Nook, then at Berkeley Knightsbridge and Blanc Oxford in Somerton. Food Philosophy: There are no shortcuts to good cooking, it’s labour intensive. But a good restaurant is nothing without that other essential quality; consistency. Food Heaven: Grouse, oxtail cooked long and slow, or a Bavette steak. Food Hell: Tripe! It’s bland, it has a horrible texture. It’s just... bad! n

What’s more, a stunning wine will make the first-class dining opportunities at The Bell even more of a treat. >> 45

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>> For the uninitiated, Paul gained his reputation as Head Chef at Lincoln’s Wig & Mitre the provision of food at which he transformed from toasties to tasties, before moving on to The Brownlow Arms and turning that into one of the county’s best restaurants. He turned his attention to refurbishing The Bell at Coleby in 2011, and now it’s one of the best places in the county to dine too. And that’s not an overstatement.

Chef cut his teeth in Knightsbridge’s Berkeley followed by a number of years at Blanc’s two-Michelin star restaurant, the Somerton

OPEN FOR FOOD Wednesday - Saturday: 5.30pm - 11pm Early Bird: Wednesdays & Thursday 5.30pm - 7pm; Friday 5.30pm - 6.30pm Sunday Lunch: 12:00pm - 3:00pm

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on the MENU FROM THE À LA CARTE MENU OF THE BELL AT COLEBY Starters

Double baked Lincolnshire Poacher Cheese soufflé with roast ham, leeks & cream £10.50.

Jerusalem artichoke soup with seared scallop, hazelnuts and truffle oil £6.95. Main Courses

Boneless oxtail with chicken and porcini mushroom stuffing, mousseline potatoes with shallot onion rings £21.50.

precursor to Manoir aux Quat’Saisons. Paul is still making good use of his classical training, with the combination of scallops and artichokes in his Jerusalem Artichoke soup, whilst the soufflé we’re featuring here and a number of his sauces, are the direct result of co-creation between Paul and Blanc. There’s a huge amount of time and effort involved in Paul’s dishes. We’ll describe him as a true stickler for detail and the unholy enemy of corner-cutting.

Breads, sorbets, petit fours, sauces and desserts are all made in house. As are ice creams; try Paul’s golden syrup ice cream and you’ll think you’ve discovered the place that really good people get to go to, shortly after a spell in heaven. Paul isn’t a slave to local ingredients, which may seem controversial, but his fish supplier is Brixham in Devon who holds the Royal Warrant for her Majesty the Queen at Buckingham Palace... which tells you all you need to know.

Still more locally Gary Simpson of Sleaford and Peterborough Game are suppliers, whilst vegetables are sourced from local fields where possible.

The restaurant has a capacity of about 65 diners, with lovely touches like wood burners, candles and starched linens. Early Bird dining is available for a generous £19.95/two courses; £22.95/three courses and offers a four/five/five menu. À la carte dining offers a choice of nine starters, 11 main courses and seven puddings plus additional options of no fewer than eight flavours of ice cream, four sorbets and a tour de force of cheese. So there you have it. The manifesto of The Bell Party. A comfortable dining room, great food - thanks to great ingredients and skilled chefs - and some decent wine to accompany. It’s a party of values. A party of the country, for the country, in the country, working towards the country. Join the party and you too could be enjoying the finest cuisine courtesy of Chef Paul. Having been cooking in the county since 1988, the chef is no ‘flash in the pan,’ and at The Bell, you’ll find plenty of choice, technically flawless chefcraft and a huge amount of creativity all combining to create a great dining experience. We hope that we can count on your vote? n

Pan fried fillet of wild sea bass with purple sprouting broccoli, saffron potatoes and chive beurre blanc £28.50. Dessert

Chef Paul’s warm cherry bakewell brandy tart with cherry and Amaretto ice cream £6.95.

Caramelised Bell at Coleby bread & butter pudding with proper egg custard sauce £6.95. Golden syrup, black cherry & Amaretto, strawberry, golden vanilla, white chocolate, honeycomb, salted caramel, ginger £2.10/scoop. NB: Featured dishes are subject to change. n The Bell at Coleby, Far Lane, Coleby, Lincoln, LN5 0AH. Call 01522 813778 or see www.thebellatcoleby.com. 47

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Luke Hickman from the Ram at Newark presents his starter of whipped goats’ cheese mousse with beetroot terrine, raw beet salad and crostini. Featured dishes are representative examples of our featured chefs’ skills... the menus of our featured restaurants change frequently so dishes remain subject to availability. Check each restaurant’s website prior to your visit for an up-to-date menu to avoid disappointment.

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FOOD & DRINK

Local chefs

spring into action As blue skies and lighter evenings pay us a visit, the restaurants of Lincolnshire have a fresh new palette of ingredients from which to create delicious dishes...

When spring arrives it brings with it warmer temperatures, colour and new growth in the garden and a new wardrobe. It will also bring a host of fresh new ingredients for the county’s chefs to use.

From local asparagus and new potatoes to spring salads and spring lamb, there’s a renewed sense of optimism about the season which also permeates the area’s best dining rooms.

This month we’re featuring spring dishes from some of our favourite restaurants across the county, offering a flavour - visually if not literally - of how the county’s most talented and creative chefs can make the most of the season.

Each month in Pride we feature locally owned independent restaurants that support local farmers and food producers, so a visit to any of our featured restaurants is also a delicious way to support the area’s rural economy. Every time we visit a local restaurant we’re always keen to meet the chefs themselves and to find out what dishes they enjoy cooking, and what qualities they believe help to create a really good dining experience. We’ve pictured the chefs responsible for these thoroughly delicious works of art later in our feature to give them their ‘five minutes of fame!’ >>

Below (left to right): Some of the county’s most talented chefs, Paul Fields from Lawsons Bar & Bistro; Paul McGann from the Plough; Luke Hickman from The Ram at Newark; Vicki Dillamore from the Thatched Cottage; Steven Bennett at the Pig & Whistle; Dale Gill from the Lincoln Hotel; Phillip Long from the Petwood Hotel; Kanchana Yinyong from the Quayside Hotel & Bar. n

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;Spring dining means mouthwatering dishes, lighter and healthier, with local vegetables, locally reared spring lamb and new potatoes...â&#x20AC;?

Main: Phillip Long prepares a scallop starter at the Petwood Hotel in Woodhall Spa.

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The Lincolnshire Tapas at the Red Lion in Bicker, part of the Supreme Inns Group.

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A trio of pan fried scallops with parsley purĂŠe, crispy parma ham and edible flowers from Vicki Dillamore at the Thatched Cottage in Sutterton.

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Venison loin and ragu with butternut squash, brambles, chestnut, parmesan crisp and calovo nero cooked by Steven Bennett at the Pig & Whistle in Healing.

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OUR FEATURED RESTAURANTS Please note, featured dishes are representative examples of our featured chefs’ skills... the menus of our featured restaurants change often, so dishes remain subject to availability. Check each restaurant’s website prior to your visit for a fresh menu to avoid disappointment.

The Petwood Hotel Stixwould Road, Woodhall Spa LN10 6QG, 01526 352411, www.petwood.co.uk.

Paul McGann’s deconstructed Eton Mess dessert from the Plough at North Kyme.

The Petwood’s venison dish with figs and smoked mash by Phillip Long in Woodhall Spa.

Lawsons Bar & Bistro 8-9 The Strait, Lincoln LN2 1JD, 01522 520202, lawsonsbarandbistro.co.uk.

The Thatched Cottage Pools Lane, Sutterton, Boston PE20 2EZ, 01205 461006, the thatchedcottagerestaurant.co.uk

The Pig & Whistle: Healing Manor, Healing, Grimsby DN41 7QF, 01472 884544, www.healingmanorhotel.co.uk

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The Ram 19 Castlegate, Newark NG24 1AZ, 01636 940220, www.theramnewark.com.

The Lincoln Hotel Eastgate, Lincoln LN2 1PN, 01522 520348, www.thelincolnhotel.com.

A delicious take on the Scotch Egg at Lawsons Bar and Bistro in Lincoln by owner Paul Fields.

The Plough 3 Church Lane, North Kyme LN4 4DJ, 01526 861400, www.theplough.restaurant. Other Recommended RESTAURANTS

The Olive Branch, Clipsham, 01780 410355, theolivebranchpub.com. Lawsons, Lincoln, 01522 520202, lawsonsbarandbistro.co.uk.

The Old Tile Works, The Humber, 01652 637095, theoldtileworks.com. Supreme Inns, Boston, 01205 822804, supremeinns.co.uk. San Pietro, Scunthorpe, 01724 277774, sanpietro.uk.com.

Blacksmiths Arms, Rothwell, 01472 371300, blacksmithsrothwell.co.uk. Jewâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s House, Lincoln, 01522 524851, jewshouserestaurant.co.uk.

Various desserts from the White Hart in Lincoln. Head chef Myles Mumby.

Teahouse in the Woods, 01526 354455, teahouseinthewoods.co.uk.

The Bell, Coleby, 01522 813778, thebellatcoleby.com.

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Fresh, Fresh, homemade, homemade, locally locally sourced sourced delicious delicious food food in in the the heart heart of of Lincolnshire... Lincolnshire...

Enjoy a taste of fine cuisine with our à la carte dining experience

SERVING FRESH LOCAL AND SEASONAL FOOD!

Available Available 12 12 noon noon –– 2pm 2pm and and 6pm 6pm –– 9pm 9pm Monday Monday to to Saturday. Saturday. Sunday Sunday Lunch Lunch served served 12noon 12noon –– 5pm. 5pm. BOOKING BOOKING IN IN ADVANCE ADVANCE IS IS RECOMMENDED RECOMMENDED DUE DUE TO TO HIGH HIGH DEMAND DEMAND

Church Lane, North Kyme Lincolnshire LN4 4DJ

(01526) 861 400

www.theplough.restaurant

THE THATCHED COTTAGE RESTAURANT & BAR • Beautiful unique thatched cottage

• Stunning 40 seater A La Carte restaurant • Function room catering for birthdays, wakes, christenings, conference, small wedding receptions • OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK

Tel: 01205 461006

POOLS LANE, SUTTERTON, BOSTON, LINCS PE20 2EZ enquiries@thethatchedcottagerestaurant.co.uk www.thethatchedcottagerestaurant.co.uk

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In the KITCHEN

British Asparagus season begins on 23rd April coinciding with St George’s Day. Here are our to three serving suggestions...!

BRUNCH MUFFINS

with Local Asparagus, Egg and Bacon

Preparation time: 10 minutes. Cooking time: 15-20 minutes. Serves: Four. 2 tbsp olive oil • 12 rashers smoked streaky bacon • Four English muffins, split • 25g butter • 4 large eggs • 200g British asparagus tips • salt and freshly ground black pepper Preheat the oven to 120°C. Add half the olive oil to another frying pan and fry bacon until crisp. Transfer to a plate line with kitchen paper and leave to drain. Spilt the muffins open and toast on both sides, spreading with a little butter if you like. Transfer the muffins and the bacon to the low oven to keep warm.

Fill a deep-frying pan with boiling water from the kettle water and add a pinch of salt, setting over a high heat to bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to a minimum so you just see a few gentle bubbles forming. Crack an egg into to a small bowl and slide gently into the water, lowering the bowl as close to the water surface as you can so the egg doesn’t spread out. Repeat with the other eggs and leave to poach until cooking to your liking, about 5-7 minutes.

Bring a pan of water to the boil, add the asparagus and cook for 2-3 until just tender. Drain well, drizzle over the rest of the olive oil and season with a little salt and pepper. Keep warm with the muffins and bacon if the eggs are not quite ready. Use a slotted spoon to lift the eggs from the water to a plate lined with kitchen paper. Allow to drain for a few seconds. To assemble the muffins, start by adding 3 rashers of bacon to each muffin. Divide the seasoned asparagus between each muffin and finish with a poached egg. Top with other half of the muffin and tuck in immediately.

Recipes & Dishes: www.britishasparagus.com. Use local producer Fairburns for perfect eggs, www.fairburnseggs.co.uk.

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ASPARAGUS & LEMON FETTUCCINE Ingredients: 250g local Asparagus, trimmed • Finely grated zest and juice of ½ lemon • 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil • 150g De Cecco Fettuccine All’Uovo • 25g pine nuts, toasted (optional) • Grated Grana Padano cheese to serve (optional)

Cook the asparagus in a pan of boiling water for 4–5 minutes until just tender. Remove from the water with a slotted spoon and cut into short lengths. Keep warm. Place 100ml of the asparagus cooking water in a small pan with the lemon juice. Return to the heat and boil rapidly for five minutes until reduced and syrupy. Whisk in the olive oil to create an emulsion and season. Cook the pasta in boiling water for four minutes until tender. Drain and toss the pasta with the asparagus, lemon zest, pine nuts and reduced stock. Season and serve in warm bowls with the grated Grana Padano cheese, if you wish. n

EASY ASPARAGUS & RICOTTA PIZZAS

Ingredients: 500g Sun-Dried Tomato & Chilli Bread Mix from Waitrose • 250g tub Ricotta • 230g bunch local British Asparagus, halved lengthways • 1 tbsp olive oil • 4 tbsp fresh Green Pesto with Basil

Place the bread mix in a large bowl, setting aside a handful for dusting the surface. Make a well in the centre, add 250ml lukewarm water then bring together to make a slightly sticky dough. Knead the dough vigorously for 5 minutes until it becomes smooth and elastic. Divide the dough into four even-sized balls then roll out to make 26 x 12cm ovals. Transfer to two large, non-stick baking sheets. Preheat the oven to 220ºC, gas mark 7. Spoon the ricotta onto the pizza bases then place the asparagus on top. Drizzle lightly with olive oil and leave to rise for 10 minutes. Bake for 15 minutes until the base is cooked through and the asparagus is tender. Dot over the pesto and finish with a good grinding of black pepper. Serve warm. n Recipes & Dishes: www.waitrose.com/recipes.

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SPRING ASPARAGUS & GOAT’S CHEESE TART

Prep time: 30 minutes. Cooking time: 40 minutes. Ingredients: 1 x 230g sheet Shortcrust Pastry, thawed • 230g bunch local Asparagus, trimmed • 130g pack Goat’s Cheese, cubed • 4 medium free range eggs • 150ml single cream • ½ x 15g pack chives, snipped

Preheat the oven to 200ºC, gas mark 6. Unroll the pastry sheet and line a 23cm loose-bottomed flan tin with it, trimming the excess to fit. Prick with a fork. Chill in the fridge for 10 minutes then line with a crumpled sheet of greaseproof paper over the pastry and weigh it down with baking beans or rice grains. Bake blind for 10 minutes then remove the beans or rice & paper and return to the oven for a further five minutes. Meanwhile steam the asparagus for five minutes until just tender. Drain and run under cold water. Pat dry with kitchen paper and cut into 5cm lengths. Arrange over the base of the pastry case and scatter over the cubed goat’s cheese. Whisk together the eggs, cream and chives. Season the mixture and pour into the pastry case. Bake for 30–35 minutes until the filling is set and the top golden. Serve warm or cold. n

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Would a gin by any other flavour be as sweet?

Wine of the Month

Edna Valley Chardonnay,

Floral ranges including colour-changing rose gin from Secret Garden...

US, 2015/16 £15.99 / 75cl / 14% ABV

What a treat for spring - a reminder that summer is just around the corner with a scent of an English country garden. The Old Curiosity Distillery has launched three Secret Garden gins, with Lavender & Echinacea, Chamomile & Cornflower and Apothecary Rose.

The latter changes colour slightly with lemon or tonic and comes with a garnish bag containing rose petals. Subtle and floral in flavour, we have to ask, would a gin by any other name smell - or indeed taste - as sweet...? n £36 / 50cl / 39% ABV.

The Wine Cellar A SUPER SELECTION OF SPRING TREATS FROM AN ENGLISH DESSERT WINE TO A FLORAL GIN AND A TRIO OF MALBEC WINES TO CELEBRATE THE REGION’S DAY THIS MONTH... CELEBRATE WORLD MALBEC DAY: 17th April 2019...

1. Celebrate World Malbec Day in style with this sublime high-end example. Deep purple in colour, blackberry with hints of violets, sweet spices, vanilla and tobacco. It’s full bodied with black pepper spice. £29.99 / 75cl / 14% ABV. 2. Alternatively, for a mid-range Malbec, this Pulenta Mendoza is exclusive to Berry Bros and Rudd, and is a 2017 vintage with a soft hedgerow-fruit aroma, allied to a bright, raspberry freshness. £12.50 / 75cl / 14.5% ABV. 3.And finally, for a midweek Malbec, Waitrose is offering this organic, Fairtrade example for a snip. Intense, rich, pure and ethical. A guiltfree mid-week indulgence from one of the area’s best names. £7.99 / 75cl / 12.5% ABV.

This is one of California’s coolest vineyard areas, and one of the coolest options for a spring Chardonnay, ideal whether temperatures continue to be mild or the warmer weather decides to treat us to a little sunshine. Edna Valley is the ideal location for creating refined, restrained and elegant Chardonnay. The grapes are whole-bunch pressed and fermented in French and Hungarian oak. Combining typically Californian richness of texture with great freshness of fruit and subtle complexity, with crisp acidity cutting through the layers of ripe apple fruit and toasty oak A fine match for roast dinners, we sourced this example from Majestic. n

A Very Cool Dessert Wine

...made in England!

Here’s an unusual prospect. Ice wine is a type of dessert wine produced from grapes that have been frozen while still on the vine. The sugars and other dissolved solids do not freeze, but the water does, allowing for a more concentrated grape juice to develop. To our knowledge, Eglantine North Star is the only English-made ice wine, ideal to accompany fruity puddings or chocolate desserts. A nice blend of acid and sweetness actually made in Nottinghamshire!

n £34.99 / 35cl / 10.5% ABV.

n Our featured wines are available from the best local independent wine merchants, supermarkets and online, prices are RRP and may vary from those stated.

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VICTORY A VICTORIAN

TOWNGATE HOUSE IN THE DEEPINGS HAS SO MUCH TO OFFER OTHER THAN ITS BEAUTIFUL EXTERIOR AND GOTHIC CHARM. IF ITS ORIGINAL FEATURES AND TRADITIONAL CONVERSION DOESNâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;T TEMPT YOU, ITS ENORMOUS SWIM SPA AND ENCLOSED COURTYARD MAY JUST SWAY YOUR OPINION AS SUMMER CREEPS EVER CLOSER... Words: Tilly Wilkinson.

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We love to see a property that has been converted and used to its full potential. Towngate House in the Deepings certainly ticks that box. Becky and her husband have lived there with their family after taking on the enormous task of renovating the property in 2016. “We are a family of six,” says Becky. “We have three daughters who are seven, 12 and 20, and a son who is nine. They all attend local schools and the eldest has now left for university.” “After the full renovation from the roof down, we are seeking a new project for our Above: The main bedroom and the open plan dining/kitchen space.

Main: The beautiful kitchen and to the right is the entrance to Towngate House.

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next home and would love to stay around the area as we really like The Deepings and surrounding villages.”

As you enter through the electric iron gates you arrive at Towngate House. The property has two floors with a grand staircase and servant’s stairs. On the ground floor, the rooms comprise of four reception rooms which are currently used as a living room, games room, play room and snug.

A kitchen leads on to a large utility room. The house also has a cellar under the servant’s stairs. Upstairs comprises of six bedrooms, two en suites and a main bathroom. “The property is a Victorian farmhouse dating back to 1866 with a stained glass

“Our friends and family thought we were crazy to take on such a big project, but we could see the potential in the property straight away...” window depicting Moses and the Ten Commandments. The house is built of stone and red brick with a Collyweston slate roof. As soon as we saw the house we just automatically fell in love with it.” “Although everyone said we were crazy taking on such a huge project, we could see the potential straight away. It has such great

character and there are so many beautiful original features.”

“We started the renovation in late 2016 and moved in during December 2017. The works started with a new Collyweston roof. We then had the task of stripping the house room by room and doing the necessary rewiring, plumbing and total refurbishment. The kitchen and bathrooms were all sourced and installed by local businesses.”

“As you enter the front door, you arrive into the hallway, where there is an original stone open fireplace on your right and large staircase in front of you with the stained glass window.” “To the left is the games room with the living room opposite and games room next door.

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All three rooms have original fireplaces and sash windows with original working shutters.” “The snug has the original butchers block as a feature. Walking through to the kitchen, there are fitted oak and painted units with a large island unit with granite worktops and a Falcon induction oven. Again the kitchen has sash windows and oak French doors that open out to the rear garden.” “The kitchen has the original meat hooks in the ceiling and the servant’s bells. The en-suite is fitted with Duravit furniture.”

“The plot is set on two acres. The rear garden is mainly laid to lawn with a vegetable plot, childrens’ play area and paddock. There is an

Left: The main bathroom. Above: The main living space with fireplace and bay windows. Right is the garden with a built in swim spa and patio heaters.

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outbuilding and shed attached to the house. In the enclosed courtyard to the side of the property, we have a decked seating area with patio heaters and a swim spa with a lounge area to the side and a small lawn.” The front garden is bordered by iron railings and fencing and has a water fountain feature in the middle of the gravel driveway. There is also a brick built triple garage. There is definitely plenty of space for children and pets to run around.” We have had some fantastic years in this property and we will be sad to leave as I have had two of my children here, but we are keen to do one last project on a slightly smaller scale!”

TOWNGATE HOUSE,

THE DEEPINGS Style: A beautiful 19th century Victorian farmhouse recently converted into a modern style. Bedrooms: Six bedrooms, two en suites and a main bathroom. Receptions: Four currently arranged as living room, games room, play room and snug. Features: Various outbuildings, enclosed courtyard, French doors, swim spa, long driveway, Grade II listing, original features, triple garage with room above, two acres of landscaped gardens and paddock and a superb location. Price: £1,250,000. Find Out More: Towngate West is currently on the market with Hurfords, 5 The Barns, Milton Lane, Castor, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, PE5 7DH. Call 01733 380956 or for more info see www.hurfords.co.uk.

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SOPHIE LOCAL HOMEWARES & LIFESTYLE DESIGNER

ALLPORT Words: Rob Davis

You have a favourite tea towel, right? Everyone has a favourite tea towel. I certainly have a favourite tea towel. It’s a Sophie Allport one, from the Stamford based designer’s Pheasant Collection. Not just because it’s a great looking product. Nor because it’s commensurate with the look and feel of the countryside in this part of the world. Rather, it’s a favourite of mine because it’s such a high quality product. Our kitchen is routinely a place where cookware, utensils and linens come to die. And yet, despite the best efforts of the present Mrs Davis to stain, shred, immolate and extirpate this fine example of kitchen linenhood, still it soldiers on.

Like a 45cm x 65cm Royal Marine - or an SAS soldier hewn from 100% cotton - it survives culinary disaster after boil wash after near miss with a gas hob and comes back for more every time, retaining its colour, its absorbency and remaining free of holes, frays and other battle scars.

Sophie herself insists on quality, and it’s not surprising given that her expectations are the same as ours; a product that will survive family life. Each year Sophie launches about ten new ranges - five for spring/summer, five for autumn/winter - give or take a range or two. So, when we were invited for a preview of the designer’s spring 2019 designs we couldn’t resist a look... especially as this year will offer some exciting new developments for the Bourne business, which moved into new premises around a year ago. You’re an international business, but still very much based in the area?

Yes. I was raised in Potterhanworth - a little village in Lincolnshire - and attended Lincoln Minster School before moving to pursue a Graphic Art & Design degree at Leeds Metropolitan University. I left in 1994 and moved to London where I met my husband Chris. And you began your career as a freelance illustrator?

I loved to paint and would take on the odd commission to fund my way through university. I even sat on pavements in central London

sketching and selling the odd piece to tourists. That was in-between trying to get my work in front of illustrative agents and publishing companies. I had a friend who worked at the Country Living Show and in 1996, she asked me to be a demonstrator. I produced a few cards to sell at the show and it all began from there. Eventually they were selling before I’d even produced them, and I was picking up work in advertising. One of my most memorable early commissions was for Harrods and they used my illustrations in their window displays. Working from the spare room of my London home I began producing a few mug and card designs of my own, as well as for royalties. But it was a family tragedy that was the turning point?

In 2004 my father suffered a stroke. We’re a close family and it felt like our world came tumbling down. My brother Jem and I were devastated. It acted as a catalyst to set up our family business and Sophie Allport Limited was born. That was when was Sophie Allport was founded?

Yes, in 2007. And then the world... just... exploded! I’m still the creative element behind the business and Jem is happy to be behind the scenes but honestly, he’s terrific and I can’t sing his praises enough. His role in the finances, logistics, sales and distribution of our ranges enables me to just concentrate on what I love... creating beautiful products. How difficult is it to grow the business?

The popularity of our ranges has helped to grow the business naturally and steadily. What has been more of a challenge, though, is to keep the family feel of the business intact, to remain true to our core values. And also, to produce volume without sacrificing quality.

It wouldn’t sit comfortably with us, for example, if we produced products featuring animal motifs without enfranchising ourselves in the protection of the natural world. >> 75

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“I timetable in opportunities to go home and paint at the kitchen table in front of the wood burner with the dogs at my feet. It’s still the way our ranges are designed!” >> That’s why we’re exploring alternatives to leather for our new bags and pet products, and why ranges like our Cheetah and Elephant collections - inspired by our childhood holiday to Africa - include a donation to the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) with each sale. Likewise, our Woodland collection was produced in collaboration with the National Trust with financial support to help them to support their ongoing conservation projects. We’re mindful of recycling too, and that it’s better for the environment and for our customers to make products which are made to last, rather than being designed as disposable items. How large is Sophie Allport as a company?

In October 2017 we had to move from our old premises where eight small individual warehouses were causing a real logistical headache. We moved to a former brewery in Bourne which provided 35,000sq ft of consolidated space.

We moved just before Christmas which was a real nightmare at the busiest time of year for us, but it was necessary to ensure we could work efficiently. We’ve 60 members of staff now, with six creatives in our design studio and over 40 ranges. Each range has between 70 and 120 different products - so there are about 3,000 different lines across the company.

We have over 1,300 stockists which makes us proud, but not as proud as the knowledge that we’re retaining our family culture in the company. We host a Tuesday morning meeting for the whole company and everyone is included. That’s because no department works in isolation, everyone is enfranchised; we’re a complete team. But despite the company’s growth, you still design in the same way?

Yes! I have to ensure my time is well-spent, but I timetable in opportunities for me to go home and sit in front of the wood burner with the dogs at my feet and a mug of coffee. That’s still the way our ranges are designed. I love the process; it’s like the cream on top of the milk in an already really enjoyable role.

I bring my designs in and they gradually evolve into a finished piece created in pen and watercolours which are digitised onto the computer and composited. The whiteware - our mugs and so on are then hand-finished in Stoke-on-Trent which is fiddly but gives them a quality finish. >> 76

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“

H O M E WA R E S & L I F E S T Y L E S O P H I E A L L P O RT

”

We’re still a small enough company that the dogs or children you see in our photography are members of our family or those of our friends. We love our dogs, and that’s why we’ve made sure that our dog leads will last a lifetime, and that they’re as comfortable as possible...

>> Have you tried your hand at that?

Oh yes... it was so difficult, it takes real skill to get the finished product perfect. I’ve tonnes of respect for the steady hands who can produce perfect products over and over again, I was all fingers and thumbs! Is hand-finishing necessary for quality?

Definitely. Many products are mass-produced now, and it would be easy to scrimp on things like materials, but I’m a mum and a wife myself, so I know how well a mug has to be made in order to stand up to breakfast each morning; to endless dishwasher cycles and the occasional knock or tumble. Likewise, the quality of our cottons and laminated oilcloths and our canvas bags are such that they’re designed to be used first and to look great thereafter. What are your newest products?

Brand new and in shops by the end of February, we’re launching a range of dog toys, leads and beds. We’ve two labradors - a black lab called Mabel and a fox red lab called Florrie - who have tested them to the point that other products would have been destroyed.

Again, we’re still a small enough company that the dogs or children you see in our images are members of our family or those of our friends. We love our dogs. They’re a part of the family, so we’ve made sure that our dog leads will last a lifetime, with a neoprene-like rubber on the inside of the collars to ensure they’re as comfortable as possible too. What other ranges are you launching this spring?

We’ve five adorable new collections. My favourite is Peony. They’re easily my favourite flowers and I really miss gardening throughout the winter months, so it was a bit of a treat to myself to remind myself of spring and to produce a range with voluminous floral motifs and magnificent swirls of pink and white.

Dragonfly is a collection on a dark blue background. I think we’re moving away from beiges and taupe backgrounds and back towards some strong colours, so I really like the collection’s deep dramatic backgrounds. There’s also a unicorn collection which is designed for little girls who love rainbows and pretty things!

The two final ranges we’re really looking forward to launching, though, are Speedy Dogs (whippets, greyhounds and lurchers) - and Spaniels (springers, cocker spaniels and King Charles spaniels).

Are you inundated with suggestions for new subjects to paint?

Absolutely. We receive so many requests and pictures of people’s pets. I can’t just create collections with animals I’ve no connection to though. Spaniels was inspired by a neighbour’s King Charles puppy I used to walk as a girl. We didn’t have dogs when we were young and I doted on this puppy. Do you design for a particular market?

Never. I don’t paint to satisfy a market, I only ever use what I like as a barometer and gauge the team’s opinion. I’ve gained experience only through listening and improving, and you gain a gut feel for what will work not just in general terms but within each range as well.

Certain ranges suit certain products too, so we’re anticipating the pet products line will be really popular in our two new dog-themed ranges. Are you expanding the number of products within each range?

For the first time we’re launching a range of hand washes and hand lotions, which will be sold exclusively through Waitrose, from our own website and in our Stamford shop.

We’ve also started to produce our own jumpers with simple motifs on the back and bags in a manmade leather substitute with blocks of bolder colour like mustard yellow and coral. Our most popular products are mugs, tea towels, oven gloves and aprons, but we’ve diversified a great deal with each range we’ve produced. >> 79

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H O M E WA R E S & L I F E S T Y L E S O P H I E A L L P O RT

>> Which ranges are the most popular?

It changes from season to season, but we created Bees 10 years ago and that has remained a best seller. Hare and Flamingo are very popular, but in the winter months Highland Stag and Pheasant are really popular too. And there’s another new arrival this month?

Hopefully. We’ve created a beautiful range to celebrate the birth of the Duke & Duchess of Sussex’s first child. It’s a lovely design with teddies and little footprints! The birth of a royal baby is always something the whole country can celebrate. Which of your own products couldn’t you live without?

I can’t fall asleep without wearing an eye mask! They’re a bit Marmite - you either love them or hate them, but as someone who can only sleep in total darkness it’s a comfort thing; very much my must-have product!

I’m also delighted to be putting our pet ranges to the test and even I’ve been surprised by just how much rough treatment they’ll stand up to. Mable is renowned as a destroyer of dog toys, yet our new ones stand up well, with a squeak built into them plus a rope through them too so your dogs can play tug-of-war with each other. What other changes will you be making in 2019?

Having moved to our new premises last year we finally have the warehousing space and office space we need for the scale of business we’ve reached.

But the other reason for relocating was to create a new showroom here to show off as many products as possible both for our retail but also our trade customers. But not until after the winter rush?

You’re visiting us just before Christmas - definitely our busiest time! Even after this season there’s no respite, either. We work around a year in advance so just as this article is published, we’ll be taking orders and showing products off for Christmas 2019! Presumably you’re a keen cook too?

I do love cooking but nothing too elaborate. I’m a wife and mum to boys who are all rugby and cricket mad, so Sunday roasts are a family ritual. We have a lot of casseroles and stews in the winter too.

Above: Pride’s Editor Rob Davis met Stamford designer Sophie at her local headquarters.

Warm puddings are a must, too. My signature puds or desserts are a chocolate bread ‘n’ butter pudding and when it’s warmer, Nutella tiramisu, which the whole family adores. Everyone knows your name, but do you still have a bit of anonymity in this part of the world?

My name is better known than my face. I was amused on a trip to Stamford once when I took my purse out of my bag and a lady commented how nice it was. I politely acknowledged the compliment and blushed with pride inside because she obviously didn’t know that I was the designer!

I’m quite glad to remain anonymous though. I think I’d find it rather disconcerting if I was recognised everywhere I went, and the reward for me isn’t celebrity, it’s simply the fact that so many people love our products and designs, and enjoying having them in their home and using them every day. n Based in Bourne with a retail boutique on High Street, Stamford, Sophie Allport is a designer of products for the home and for families. Her new ranges are Peony, Dragonfly, Unicorn, Speedy Dogs and Spaniels which will appear in store, at retailers and on www.sophieallport.com as Pride goes to press. For product information call 01780 751044.

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Main: Chair left in Zion Chartreuse from the Avalon Collection. Footstool is Monterrey Chartreuse. Second chair is Levante Chartreuse. Right: Fabrics in various shades of Monterrey, Mason and Zion from the Avalon collection.

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HOMES & INTERIORS

Bolder the Better...

MAKE A STATEMENT, BE BOLD. THAT’S THE MESSAGE FROM CLARKE & CLARKE’S LATEST COLLECTIONS. FROM BRIGHT MUSTARD HUES TO RICH NAVY BLUES, THIS BRAND IS TRYING TO MAKE AN IMPACT, AND IT’S WORKING... Decorating your home is entirely personal. It has to look and feel important to you. It has to reflect you and your personality and feel like, well, home. A brand that is certainly creating a personality in its new designs is Clarke & Clarke. We love their bold, beautiful and inspiring 2019 collections from Avalon to Exotica, and we feature the fabrics over the next few pages.

Dramatic yet subtle, midnight and charcoal shades merge with intense spice and chartreuse for a versatile look in the Avalon collection.

weaves. With 45 colours ranging from kingfisher tones to vibrant teals and softer combinations of slate, amethyst mineral and blush, this stunning collection is a seductive homage to tropical island life.

Whatever your personality, let this reflect in the fabrics you choose for your home. Be as bold as you are. Add bursts of brightness or feature it in every part of your design. Clarke & Clarke is versatile to reflect you.

Five tactile chenille weaves and simple waves offset contemporary chevrons and chic distressed textures in this multi-purpose collection.

Novara focuses on being washable, wide-width cotton satin plain with a beautiful soft handle and a subtle shimmer, adding a touch of glamour. It’s available in 65 shades, ranging from soft timeless birch, shingle and pebble through to daring shades of jade, emerald, peacock and bluebird. In Exotica, birds of paradise, passion flowers and exotic island life dazzle against opulent velvets, rustic linens, embroideries and intricate

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“BE BOLD. USE BRIGHT COLOUR AND UNUSUAL FABRICS. BE AS CREATIVE AS YOU WISH. ADD BURSTS OF COLOUR, OR FEATURE IT IN EVERY PART OF YOUR DESIGN...” Top: Avalon collection featuring various fabrics like Zion, Monterrey, Logan and Levante in various colourways.

Below: The Novara collection uses the same satin fabrics throughout in a variety of different colours.

Right: Zion fabric on top from Avalon, Levante and Monterrey in Chartreuse. Other page is the Exotica range and Passiflora sofa.

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Above: Maui in Kingfisher for the chair and Fiore in Mineral for the curtains.

LOCAL RECOMMENDED FABRIC STORES Aitch Interiors: Wellingore, near Lincoln, 01522 810961, aitchinteriors.co.uk. Cushion and Curtain Centre: Woodhall Spa, Skegness and Lincoln, 0800 044 8179, cushionandcurtain.com.

Dobbs Blinds: Lincoln, 01522 500100, dobbsblinds.co.uk. Eye 4 Design: Spalding, 01775 680109, eye4designupholstery.co.uk.

Left: Clarke & Clarkeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Exotica with Passiflora in Kingfisher, Botany (chair) and Kauai (footstool). Curtains are Tropicale Citron. Above: (clockwise) Madagascar in Charcoal and Chartreuse, Palma Citron curtains, Tropicale Charcoal, Fiore in Charcoal and Chartreuse and Maui Natural. Right: Tropicale in Midnight, Passiflora for the chair in Mineral and Blush and Madagascar for the second chair.

Kimbell & Co: Market Harborough, 01858 433444, kimbellinteriors.co.uk.

Oldrids & Downtown: Boston, Grantham and Scunthorpe, 01205 361251, oldrids.co.uk. Osbourne Blinds: Lincoln, 01522 684371, osbourneblinds.co.uk. Roger Davis Interiors: Lincoln, 01522 531371, rogerdavisinteriors.com.

Vernons Interiors: Skegness, 01754 896699, vernonsinteriors.co.uk.

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Nicholas Martin Cabinets High quality fitted and freestanding kitchen, bedroom & bathroom furniture

01522 789011

Bassingham, Lincoln LN5 9LL www.nicholasmartincabinets.co.uk

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look through any window, yeh! Roy Wakeman, OBE, is Chairman of The New Window Company and a champion of energy efficient, attractive and secure timber windows and doors. This month The Hollies inspire him to ask, as you look through any window, what do you see...? You may ask, what has the first line of a famous Hollies single got to do with the windows and doors market? But then again what do you see? Looking out through your windows gives you a view of the street, garden or a neighbourâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s property and of course the state of the prevailing weather.

If you are unlucky not to have the benefit of modern windows with double glazing and weather seals, you might very well hear the activities going on outside and even feel the draughts through your old frames where the sash meets the window frames.

Switch the view now, looking at the windows and doors from your street or front lawn and you will immediately be struck by how important these are to the look of your house and in some cases can recognise the era in which the house was built if a period property.

In a survey carried out in 2008 Estate agents, commissioned by a leading Building Society, it said that the most important feature that could affect the value of the house was the design and quality of the windows and doors, did they match the style of the house and which material had been used to make them. Few would argue that the street presentation of the house is the biggest selling feature, and nothing adds more to

this than well designed, and made windows and doors. Modern fenestration products whatever the material used to build them are fully tested to all the extremes of weather and offer the benefit of less money spent on energy, have a safer, warmer and quieter house in which to live and enjoy. If you live in a period property that might be listed there will be some restrictions about design, material and glazing applications. However local authorities look kindlier now on timber products with double glazing units.

Modern examples are built from laminated engineered sections, treated against twist and rot and can be finished with modern factory applied paint systems. All modern windows and doors now must conform to the very best performance standards and new security legislation.

So next time you look out of your windows and doors or from the street at your house, think about the value of your house and how much that depends upon what you have installed. The New Window Company has extensive showrooms at Frieston Heath near Grantham where all the products mentioned here can be viewed as full size working models in all the different material choices. n

Find Out More: New Window Company is based at Elms Farm, The Old Barn, Frieston Heath Lane, Grantham NG32 3HD. For a free no obligation discussion about your propertyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s needs call 01400 272538 or see www.new-window.co.uk.

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FABERGÉ T H E

L U X U RY

B R A N D

As part of a new series in Pride Magazine, we’re looking at the fascinating stories behind luxury designer brands, and what better brand to start with than one that creates diamond-encrusted Easter eggs fit for a Tsar... Fabergé is a brand often associated with luxury and its story is one

that even someone not interested in antiques would find fascinating. We’re starting this series of features - ‘The Luxury Brand’ - with Fabergé in celebration of Easter and, well, eggs.

The first Fabergé egg was crafted for Tsar Alexander III, who had decided to give his wife, the Empress Maria Feodorovna, an Easter egg in 1885, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their betrothal.

Although there is no official record of the Tsar’s inspiration for it, many believe that he was moved by an egg owned by the Empress’s aunt, Princess Vilhelmine Marie of Denmark, which had captivated Maria’s imagination in her childhood and of which the Tsar was well aware. Known as the Hen Egg, the very first Fabergé egg is crafted from a foundation of gold. Its opaque white enameled ‘shell’ opens to reveal a matte yellow-gold yolk. This in turn, opens to reveal a multicoloured gold hen that also opens. The hen contained a minute diamond replica of the imperial crown from which a small ruby pendant was suspended, but these last two elements have unfortunately been lost and remain so to this day. Maria was so delighted by the gift, Alexander appointed Fabergé a ‘goldsmith by special appointment to the Imperial Crown’ and commissioned another egg for the following year.

After that, Peter Carl Fabergé was apparently given complete freedom for the design of future imperial Easter eggs, and their designs became more elaborate. According to the Fabergé family, not even the Tsar knew what form they would take.

The only requirements were that each contain a surprise, and that each be unique. Once Fabergé had approved an initial design, the work was carried out by a team of craftsmen.

After Alexander III’s death on 1st November 1894, his son, Nicholas II, presented a Fabergé egg to both his wife, Alexandra Fedorovna, and his mother, the Dowager Empress Maria Fedorovna. Records have shown that of the 50 imperial Easter eggs ever made, 20 were given to the former and 30 to the latter. Eggs were made each year except 1904 and 1905, during the Russo-Japanese War.

The imperial eggs enjoyed great fame, and Fabergé was commissioned to make similar eggs for a few private clients, including the Duchess of Marlborough, the Rothschild family and the Yusupovs. Fabergé was also commissioned to make 12 eggs for Alexander Kelch, though only seven appear to have been completed.

Following the revolution and the nationalisation of the Fabergé workshop in St. Petersburg by the Bolsheviks in 1918, the Fabergé family left Russia. The Fabergé trademark has since been sold several times and several companies have retailed egg-related merchandise using the Fabergé name. The Victor Mayer jewellery company produced limited edition heirloom quality Fabergé eggs authorised under Unilever’s license from 1998 to 2009. The trademark is now owned by Fabergé Limited, which makes egg-themed jewellery.

In 2015 the owners of this trademark announced the creation of a new Fabergé egg, one styled by them as belonging to the ‘Imperial Class’ of eggs and

A Costly Easter Egg Hunt: e ree Missing Imperial Eggs...

1889: NÉCESSAIRE EGG “A fine gold egg, richly set with diamonds, cabochon rubies, emeralds, a large coloured diamond at top and a cabochon sapphire at point. The interior is designed as an Etui with thirteen diamond set implements.’

1903: ROYAL DANISH EGG “The surface is in light blue and white enamel with ornaments in gold and stones. On the top are the armorial bearings of the Danish Royal Family, and it is supported by Danish heraldic lions. Pictures of the royals inside.”

1909: ALEXANDER III COMMEMORATIVE EGG “Divided into five sections with vertical lines of rose-cut diamond laurel leaves. Diamond clusters are positioned around the middle of the egg. Rose-cut diamond wreaths centered with diamond-set stars of Bethlehem.”

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T H E

L U X U RY

an egg hunt: Our Five Favourite Easter Eggs...

B R A N D

Kelch Chanticleer Egg: On the first full page, you’ll see the Kelch Chanticleer egg. It’s a jewelled, enameled Easter egg made by Michael Perchin under the supervision of the Russian jeweller Peter Carl Fabergé in 1904. It was made for the Russian industrialist Alexander Ferdinandovich Kelch, who presented the egg to his wife, Barbara Kelch-Bazanova. It’s one of the largest. Surprise: Upon the hour, a diamond set cockerel pops up from the top of the egg, flaps its wings four times, nods his head three times, crowing all the while during this routine. This lasts fifteen seconds. Pearl Egg: The inset on the first page is the Pearl Egg made by the Fabergé brand in 2017. It harnessed 20 highly skilled workmasters, 139 fine, white pearls with a golden lustre, 3,305 diamonds, carved rock crystal and mother-of-pearl set on white and yellow gold. Each pearl was hand-selected by Hussain Ibrahim Al-Fardan from his private collection. Surprise: An ingenious mechanism enables the entire outer shell to rotate on its base, simultaneously opening in six sections to unveil its treasure. Duchess of Marlborough Egg: The image on this page to the far left is of the Duchess of Marlborough Egg made for Consuelo Vanderbilt at the occasion of her visit to Russia in 1902. It is now owned by Prince Albert of Monaco. Made of multi-coloured gold, rose-cut diamonds, pearls and translucent pink and white guilloché enamel, the clock has a revolving dial, with a diamond-set serpent indicating time. Surprise: No surprise on this one, simply the clock. Coronation Egg: This, perhaps Faberge’s most iconic egg, was presented on 26th May 1897, the day of Nicholas II’s Coronation in the Uspensky Cathedral. Its outer shell is made of multi-coloured gold, embellished with translucent yellow guilloché enamel and black enamel double-headed eagles set with diamonds, a design recalling the heavy Cloth of Gold robe she wore at the ceremony. Surprise: The egg opens to reveal a surprise in the form of a diamond-set enamelled gold miniature replica of the original 18th century carriage by Buckendahl which once contained an emerald drop, later replaced by a yellow briolette diamond (both lost). Lilies of the Valley Egg: Far right, this pink guilloché enamel egg is virtually smothered with pearl and diamond-set lilies of the valley sprays, Empress Alexandra’s favourite flower, and is designed in her most-liked style Surprise: Three miniatures of their eldest daughters surmounted by a diamond and ruby-set Imperial Crown appears when one of the pearls is twisted.

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therefore the first Imperial Class egg in 100 years - the Fabergé Pearl egg - was sold in Qatar following a five-day exhibition.

The Pearl Egg is accompanied by a sumptuous Fabergé necklace of white pearls, diamonds and mother of pearl featuring a scallop motif, and finished with an exquisite 19.44 carat white pearl drop.

Of the 65 known Fabergé eggs, 57 have survived to the present day. Ten of the imperial Easter eggs are displayed at Moscow’s Kremlin Armory Museum. Of the 50 known imperial eggs, 43 have survived, and there are photos of three of the seven lost eggs: the 1903 Royal Danish Egg, the 1909 Alexander III Commemorative Egg, and the Nécessaire Egg of 1889. The previously lost Third Imperial Easter Egg of 1887 has since been found in the US and bought by Wartski for a private collector.

After the Russian Revolution, the Bolsheviks nationalised the House of Fabergé, and the Fabergé family fled to Switzerland. The imperial family’s palaces were ransacked and their treasures moved to the Kremlin Armoury on order of Vladimir Lenin. In a bid to acquire more foreign currency, Joseph Stalin had many of the eggs sold in 1927, after their value had been appraised by Agathon Fabergé. 14 imperial eggs left Russia. Many of the eggs were sold to Armand Hammer, president of Occidental Petroleum and personal friend to Lenin, and to Emanuel Snowman of the London antique dealers Wartski. n

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PETER’S Perfect Paintings PETER DE WINT Landscape artist Peter De Wint (1784 – 1849) is synonymous with the Lincolnshire countryside and this international heavyweight in the world of 19th century painting remains as popular as ever.

Born not in Lincolnshire but probably in Hanley, Staffordshire, his father was no artist but a doctor from Dutch ancestry.

De Wint quickly became educated and highly talented under the tutorage of the renowned engraver John Raphael Smith during his apprenticeship in London from 1802 to 1806. Smith was obviously impressed and as a condition of apprentice freedom, De Wint had to supply him with 18 oil paintings, however by this stage he had become a master in this discipline and more especially in watercolour. It was around this time he visited Lincolnshire, with another artist William Hilton, whose sister Harriet, De Wint married in 1810. The three continued to live in London but had a house built for her parents in Lincoln and it was this association coupled with the beautiful landscape of the surrounding area as to why so much of his work depicts the county. He did travel throughout the United Kingdom though with Cumbria and Wales popular areas and went abroad once, to Normandy in the late 1820s.

The watercolour illustrated is a view of Newark, showing the bridge and castle, it is a blueprint of De Wint’s style and made £3000 at our Lincoln saleroom

in 2018. It is unsurprising we have had great success with his works and have recently sold images of Cirencester, Caldicot Castle and Levens Park at remarkable levels with huge worldwide interest. He was accepted during his life as much as he is now as a highly accomplished master; exhibiting at the Royal Academy in 1809, becoming a fully fledged member of the Old Watercolour Society in 1811 and also spending time teaching.

He rarely signed or dated his works and limited his palette to ten colours, often stating his signature was ‘all over’ what he did. Works by Peter De Wint continue to grace the walls of major collections and museums alike and interest from buyers will never wane. With major collections on show in Lincoln, London and nearly any city you choose to mention, Peter De Wint’s legacy as one of the greatest landscape painters only continues to flourish. n

With best wishes, Craig Bewick, MRICS. Auctioneer Golding Young & Mawer, Grantham.

Find Out More: Craig Bewick is an antiques specialist with Golding, Young & Mawer: The Bourne Auction Rooms, Spalding Road, Bourne PE10 9LE, 01778 422686; The Grantham Auction Rooms, Old Wharf Road, Grantham NG31 7AA, 01476 565118; The Stamford Valuation Office, The George Mews, Station Road, Stamford PE9 2LB, 01780 751666 or The Lincoln Auction Rooms, Thos Mawer House Station Road, North Hykeham, Lincoln, LN6 3QY, 01522 524984. Alternatively, see www.goldingyoung.com.

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BURDENS

experts in our Field Last year saw the merger of two long established agricultural machinery dealerships; Sutterton’s Burdens Group acquired Lincolnshire Motors in Louth. The combined business continues to supply and support the full range of New Holland combine harvesters, tractors, balers and promotes telehandlers, forage harvesters, loading shovels and light construction machinery across the county.

North Lincolnshire is managed from the existing Louth and Brigg depots providing continuity of sales and service in the area, whilst South Lincolnshire is supported from the three depots at Sutterton, North Kyme and Wrangle.

“The addition of Lincolnshire Motors to The Burdens Group brought new opportunities to our business in a competitive industry,” says John Southern, Managing Director of Burdens. “Customers across Lincolnshire are benefiting from an expanded product range and continued excellent customer service. All staff have been retained and look forward to the future.” “The Lincolnshire Motors business is 100 years old this year and becoming part of The Burdens Group marked the next chapter in its history,” says Kevin Bell, Burdens Director. “The move provided security to staff and customers in North Lincolnshire and gave us the benefits a larger business receives.” The Burdens Group provides a wide range of complementary equipment to go behind a tractor and have recently been appointed as a Kuhn franchisee for South Lincolnshire. This opens up a niche product range for farmers and growers in the area. The Amazone franchise continues to be held for North Lincolnshire. Pottinger, Dal-Bo, He Va are still promoted across all of Lincolnshire.

Burdens continue to support the horticultural sector with their range of specialist equipment including Tumoba sprout and kale harvesters, Samon onion machinery, Struik potato equipment and Bauer specialist irrigation equipment across Lincolnshire.

The Goodacres Produce Handling division continues to supply locally manufactured Tong

Engineering grading, cleaning and weighing equipment to potato and root crop growers, as well as belting and other weighing and handling equipment including Agrimech robotic systems. The Burdens Group do not cater solely for large agricultural users; from all five of their sites, they can supply a wide range of professional and domestic mowers and other groundcare equipment. On the professional front Burdens are the Ransomes Jacobsen dealers for Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Rutland, supplying a full range of Ransomes commercial mowers suitable for local authorities and contractors. Jacobsen equipment is focused on golf courses and fine turf. Burdens are able to provide a full aftersales service in all three counties. For the domestic and large estate users, a wide range of mowers are stocked at all sites including Stiga, Honda, and Viking. These range from small mowers to semi-professional ride on mowers. A wide range of mowers and other equipment is currently available, so contact your local depot for professional and friendly advice to suit your needs.

As Stihl main dealers, Burdens offer a full range of power tools, including battery operated equipment suitable for both domestic and professional users. Burdens also offer a wide range of Outback barbecues suitable for small family parties right up to fully-catered events.

For more information, call the Burdens Group on 01205 460466 or visit the website www.burdensgroup.com. Stores in Wrangle, Sutterton, North Kyme and with this new acquisition, Louth and Brigg. Full addresses on website. 104

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A Spring Project:

CREATE YOUR OWN

KITCHEN GARDEN

Gardeners’ World’s and Lincolnshire’s Adam Frost shows us how to create the perfect kitchen garden in time for spring. If you’d prefer to leave it to the professionals, we have recommended local landscapers and designers over the page...

Have you ever stopped to consider whether the future will be better? For every decade since the mid-20th century, futurists gazed into their crystal balls and predicted that we’d be living on the moon. We’d wear tin foil, they said. We’d have flying cars, they said. We’d be popping nutritionally complete food pills eliminating the need to shop, cook and eat whilst consigning both starvation and food wastage to history across the globe.

It hasn’t happened. Instead some families even in this country struggle to feed themselves whilst others throw perfectly good food away from their larders, cupboards and refrigerators. Meanwhile our diets are poorer than ever, food intolerances are rife, obesity levels have reached unprecedented levels and our food arrives via increasingly complicated supply chains and everything we eat is the subject of industrialised processing. Supermarkets and Groceries

33p in every pound spent on food in the UK spent in Tesco, which has a 27.8% market share of all supermarkets. Its three main competitors, accounting for a further 15.8% (Sainsbury’s), 15.3% (Asda) and 10.4% (Morrisons) share of the supermarket sector; just four companies controlling nearly 70% of all our £28bn food and grocery supermarket shopping. Seasonality no longer applies; we can eat strawberries in January and game in June. The farming industry has had to resort to industrialised processes to keep us fed, whilst food producers have to incorporate preservatives, emulsifiers, antioxidants, bulking agents and flavour enhancers. A reward for convenience?

Of course, being able to simply pick groceries up from the supermarket means we now have plenty of spare time as a society. But that’s time which is increasingly spent in a sedentary state; in front of TV screens, smartphones and tablets or working longer hours in front of your work computer. In short, our diets are worse than ever, our activity levels are lower than ever and our stress levels are through the roof.

If only there were a way to address all three issues. To enable us to eat healthily, get some fresh air, relax and enjoy achieving something more constructive. We can think of nothing better to address all of the above than curating your own kitchen garden. >>

Above: Adam Frost established his kitchen garden in Barnack in July 2016. Today, he provides garden design and kitchen garden courses over one or two days throughout the year.

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C R E AT I N G

K I T C H E N

G A R D E N

>> To be fair, we’re perhaps overstating matters. There’s no single silver bullet to solve all of the above problems in a single fell swoop. For a start we don’t all have the space and large country homes no longer employ permanent staff - as was the case in years gone by - and we’re all time poorer by virtue of the increasing demands of our lifestyles. A Happy Medium

But there’s always a happy medium. Even if you can’t dedicate space, time and energy to creating a full kitchen garden, there’s always a compromise to be achieved between growing some of your own food and enjoying the sense of achievement that brings. From herbs on a window sill or tomatoes in a pot or growbag, to a single raised bed, or a few fruit trees in a corner of your garden. So what are the questions you need answering if you’re considering getting your growing going? We’ve sought the advice of Adam Frost, who moved to his Domesday-era stone Barnack patch in 2016 but has lived and worked in the area since he moved here to work with Geoff Hamilton at Barnsdale Gardens when he was in his 20s. With in the three acre garden, which the broadcaster is gradually renovating, Adam has created a stunning kitchen garden. He has also been busy setting up The Adam Frost Garden School and now runs regular day or two day-courses on topics ranging from garden design, to gardening with edibles - fruit, veg and flowers. Adam’s Expertise...

Our first advice is to dive in - to just get started - as any initial degree of success will encourage you to go further; like salad leaves in a pot in spring leading to strawberries in the summer and so on. And there’s no ‘wrong’ time to start your efforts.

“March and April are wonderful months to start growing your own food,’ says Adam. ‘The hedges come alive, the birds start singing and you can get out in the veg garden and get stuck in. It’s important to make sure the area you have put aside for growing is prepped, so free from weeds and dig in some compost, or wellRHS Ambassador Adam Frost is a landscape designer who has won rotted manure to put lots of goodness into the seven gold medals at the Chelsea ground. Weeding is one of those jobs all gardeners Flower Show and has written wish they didn’t have to do, but weeds appearing in two books. He moved to the area to work with Geoff spring is a good sign that the soil is warm enough to Hamilton at Barnsdale germinate seeds. In April, you can plant out chitted potaGardens. toes in the ground or in grow bags and many seeds can be sown straight into the ground as the risk of frosts has hopefully past.”

Adam Frost

Pots and Containers...

Grow bags planted up in summer are ideal for germinating herbs and salads leaves, especially in a glasshouse or sunny spot. Grow cut-and-come-again crops for a supply of homegrown leaves all summer. Pots and troughs are ideal too, but make sure they are deep enough for the veg you are growing. You don’t need any special soil for growing veg, just a good quality, peat-free compost. However, you can buy special fruit and veg soil which contains extra nutrients to help your crops to grow. >> Opposite: Adam is a gardening presenter on BBC television, including Gardeners’ World as well as offering gardening and design courses from his Barnack plot.

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>> Crops like carrots, lettuce, peas and potatoes can be grown easily, as long as you take care not to let crops dry out or scorch in the summer and leave plenty of root space for crops. While fruit trees, vines and bushes can be planted in containers at any time of year, March and April are especially good months as there is plenty of time for the roots to establish. “A really quick, easy and rewarding thing that I love to grow are micro-herbs. You sow them as normal and harvest when the first set of true leaves have grown - these appear after the first set of leaves, which are called the seed leaves. Peashoots, coriander, mustards and radishes are good ones to try. You won’t believe how much flavour they have and are great to add to salads or as a garnish!”

Below: Adam’s brand new book will be available to buy from 4th April.

Making the most of space...

ADAM’S BRAND NEW BOOK... "Creating a garden doesn't need to be complicated.” This is the promise from Adam Frost, BBC Gardeners’ World presenter and winner of multiple Chelsea Flower Show gold medals. Regardless of your experience or budget, with Adam’s help and know-how you can design your dream garden, whether it's a small urban garden, a classic cottage garden, a suburban front garden, a low-maintenance space or a city roof terrace. Adam’s practical, no-nonsense approach strips away complex garden design concepts and focuses on your needs and preferred garden style to help you plan and build a garden that works for you. Starting right at the beginning, Adam takes you step by step through the whole process, inspiring you with simple garden design ideas to tackle a full garden makeover or a simple revamp of just one part of your garden, perhaps a tired herbaceous border, the patio, or a water feature. Learn how to design a garden that reflects your practical needs, lifestyle,

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budget, personality, soil, and climate. Build it yourself following the clear, uncomplicated step-by-step instructions that show you everything from laying turf to terraces, planting trees or building a raised bed or water feature. Enjoy it month by month with his simple checklist of what to do and when to keep your garden in shape. Creative by nature, Adam loves to connect each garden design to its natural landscape and surrounding architecture as well as to the people who are going to enjoy it. RHS How to Create your Garden is about designing an outside space that is real, achievable, and right for you. n RHS How to Create your Garden: Ideas and Advice for Transforming your Outdoor Space, 256 pages, is published by Dorling Kindersley. RRP £20, from good local bookshops from 4th April.

Just a few beds and canny rotation of crops throughout the year are sufficient to create a productive kitchen garden that can keep feeding a family throughout the year. Crop rotation also assists with soil fertility and weed control, and helps to control pests since most pests and diseases tend to attack specific plant families. Rotating beds through the year to grow legumes, onions and root vegetables, then brassicas in the autumn and winter followed by potatoes in the spring will enable you to ensure there’s always a crop heading towards a harvest. And so, to beds...

“One of the benefits of raised beds is that, if you don’t have the best soil in your garden, you are making space to add new soil and organic matter, which will create a good basis to start growing. For me, they’re brilliant.” “In my kitchen garden, which I built in 2016, I’ve used halfsleepers, about 6in deep and 50mm wide to maximise space. Most importantly they’re made of pressure treated timber, which means they are less likely to rot and because they’re not as wide as full-width sleepers, there’s more space to plant.”

“I’ve used rope too, so I can put net or fleece over the top. Two other advantages are that when you drag a hose pipe around the garden, corner posts prevent you dragging a hose over your crops, and when you’ve been weeding all day, they give you a bit of a hand getting up!”

“I’ve painted my raised beds grey, which ties them into the greenhouse and creates a nice finish. I’ve also got a table and benches next to the greenhouse. as it provides as useful place to work, as well as sit and enjoy the space. Just because it’s a working garden doesn’t mean it can’t be a beautiful space too!”

Lastly, if you’re determined to maximise your available space and to yield as many crops as possible, or if you’d like to achieve the ultimate goal and become self-sufficient, professional advice is always available. Adam’s courses cover not just garden design, but planning and ways to maximise your resources, from kitchen garden to orchard to every last pot and container. Small class numbers make each course a fun and interactive experience, with emphasis on spending as much time outside, as in the classroom. n

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C R E AT I N G

K I T C H E N

G A R D E N

Get Your Growing Going: Advice for Creating a Kitchen Garden in Lincolnshire...

n Fullers Forestry & Landscaping From concept to completion, Fullers can plan and build your kitchen garden, working to any budget and on any size of plot, from single beds and courtyards to large gardens. Call 01522 868717 or visit the website www.landscapinglincolnshire.com.

n Mark Vigrass From local councils and national charities to farms and gardens, Mark Vigrass and his team have completed a wide range of landscaping and groundworks alongside their long list of services. Call 01507 604201 or visit the website www.markvigrass.co.uk for more info.

n Yvetteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Design Solutions For an entire garden design, Yvetteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Design Solutions offers detailed full colour design plans, mood boards, 2D and 3D projections, detailed cost estimates and material lists. Call 01949 876182 or visit the website www.yvettesdesignsolutions.co.uk.

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• Tree Surgery & Felling

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MY TOWN >

W O O D H A L L S PA BY

AMARYLIS MIDGLEY TRUSTEE OF JUBILEE PARK

Often it’s the people that make a town or a village in this rural county flourish. That’s certainly

true for the success story of Woodhall Spa near Horncastle. It’s a thriving place and it’s largely down to the local peoples’ huge amount of support. From volunteers to trustees and simply to supporters of the local area, Woodhall has become a jewel in Lincolnshire’s crown that people travel to from miles around.

Someone who embodies all of the above is Amarylis Midgley. Amarylis was born and bred in Woodhall Spa and has become very involved in its growth. She also has a fascinating family history.

How long have you lived in Woodhall Spa?

“I’ve lived here all my life apart from three years at University in Manchester. I’m the third generation of my family to live here. My mother met my father just after the war; he was a Polish soldier stationed in Woodhall Spa. It’s often thought that Woodhall had strongest links with the RAF in the war but my mother would tell me that wasn’t the case. You would see a couple of blue uniforms but it was predominantly army soldiers training here. There were over 4,000 Polish army soldiers based in Woodhall Spa in the late 40s and my mother said they wore their hair longer, their shorts shorter and often took more pride in their appearance than British soldiers!” “On my mother’s side, I’m a direct descendant of the Earl of Lincoln and we can trace our family history all the way back to 1066.” What has your life been like living here?

in Woodhall Spa all her life. She loves “I trained as a journalist and worked for the Lincolnshire the area and has dedicated a lot of her Standard group for three years. I then went on to work time into improving the area. for Norprint as press officer, until I moved over to the management team of one of the sales divisions. I really disliked corporate culture, so I left in 1988 to set up my own marketing and PR company. I married my husband at St Leonard’s in Kirkstead in 1996.” Main: Amarylis Midgley has lived

“Unfortunately, shortly after this, I was diagnosed with breast cancer which I recovered and carried on my business until I retired in 2011, only to be diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes soon after. I was then diagnosed with cancer again, this time on my spine which I have also now recovered from. I credit my recoveries to regular exercise at Jubilee Park in Woodhall Spa, and that is the driving force behind why I decided to really get involved as a Trustee.” Main: Amarylis loves afternoon tea at the Petwood Hotel and walking her dogs Lissy and Amber in the grounds.

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M Y

TOW N

WO O D H A L L

S PA

“I love Jubilee Park and living on Stixwould Road means I can walk down to the pool in the morning. It’s 29ºC all year round, and people travel from as far as Nottingham to enjoy the outdoor facility. It’s the social aspect of going for a swim in the mornings too. The whole town supports the Park and we host many events to gain year round interest. It’s working too! Last year, a record season, the park attracted an estimated £700,000 into the local economy from swimmers alone, excluding the income from those attending events such as the 40s weekend. All income the park generates itself goes back into making improvements and updates.”

1940s

“I put the skills I have acquired during my career - marketing, PR and copywriting - into supporting places like Jubilee Park and other areas of the town. I was a founder Trustee of the Cottage Museum, a Parish Councillor for 20 years and chairman Festival, twice but now I just concentrate on supporting the park.”

Woodhall Spa

What makes the town unique and what do you miss when you leave?

The 1940s festival saw 40,000 “I think the best part about Woodhall is its woodland setting. people visit the town last year! There are 17 acres of beautiful woodland right in the centre Amarylis is on the judging of the town which certainly makes it unique. I first joined the panel of the shop displays in the council because they were going to develop the woodland into village. housing. It’s a part of the town I’ve always loved and it would be a terrible shame to lose it so fortunately, that plan fell through.”

“I also find its spaciousness to be unique. The layout of the village was designed in a way that meant the main street didn’t have any housing close to the road. Broadway is a wonderful street filled with independent shops and cafés, and that’s really unique for a British village. I suppose I also love the fact that it isn’t yet over developed. Woodhall has the population of a large village but the amenities of a large town.” “I really miss the people when I leave. It has a buzzing, friendly atmosphere and a vibrant feel to it. It’s very cosmopolitan and not at all traditional in the way it works.” Who inspires you around Woodhall Spa? “I would say it’s the same for most towns; it’s the small groups of people who do a lot and volunteer their own time to support the area. In Woodhall especially, we have a very talented pool of people with a willingness to offer their time freely.

What is the area like in April and where should we visit? “Jubilee Park is a great place to visit in April to get you into the habit of going for a swim in the mornings! The Cottage Museum is also fascinating and always has new exhibitions and displays. The café culture is also something to experience in Woodhall Spa in spring, in addition to enjoying the spring sunshine in Ostler’s Plantation or along Viking Way with the dogs. Where would you take friends to dine or have a drink? “The Teahouse in the Woods is very popular at the moment and I enjoy it there. I also love Abbey Lodge and of course the Petwood Hotel for lunches. The Dower House is also lovely. For coffee, I’d recommend Kitchenetta on the Broadway or Melrose Tearoom.” Left: Amarylis enjoying a coffee in Kitchenetta. Top: Amarylis in the bakery, one of her favourite shops in Woodhall Spa. Opposite: Jubilee Park, the lido that Amarylis is a trustee of and a keen supporter.

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Left: Amarylis at Jubilee Park, a steaming 29ºC thro ughout the year! Above: one standing on the divin Amarylis is the g board in the image abov e at Jubilee Park. The boar until the early 1990s whe d was there n the pool was made mor e shallow. The photo was Amarylis has a newspap taken in 1968. er clipping of her mother as a child sat alongside the pool too!

Which shops and businesses would you recommend to visitors? “Something you’ll notice as you first drive into Woodhall is ‘The Smallest Shoe Shop.’ It may be small but it has a lot to offer! The shoes are great and the service in there is excellent.”

Huckle Buckle Boutique is also a great clothes shop to have in addition to the wealth of charity shops. Underwood Hall Antiques are fabulous jewellers and we’re very lucky to have them.”

“Other than our lovely independent coffee shops, I would recommend going to the bakery. It’s something people seem to know Woodhall for. It’s a traditional style bakery and always has beautiful baked goods in its front window. We’re also lucky to have two new butchers. They both offer very high quality meat.”

“For decorating your home, Woodhall has a wealth of options. I love the Cushion & Curtain Centre for home furnishings, Molly and Me and MG Flooring. We have some lovely sweet and gift shops too” “If you haven’t been before, the Kinema is certainly a must. They’ve recently extended the car park and there is a third screen being added. It’s a wonderful attraction to the town.”

‘The Ivory Room is a beautiful wedding dress shop and they donate £5 to Jubilee Park for every dress they sell. The shoe shop donates to us every time they sell a pair of bowling shoes too!”

What are the best views by day and by night? “At night, Broadway is a wonderful place. It’s buzzing with people in restaurants and bars, and it has a lovely atmosphere in the evening. By day, the variety of walks in the area make a lovely view.”

What about nature and quite places to escape? “There’s so much woodland wildlife in the main walks through town. Ostler’s Plantation is nearby, and the Viking Way which passes through the golf course and links to the Spa Trail to Horncastle. The water railway, which goes from Lincoln to Boston, and isn’t far from the village.” Would you change anything about Woodhall Spa? “I would like to see the Baths developed next to the Kinema. I believe this is in hand now and construction has started. I think an upmarket health spa would suit the area perfectly and bring a lot of visitors into it. I would also like to see more trees replanted in the area to further enhance the tree canopy over Woodhall Spa; there is still a high attrition rate.”

“These are only small grumbles though that I believe are all being looked at or actioned. The town runs so smoothly and anything that isn’t going so well is immediately looked at. Everyone in Woodhall Spa wants it to be successful and they’re very passionate about the area. In my opinion, it’s the people who have made Woodhall Spa a really wonderful place to live.” 119

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Below: Kitchenetta, Amarylis’s favourite place for coffee. Peter Scott’s shoe shop, the Cottage Museum and the 1940s festival in full swing at Jubilee Park! Circled is Amarylis in her favourite book shop.

AMARYLIS’S PERSONAL TOUR Best for Food

The Teahouse in the Woods is a great place for food and is increasing in popularity. Favourite Shop

There are so many incredible shops in Woodhall Spa but I do love the bakery and the wonderful shoe shop. Best Place for Afternoon Tea

The Petwood Hotel is perfect for afternoon tea. It’s something to be enjoyed on a special occasion with friends and family in the grounds. Favourite View

The woodland walks Woodhall Spa has to offer. I love walking my dogs Lissy and Amber through the woods every day (they love it too!).

Favourite Place at Night

The atmosphere on Broadway from the restaurants and bars. A film at the Kinema is also a great thing to see at night. Favourite Way to Spend an Hour

We’re lucky to have several places to enjoy a good book in the town. We have a library run by volunteers and a book shop too. Best Place for a Coffee

There’s a variety of lovely coffee shops to have a drink in, but I personally enjoy Kitchenetta. The coffee tastes great and the café is beautifully decorated. Best Point of Interest

The Cottage Museum. It sums up Woodhall Spa’s history in a really unique way and there’s always something new to see. 121

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WEDDINGS

Hitched in the City

Robyn and Richard knew how great it would be to get married in the centre of Lincoln. With a beautiful backdrop and plenty of options, Charlotte House in the centre of the Cathedral Quarter was the perfect place to celebrate their marriage... Images: Kev Elkins, 07969 253976, www.kevelkinsphotography.co.uk.

Lincoln is a magical place for a wedding. With its grand Cathedral, Castle, quaint Cathedral quarter and even countryside views, it makes it the perfect location to tie the knot and the great background for photos. Both Robyn and Richard agreed and married at Charlotte House in the very heart of Lincoln after meeting online several years earlier. “We met online,” says Robyn. “I was living in London and Richard in Lincoln. We met for our first date in Covent Garden and hit it off immediately!”

“Fast forward to when we were living together on a Tuesday evening. Richard had cooked a delicious dinner for me after I’d had a long day at work. I didn’t suspect a thing so I had had a shower and was in my pjs.”

“At the end of the meal, Richard asked me to close my eyes because he had my favourite pudding prepared. When I opened my eyes, he was down on one knee and an engagement ring was in front of me!” “We started planning almost straight away because we knew we didn’t want a long engagement.”

“We had an idea that we would like to use Charlotte House in Lincoln as our venue so one of the first things we did was to get in touch with them.”

The Wedding of

ROBYN & RICHARD

“We were delighted that they were available for the day that we wanted, and booked straight away.”

“I didn’t really know what kind of dress I was looking for but went to try on some dresses to get an idea.”

“As soon as I saw my dress in the shop, I knew it was the one! It was a very fitted gown with a long train, cream lace with champagne silk underneath and a very low back.”

“We had our reception at Charlotte House. They put on a BBQ for the wedding breakfast which was the perfect, delicious laid back meal that we wanted! We also had a coffee and cake on arrival at the venue that our guests had all baked for us!” “Our most memorable moment was our first dance. It was probably one of the moments we were both most nervous about but it was magical.” “No one knew that we would be dancing bachata to a remix of Don’t Let Me Down by the Chainsmokers and most of our guests were quite surprised!”

“After the wedding, we had a one night honeymoon in London and in August, we went to Miami. The highlight of which was driving in a red Ford Mustang admiring the sights and listening to Latin music!” 123

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- WEDDINGS -

“My advice to other couples would be to not be afraid and to do what you want on your wedding day regardless of tradition...” “My advice to other couples planning their big day would be to not be afraid and to do what you want for your wedding day. I would advise brides to stray from tradition and make your day unique to you.” “You also don’t need to spend a fortune. Some of our favourite parts of our wedding were things we made and things that our friends and family made for us! They added a personal touch that you can’t buy from a shop. Thanks to everyone who contributed!” Images: Kev Elkins, 07969 253976, www.kevelkinsphotography.co.uk.

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FLOWERS Blooming Marvellous Wedding

Your wedding flowers are a really great tool for conveying your chosen colour scheme and they transform a room or a venue, into a wedding venue. Start thinking about them right from the moment you begin to look for your dress and choose your wedding venue to ensure you create a consistent look for your whole wedding. Perhaps the most traditional style of all wedding bouquets, the shower bouquet is the epitome 126

Create your colour scheme and carry through the look and theme of your wedding by taking advantage of independent florists. Choosing your wedding flowers is an exciting experience as part of your planning! Find your floral designer on www.ukbride.co.uk

of elegance and sophistication and is designed to gracefully flow out of the bride’s hands, with a natural look in many of the bouquets we’re seeing in the wedding world currently.

This cascading style was made popular by Princess Diana in the 1980’s and has enjoyed something of a revival in recent years. Almost any type of flower can be included in the typical style of this arrangement,

which is often enhanced with trailing ivy and fresh foliage. Typically round in shape, the posy bouquet is a popular choice for modern brides as it is easy to handle and often small enough to be carried in one hand.

Alternatively, a great alternative to the traditional bouquet is a beautiful corsage worn on the wrist - a wonderful way to accessorise your wedding dress.

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Collate as many images as possible of your preferred floral style and consider looser styles for rustic weddings, incorporating raffia ties, or tighter styles incorporating Swarovski crystals and pearls for more formal styles.

To style your venue, consider flowers for your tables, with taller arrangements to prevent guests having to ‘look round’ your centrepieces, and don’t forget buttonholes for the groomsmen to tie in with the rest of your floral scheme.

Depending on how much you’re looking to invest in your wedding flowers, we recommend setting aside a large chunk of your budget if you want to make your wedding stand out. In all cases, look for a local florist and take advantage of their flair and expertise. n

Floral Ideas... 1. It doesn’t just have to be flowers; add pinecones and succulents to create texture and contrast. Arrangement by Great British Flowers for Dan & Liz.

2. The all natural look has taken the wedding world by storm in the past year. To create this look, use a variety of different green tones and a loosely-fitted, ‘overflowing’ style as pictured. 3. These bouquets follow a loose-fitted style and create a vintage look by using dahlias and hydrangeas. Photo: The Garden Gate Flower Company. 4. Roses are timeless and are always in trend. 5. Looking for something different? Use bright colours that match your bridesmaids. Ideal for summer. Photo: Great British Flowers. 6. Work closely with your florist to see how you can incorporate your wedding flowers into your day in different ways. Visit www.ukbride.co.uk for florists.

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Two Tone Mesh Ruched Spot Dress and Jacket in Forget Me Not and Tawny Gold. The dress is ruched throughout with a nice wide neckline and pretty lace half sleeves, The bolero jacket has a nice high neckline and three quarter length sleeves, £699.

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A beautiful mother of the bride and groom dress by Ispirato in cream and crushed pearl, ÂŁ539.

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Lace trim dress and jacket suit. This stylish dress has a flattering pleated layer skirt, ruched waist band and lace overlay bodice and elbow length sleeves. The contrasting colour bolero jacket has three quarter length sleeves and lace cuffs, ÂŁ615.

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The Ispirato dress has a beautiful floating lace overlay bodice with matching lace sleeves. The dress is fitted to the waist with slight ruching to flatter the tummy area. The skirt is a straight structure and the length will sit below the knee. The matching frock coat has a rounded neckline, sits edge to edge and has contrasting lace cuffs to the three quarter length sleeves ÂŁ745.

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Chic and effortlessly elegant. Featuring a lace overbodice against the soft brocade fabric of the gown & jacket. The dress is teamed with a matching brocade jacket which is perfect for the gown. The fabric used is soft and feminine. This gorgeous dress has three quarter length lace sleeves, ÂŁ644.

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We Love this stylish ruched front dress by Ispirato in luxurious stretch taffeta. Shift in styling but with a very flattering front ruching to hide any little imperfections. Features Boat neckline perfect 2019 trend. Dress also has 3/4 length sleeves, ÂŁ819.

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Ispiratoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Prussian Blue dress is teamed with a matching jacket which is perfect for the gown. This gorgeous dress has three quarter length lace sleeves and is ruched in shaping which ensures that it is incredibly flattering, ÂŁ739. For Lincolnshire stockists see www.ispirato.co.uk or call 020 74114382.

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BEAUTY

TRUE BLUE

THIS MONTH WE’VE LUXURY COSMETICS WITH A SLIGHTLY BLUE HUE DESIGNED TO MOISTURISE, CONCEAL AND PROTECT YOUR SKIN ALL THROUGH SPRING...

1. Gucci perfume is heaven scent...

Gucci’s Song for the Rose perfume is heaven scent for mid-spring, with Bulgarian rose, sweet musk and wood notes. As the scent’s name suggests its notes are an expression of absolute femininity. Rose is presented in the fragrance as the eternal queen, with the alchemy of regeneration and rose blended to create an olfactive duality and melody or floral and musk. It’s also suitable for men to wear! £240/100ml.

3. Dewy Skin Primer

Cover FX’s rich primer nourishes and hydrates skin and imparts an instant dewy finish. Providing ultra-hydration with anti-ageing properties, this is a cruelty-free paraben-free product ideal for normal to dry skin types. £30/30ml.

4. Lip Service

La Mer’s lip balm is a more luxurious prospect than regular lip balms, but worth the investment with a refreshing mint taste, moisturisers and sea kelp to ensure your lips are soft and moisturised against spring winds and chilly temperatures. £50/9g.

5. For Beautiful Eyes Estée Lauder’s targeted system of high-performance formulas customised to your needs, including a full-size New Advanced Night Repair Eye Supercharged Complex to help the entire eye area look brighter and visibly revived. £49/set.

2. LUXURY EYE COLOUR

Chantecaille’s Luminescent Eye Shade shown here in Mare provides a uniquely sheer, gel-powder shade which washes the eye with a gentle, pearlescent shimmer. Created by industry expert Sylvie Chantecaille, it combines refreshing botanical extracts with innovative ingredients to harness the power of both science and nature. Cruelty free, no parabens, phthalates or scent. £42/2g.

6. Luxurious as Caviar

La Prarie is a luxurious cult skincare brand, and its Skin Caviar Concealer Foundation is designed to provide instant, natural-looking perfection floats onto your face SPF15 and a luxurious cream emulsion that provides full natural-looking coverage while the concealer helps to camouflage under-eye darkness and deeper flaws. Firming with legendary caviar extracts. A brilliant fusion of science and cosmetic artistry available in four different tones. £170/30ml.

n All our beauty products are available from local high quality independent stockists unless otherwise stated, prices are RRP. Visit each makeup brand’s website for more information on local stockists. 137

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ADVERTORIAL

WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT

OSTEOARTHRITIS? Osteoarthritis is a musculoskeletal disease and the world’s most common joint ailment. A slow but steady degeneration of the cartilage causes the joints to be painful and stiff.

Molecular Bio-physical Stimulation Therapy (MBST) treatment helps to regenerate the cartilage by stimulating the cells into regrowth (cell regeneration). Once MBST treatment is complete the cells have been sufficiently stimulated in order to continue regenerating by themselves, reducing pain and allowing for greater movement and therefore a better quality of life. MBST – how it works: using physics

medically MBST is similar to MRI technology (Magnetic Resonance Imaging), but instead of using magnetic resonance to generate images, MBST stimulates cartilage cells by transferring energy to the targeted area in order to activate regenerative processes. MBST is the only technology that works on a cellular level and stimulates cells to preserve the natural joint. 138

MBST treatment offers both antiinflammatory and pain-relieving effects, which enables a comfortable, uncomplicated and sustainable treatment of osteoarthritis – free from risks, strains or side effects, and with a long-lasting effect that has been scientifically confirmed. Advantages of MBST treatment: • No side effects • No surgery • No injections • No drugs • No intravenous infusions • Relaxing, stress-free treatment process • Sustainable treatment • More than 270,000 patients treated FAQ:

What are the side effects of MBST therapy? There have been no reported side effects of MBST therapy since it was first applied internationally in 1998.

Will I immediately feel better after treatment? MBST cannot compensate overnight for damages that have developed over long periods of time. However, many patients report that their mobility improved rapidly and that the associated pain was reduced or even disappeared. How long does the effect of the MBST therapy last, and can the treatment be repeated? Patient data shows a significant reduction in pain could be verified years after the therapy. If necessary, MBST treatment can be repeated any number of times, but the need for top ups is uncommon. n Would you like further information, to make a booking, or just have a question to ask? Then please do contact our experienced and friendly team at Clare House Physiotherapy and Cell Regeneration LTD. Call 01780 238 084 or email info@mbst-therapy.co.uk. TREATING PEOPLE, NOT PATIENTS.

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Wealth management investing in you There are two key aspects you should look for in a wealth management company. First of all, they should put your interests first rather than their own bottom line. Secondly, the company you choose should be able to offer a full service and look after every aspect of your financial planning. Allow us to introduce JCH Wealth Management... John Hebblethwaite has worked in financial planning all his life and was disheartened by the approach to wealth management.

“It frustrated me that the first priority in most wealth management companies was ensuring their own fee was received,” says John. “The whole point is to care for a client’s financal wellbeing, ensuring you’ve covered every aspect and done the job properly. That way, your own bottom line looks after itself and you can guarantee happy clients who can trust your advice is for their benefit and not your own.”

This is the ethos with which John started his business 11 years ago, and it’s something that has worked for him every year since. He now has a 16-strong team including four financial planners, and one of the preeminent financial firms in Lincolnshire, that’s the first port of call for most accountants and solicitors in the county.

“We get a great deal of satisfaction from helping clients achieve their life goals, whether it’s ensuring they can put their children through university or enabling them to completely change their lifestyle.”

Putting clients’ needs first sits at the very heart of the business, which, fundamentally, provides face-to-face investment, pension and financial planning advice.

The company, based at 1 Henley Way, Lincoln, now looks after many tens of millions of pounds for very satisfied clients. JCH: works to help families, companies, charities, trusts, and pension schemes. “Our people are definitely our biggest asset and building the right team has been pivotal to our growth. Our strategy has not been to just grow the team and get as many clients in as possible, because if you have thousands of clients you can’t look after them properly.” “It’s all about getting the balance right. We’re happy that we now have the right people with the ethos and integrity to make our clients feel their future prosperity is secure. It’s a really great team and we all love working here.”

The company’s independent status means it can advise clients about products and services across the whole financial sector ensuring these are bespoke to their needs. They can help you to build and preserve capital, provide financial protection against risk, manage cash and borrowing and aim to reduce taxes.

JCH: has many longstanding happy clients who have entrusted their wealth through difficult stock market corrections which has helped them sleep easy, achieve their life goals and help family members or employees for many more years to come.

Find Out More: For more information on what JCH:Wealth Management can offer you, call their team on 01522 697310 or visit the website www.jchim.co.uk or www.jchpm.co.uk. If you would prefer to visit John and his team, go to 1 Henley Way, Lincoln LN6 3QR.

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BUSINESS & FINANCE

Oldrids & Downtown is ‘People’s Choice’ THE DEPARTMENT STORE RECENTLY WON AT THE FAMILY BUSINESS AWARDS

BOSTON Oldrids & Downtown were announced winners of the 2018 People’s Choice Award at an annual ceremony. The Midlands Family Business Awards celebrate the amazing achievements of the region’s most successful family businesses. The People’s Choice Award is unique as, unlike all of the other awards presented on the evening, it is decided upon by an open public vote. The margin between Oldrids & Downtown and their nearest competitor was the largest ever seen in the history of the Awards - a brilliant achievement for the business. Established in 1804 and serving the local community and visitors from far and wide for over 200 years, Oldrids & Downtown is a fourth generation family business with retail stores in Grantham, Boston and Scunthorpe. “This is a wonderful testament to the fantastic level of support

received by our business, from our customers, suppliers, staff and shareholders and everyone who was kind enough to vote for us,” says Martin Isaac, Chairman.

Air Ambulance is flying high for silver anniversary...

LOCAL FLYING PARAMEDICS CELEBRATE 25TH BIRTHDAY AND 19,700 MISSIONS IN THE SKY!

“I would like to express my sincere gratitude to those who played a part in helping us to clinch this prestigious award. I’d also like to thank our staff for their hard work and

commitment. I am truly proud to say that of all the businesses that were in the running, ours is the People’s Choice!” n Call 01205 361251 or visit the website www.oldrids.co.uk.

LINCOLN A local Charity that has helped save the lives of thousands of people across Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire is appealing for former patients to get in touch and help celebrate its 25th birthday.

To mark its 25th year in service, the Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance is appealing for former patients to share their stories and will be inviting a number of them to visit the airbase as part of a special celebration, where they will have the opportunity to see the helicopter and meet members of the crew. Karen Jobling, Chief Executive Officer says “We have airlifted literally thousands of patients over the past 25 years, providing the very best pre-hospital critical care possible on board our helicopter.”

The Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance, which first became operational in 1994 and will be celebrating its silver anniversary this year, has completed over 19,700 potentially life-saving missions to help give severely sick or injured patients the very best chance of survival in what is often their greatest hour of need. 142

n If you’re a former patient email enquiries@ambucopter.org.uk.

LINCOLNSHIRE LADY SCOOPS FOOD AWARD

MARKET RASEN Small business campaign Entrepreneur has revealed its Top 100, a collection of 100 female entrepreneurs inspiring their peers and communities through their businesses and wider activities. Included in the list is Caroline Kenyon from Market Rasen, who founded Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year, the world’s leading food photography awards, Tiptree World Bread Awards, the UK’s top bread awards and even an American version

which launched in New York at the end of 2018. “I’m absolutely delighted to be included in this wonderful list, I think we are definitely in the age of the entrepreneurial woman,” says Caroline. “This is a campaign that highlights the work of incredible women, but it is not only aimed at inspiring other women. This is for men too, showing everyone that in the toughest situations in life, it is entrepreneurs who are the people that not only survive but thrive.”

Compare the Meerkats... at Lincolnshire Wildlife Park!

THE COUNTY’S ATTRACTION OF THE YEAR 2018 IS JUST 15 MINUTES FROM SKEGNESS

New Website Launches ...

NORTH KESTEVEN A new website has been launched as a one stop shop for Lincolnshire Business. Available at www.business nk.co.uk, the site contains information about business support, current projects and investments, vacant units, business news and case studies in North Kesteven. It has been created by the authority’s economic development team and was launched at a recent business networking event hosted by the authority. The district is home to businesses of all sizes, from large national employers through to small, independent traders. In the last 20 years, the local economy has grown faster than the national average, especially in food & farming, manufacturing, engineering and construction. n

SKEGNESS Winning the ELBA Attraction of the Year 18 and situated just 15 minutes south of Skegness, Lincolnshire Wildlife Park is quickly becoming a premier attraction for all ages. Set within 20 acres, you can explore the many wild and endangered species of animals including Lemurs, Meerkats, Puma, Panther, Tapir, Emu’s and many more! The park is also home to 11 Bengal Tigers, the largest collection in Europe. You can interact with the animals by feeding 100’s of parrots or purchase food for the cheeky Meerkat family. n For a day out at Lincolnshire Wildlife Park visit the attraction’s website at www.lincswildlife.com.

£100,000,000

Entrepreneur Winner

WORK IS CONTINUING on a £100m project to secure Boston against a repeat of the tidal surge that caused extensive flooding in the town in 2013. The Boston Flood Barrier will be hydraulically controlled gate that will be raised when flooding is expected. Work will be completed next year but already a significant amount of the engineering work has been completed. n

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BUSINESS

NEWS In Brief LINCOLN

ENTERPRISE ZONES ...

The best ways to equip the county’s three emerging Food Enterprise Zones with utilities and transport links are to be explored in the hope of enticing firms to relocate to the agri-food business parks. Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), which is made up of businesses and councils, has won £155,000 in Government cash to spend on feasibility studies. The idea is that the offer of potential sites that are already connected to utilities would give Lincolnshire a competitive edge when it comes to attracting companies to set up shop here. Of the £155,000 from the Government, North Lincolnshire has been awarded £55,000, with £50,000 each to Hemswell & Holbeach. n 143

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Miscellany

Introducing Miscellany. This new feature in Lincolnshire Pride includes snippets of information about the county you may not have known, monthly features and interesting locals. Enjoy! The exPlorer

Matthew Flinders, founder of Australia from Lincolnshire...

Born in 1774 in Donington near Boston, Matthew Flinders went on to achieve great accomplishments. He was an English navigator and cartographer who led the first circumnavigation of Australia and identified it as a continent. He gave Australia its name and is celebrated widely throughout the country as statues and buildings. Flinders’ health had suffered from his travels and although he reached home in 1810, he did not live to see the success of his widely praised book and atlas, A Voyage to Terra Australis, having died in July 1814 aged just 40.

e Sweet Pea: Flower of the Month... The Sweet Pea is a climbing plant which can grow up to two meters when there is support available like a wall or fence. The original wild plant is purple in colour, where as many cultivators have created other colours. Hence their name, Sweet Peas have a sweet fragrance and this is used by many

gardeners just for the scent it gives off in their garden. Sweet Peas generally are in bloom from March until November, and fare best in cool damp climates.

Top Growing Tip: A good tip to follow is to soak the seeds in water for 24 hours before planting, nicking them with a nail file to speed up the development process.

local Business Spotlight

LJ Fairburn & Sons Ltd, Egg Producers since 1951

The location of his grave was lost by the 19th century but archaeologists excavating a former burial ground near London’s Euston station reported this year that his remains have been found and identified!

Fun Fact: Matthew Flinders was educated at Cowley’s Charity School in Donington from 1780, and then at the Reverend John Shinglar’s Grammar School at Horbling. He then went on to join the Royal Navy inspired after reading Robinson Crusoe!

In celebration of Easter, this month’s local business spotlight is of course on the egg producers LJ Fairburn & Sons. Passionate about their hens and the eggs they produce, the Fairburns are a young, progressive family business. Taking a very hands-on approach, they are the third

generation to produce eggs. They are in control of everything they put in and every egg they send out, ensuring the finest quality and the freshest egg. The business now has 5,000,000 chickens! They also mill over 80,000 tonnes of feed each year, including grain grown on their 2,000

acre arable farm. It’s a huge operation! Proud to be producing organic, free range, barn and colony eggs for supermarkets, Fairburns now produce and pack over 16 million eggs a week. Fun Fact: The heaviest egg to have been laid by a hen was 454g with a double yolk and double shell! It was laid in New Jersey, USA.

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MISCELLANY

radio peas A pea variety that only exists in Lincolnshire and kept alive at Alford House

In the beautiful gardens at Alford House, cared for by local volunteers, you’ll find ‘radio’ peas in the vegetable patch. Bred by a local man

down the road, he was hoping he’d developed the next best pea, but they grew too tall for suppliers and farmers to take them up. They only exist in Alford now.

Book oF the month

e old Baggage

A written comic novel by Lissa Evans

A poignant, sparklingly written comic novel about the legacy of the Women’s Suffrage Movement and one woman’s determination to create a meaningful present in the wake of her own thrilling and revolutionary past.

lincolnshire Birthdays in april 3rd April 1367 Henry IV, King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1399 to 1413, was born in Bolingbroke Castle (died 1413).

10th April 1906 Kathleen Major, famous historian at Oxford University (died 2001).

king John’s lost Jewels in the Wash! Legend has it, Lincolnshire is home to King John’s crown jewels, gold and fortune. The only problem is they’re lost... out at the Wash!

1216 was the year after the Magna Carta was sealed and the country was in revolt. King John was having to quell rebellion uprisings. He had been travelling from the port of King’s Lynn to Lincoln when, according to historical chronicles, the treasure was lost.

Fun Fact: King John had a nickname; John Lackland. John was given this nickname by his father Henry II of all people! He was referring to the fact that he was unlikely to inherit substantial lands.

Blue plaque of the month: William Marwood, Public Hangman... he persuaded the governor of Lincoln Castle Gaol to allow him to conduct an execution. The efficient way in which he conducted

16th April 1786 Sir John Franklin, rear admiral and

Arctic explorer born in Spilsby (died 1847).

Legend has it he misjudged the tide, leading to his precious baggage train being claimed by the advancing waters, including the crown jewels. It has since become one of the most sought after troves in the country.

Fiery, indefatigable and wilful, Matilda Simkin has made a life of righteous defiance. Once a proudly militant suffragette, her colourful past is littered with acts of bravery and rebellion but, as Mattie enters middle age, the world has moved on. It is 1928 and the once allied movement that she fought with is now irrevocably splintered and factionalised.

William Marwood a British hangman born and raised on Church Lane in Horncastle, was originally a cobbler in the town. At 54

23rd April 1464 Robert Fayrfax, court composer, born in Deeping Gate (died 1521).

the hanging of William Frederick Horry without a hitch on 1st April 1872 assisted him in being appointed hangman at a

retainer of £20 a year plus £10 per execution. He invented the long drop technique which snapped the neck of

the prisoner instantly. It was less painful and a more humane hanging technique than the short drop and long strangulation...

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LINCOLNSHIRE PRIDE THE WEALTHIEST PEOPLE IN THE COUNTY READ

LINCOLNSHIRE PRIDE MAGAZINE IS DELIVERED FREE OF CHARGE, VIA ROYAL MAIL, TO HIGH VALUE HOMES RIGHT ACROSS THE COUNTY... Our unique circulation is to properties in the top three council tax banded homes which are predominantly worth over Â£300,000. This guarantees the magazine has an affluent readership commensurate with our content. In addition the magazine is also sold in supermarkets and newsagents and our in-house distribution team also works hard to hand-deliver the magazine to selected hotels and restaurants, doctors, dentists, executive motor dealerships and golf clubs. If your business would benefit from being showcased to the wealthiest people in the area, please call our friendly sales team on 01529 469977 or email sales@pridemagazines.co.uk. Alternatively, you can view our media pack online at www.pridemagazines.co.uk.

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E MA GA Z I N

THIs MonTH: our ExClusIvE IMAgEs froM THE fArMErsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; bAll 2019

To feature your event call 01529 469977. our magazines are free to read online, so you can share the magazine with your friends. visit www.pridemagazines.co.uk. 147

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THE FARMERS’ BALL

Woodhall Spa’s Petwood Hotel hosted the annual Farmers’ Ball, formerly known as the Bachelors Ball, attended by over 450 of the county’s farmers and landowners...

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THE BURTON HUNT BALL Around 400 attendees of this year’s Burton Hunt Ball enjoyed an evening of entertainment at the Lincolnshire Showground’s EPIC Centre, with dining, an auction and dancing...

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MOTORS

TIGER FEAT

Named after the Indonesian name for tigers, there’s a new Porsche Macan, heavily updated with more bite for keen drivers. A compact SUV ideal for negotiating town, it also promises performance and a really engaging drive...

It’s safe to say that Porsche’s Macan - named after the Indonesian word for ‘tiger’ has earned its stripes. Its larger brother the Cayenne quickly silenced critics who scoffed at the idea of an SUV with a Porsche badge when it was launched in 2003. The firm quite correctly foresaw the boom in SUV sales with Cayenne and followed it up with a smaller sibling - the Macan - in 2014.

Since then the market has become considerably more crowded and with a swollen model range from Land Rover, Macan now has to fend off the Range Rover Evoque, Velar and Discovery Sport as well as models like Audi’s Q5; BMW’s X3, X4 and X5, the Mercedes GLC, Jaguar F-Pace, Lexus RX, Maserati Levante... Long story short; Porche’s second generation Macan has a lot riding on its high haunches to hold its own in a competitive sector. Happily, it’s highly likely that it’ll be up to the challenge. The outgoing Macan sold over 100,000 cars worldwide during its life - four times the number of 911s which roared out of the showroom. Another example of Porsche keeping its beady eye on the motoring zeitgeist is its removal of all diesel engines from its lineup. Your new entry level Macan will come with a 2.0 four-cylinder petrol engine. >> 156

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>> The Macan’s has 245PS of power. There’s plenty of power with a track or autobahn top speed of 139mph and overtaking oomph in the form of a 6.7 second 0-60mph sprint.

That puts it roughly on a par with a larger and more expensive V6 Range Rover Sport. The engine is a fettled version of the unit you’ll find in a Volkswagen Golf GTi or Audi TT and it’s a unit that’s proven to offer performance when you need it, but enough restraint for the school run and around-town errands - a great compromise between powerful and practical.

Economy is on a par with other petrol engines of its size, so you can expect 35mpg - not as frugal as a diesel but less agricultural sounding and not bad for a car that weights in at 1,800kg. 158

The newly updated Macan still offers a ‘best in class’ driving experience with a beautiful chassis and that Porsche badge too... Those seeking more grunt can opt for the Macan S with its 3.0 V6 engine. It reaches 60mph in 5.3 seconds, reaches 157mph and has 354PS of power. The premium for the S model is only a couple of thousands pounds, and whilst we don’t think the extra power is necessary, the extra styling it brings and likely better resale value probably makes this the sweeter model.

Whilst Macan and Macan S weigh in at £46,344 and £48,750 respectively, you’ll need to remember that with all cars these days, you’ll only have to glance at the options

list to add another £10,000 to the price, and this being a Porsche you’ll doubtless like to take advantage of the available options. Leather seats, park assist, reversing camera, adaptive cruise and heated seats are all extra.

Still the Macan offers a ‘best in class’ driving experience, a beautiful chassis, a premium badge and, at 4.6m long, it’s shorter than a Mondeo and so easier to park, with a higher ride. It might wear a sporty badge but this Porsche is more practical than you’d expect. Perhaps that maked this tiger a little more civilised than its sharp teeth would suggest! n

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Three of the Best: School-run friendly, town-taming SUVs...

Range Rover Velar R-Dynamic SE D180 £55,495: The R-Dynamic Range Rover Velar features sportier styling, but even the entry level D180 model will provide plenty of performance. There’s a decent amount of boot space and five good-sized seats in this thoroughly modern Range Rover, even if it sits below the Range Rover Sport in the company’s portfolio. In SE trim you gain a powered tailgate, heated leather seats, navigation and park pack. 0-60mph 8.5 secs, 36.6mpg... oh, and it’s a class leader off-road too! n

Maserati Levante 3.0 V6 £59,300: An unusual badge and worthy of consideration for those seeking to be a little different from the crowd. Standard equipment isn’t as generous as the Velar and you’re unlikely to take the Levante off road, but it’s an exotic option and is undoubtedly impressive in terms of its styling. There are also plenty of options to customise your interior with alcantara headlining, red leather seats and a chrome interior package. 0-60mph in 6.0 secs, 36mpg. n

PORSCHE MACAN Price: £46,344. Motor/Drivetrain: 2.0 V4. Performance: 0-60mph 6.5 secs 139 mph top speed. Economy: 34.9mph, 185g CO2. Equipment: Electrically adjustable alcantara seats, navigation, Apple Carplay, DAB radio.. Seven speed automatic gearbox, four wheel drive, traction control. n

Jaguar F-Pace S, 30D £54,030: The F-Page has been terrifically well-received by the motoring world and since its launch, the car has been joined by a smaller E-Pace and electric I-Pace. In this company, a 3.0V6 diesel with twin turbocharging provides plenty of pace, whilst all wheel drive and an automatic gearbox are standard. S spec provides electric leather seats, keyless entry and a rear camera. 0-60mpg 6.2 seconds, 36.6mpg. n

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