Lincolnshire

Our daughter lives in a hamlet a few miles south of Bourne, just off the A15. Bourne is an amazing little town, it seems to have every kind of shop and service one could want, although no hospital unfortunately. Peterborough is straight down the A15 for a bigger variety of shops and facilities and the direct train line into King's Cross. Beautiful Stamford is 15 minutes away. She has lived in the area for 14 years and really loves it. She has been seriously ill recently and was well cared for at Peterborough hospital and later at Addenbrookes in Cambridge which is not that far away.

I worked all over Lincolnshire in schools, hospitals and doctor's surgeries as a therapeutic counsellor for around 10 years or more. I love Lincolnshire and it's large skies, wide open spaces, country lanes, lack of traffic and most of all the sheer kindness of the people there. As you drive past the signs welcoming you to Lincolnshire, you almost feel your blood pressure relaxing into a calmer place. It is a bit like going back to the 1950s. People offer you a cup of tea whenever you arrive anywhere. They are warm and caring. One of the slightly quirky things that is normal in Lincolnshire is that you could find yourself behind a tractor quite often and several during the course of a day if you have lots of appointments. The trick is to pull in at the nearest stopping place and telephone ahead to your next couple of appointments. Just say that you are running late due to being held up by tractors, but you are definitely on your way. Ask if the person whom you are seeing can be informed and apologise. Instantly you have removed the stress from your journey. People will not mind if they know you are on your way, even if you will be late. You have apologized, Lincolnshire people have excellent manners and deserve to be treated with respect. Things are calmer and slower there. I live close to a lovely little market town about 18 miles from Lincolnshire in a friendly village, that I love. I don't plan to leave here, but if I did there are lots of lovely places to choose in Lincolnshire. Navenby is very nice but really it would be worth spending some time travelling around to find your special place.

Don't overlook the North or North East Lincs. We are closer to road networks, the A1 is 50mins away, M62 just over the bridge with Beverley about 45mins away and York not much further away. The wolds are accessible (Lincolnshire and East Riding). It can reduce the feelings of isolation while still having small red brick villages. Lincoln is as close as York too. The villages and small market towns are quirky with folk/craft/music centres and women's circles for friendships and community. The Viking Way starts in Barton on Humber and ends down at Oakham (or the other way round). The Humber is industrial that is true but the history is rich and there are bypasses, and yet still under populated.

But yes, Airbnb it for a week and explore.

I live in one of the cliff villages and love it. Easy to get to Lincoln and Grantham. All amenities within distance.we can even get take always delivered.

London is an hour away by train from Grantham.

My mum lived in a village called Stoke Rochford which was so pretty my kids called it Postman Pat's village. It's not far from Grantham and the A1 and very easy to get to places.

*plenty.

We live in Stamford and it is lovely. There is always something going on. Not all the houses are eyewateringly expensive; there are pl of affordable homes, too. It has good rail links and is around ten miles from Peterborough, which is one of the busiest and best stations in the country. There are some very attractive villages nearby as well. Bourne and Spalding have a lot to offer. Oakham is in Rutland, but not far from Lincolnshire. It is smaller than Stamford, but again has good rail links.

Stamford is almost always an hour's drive from Lincoln in my experience and I have lived here for over 40 years. It is as far away from Lincoln as it's possible to be and still be in Lincolnshire so probably not the best choice if you need to be close to Lincoln. However, Stamford is right up there as one of the most beautiful towns in England and, as such, one of the most expensive areas of Lincolnshire.

I really like Louth and Stamford, both good market towns with a vibrant community feel.

Another OP who cannot be bothered to respond.

Lincoln is the only City in the county.

Stamford is 50+ miles from Lincoln if that’s the city you have in mind.

My vote goes to Washingborough. It’s just over 2 miles from Lincoln city. We lived there for 38 years and brought up our family there. Although it’s a much expanded village it has a lively spirit and you can get a nice house with a decent sized garden.

Lathyrus3

Quite a bit of anti Lincolnshire here. I love it. The space, the skies.

My nightmare is the Lake District.

All that rain and oppressive hills.

Each to their own 😬🤣🤣

I’m not anti Lincolnshire, we’ve settled very happily BUT it’s important to be honest about the lack of services and distances to travel if you’re not in the vicinity of Lincoln.

Whilst it is good to read other peoples views of places, if you are planning to live somewhere then I think it is worth the effort of checking the area out yourself. I have moved 19 times both here and abroad and have always thought it worth the time and money. So the easiest first bit is you could ask your newsagent to get you several local lincolnshire papers of towns or cities that you are considering. They usually come out weekly or fortnightly. When you have read them for a few weeks it will give you a bit of an overview of the place as it is now.

Sometimes through change of roads or more buildings or whatever, somewhere that 5 years ago really suited someone, now might be quite different. Then think of what things you really like to do, So if you are a bridge player or belong to WI or Rotary groups or whatever, you should be able to look up the local groups and see if there is one in an area you are interested in.

Once you have some general idea then I really do advise going to stay probably b/b for a few days in each location. The person you stay with will probably be a fount of knowledge of the area, and point you in the right way as to the best areas or streets that might suit you. You could try anytime but I deliberately go in autumn/winter to see what it is like when the sun is not shining and there are no tourists about . Is there still quite a lot going on or is everywhere deserted? If you look in the summer you can see whether there are a lot of hold ups on the road etc. But my favourite thing is , I am a gardener, and it would matter to me what you could grow and the sort of soil etc. You can buy the great NGS book now and this will show you gardens open to the public for charity. So you can pick your area and have the pleasure of visiting some gardens, meeting lots of people and getting a general sense of the place. As that is my interest , it has enabled me to meet other gardeners, find out about the gardeners clubs etc and often helped me find places I might have missed.

When I have found a possible place I have also made the effort to take a picnic with me and so forth and go and sit in the area for a day. I even made a little chart of time of day and different traffic. It may seem a bit extreme, but one property we had been quite keen on turned out to be on a rat run and had a lot of traffic for much of the day. We didnt go ahead with that but found another place which we bought. You hope to be in a home for a long time and I think it is worth the effort. I spent over 20 years in my last house and only moved due to health things, so it definitely was very worth while to make that effort for me. Good luck with your search

JaneJudge - you are right about difficulties navigating some of the streets of Stamford. Latterly my elderly father lived there and as he became more disabled we found taking him out in his wheelchair was more difficult than we had appreciated. The town is quite hilly and some of the streets are cobbled. Also we found access to some of the quaint old shops was nigh impossible - many buildings are listed and adapting them for disabled access wasnt practical. This is probably not a major consideration for most people but I thought I would just mention it. Stamford it still a lovely town - I would love to live there!

sorry that most probably wasn't useful

I like Stamford too but it is a bit hilly with wobbly streets which might be difficult as we all get older and less mobile. The last time we went my husband just moaned the whole time

Don`t get me wrong, I still love Lincolnshire, but am so disappointed at how much Boston has gone downhill. I definitely wouldn`t return to Lancashire, or Greater Manchester as it became.

Quite a bit of anti Lincolnshire here. I love it. The space, the skies.

My nightmare is the Lake District.

All that rain and oppressive hills.

Each to their own 😬🤣🤣

Wondering why Lincolnshire Rainbow24?
And you want to be near Lincoln I assume?

Broadband is not great in many of these rural counties.

People forget that when they are looking at the cheaper property prices.

Plus being able to drive is a must in some of these little villages.

And hospitals are not on the doorstep.

As for banks and post offices….

Nandalot

Second Bodach with the suggestion of the cliff villages. Buses every half hour to Lincoln, though the furthest villages only get one an hour. Most have local shops and Navenby has quite a range. Navenby/Wellingore have a doctor.
However, there are loads of proposed solar farms throughout Lincolnshire if this worries you.

Don't forget burger boys pylons. Quite happy to ruin our beautiful country side, decimate our farms even more, for his net zero project, to send electricity down south to an ever over populated London making people poorer , both money wise and living wise.

I knew someone that moved to Lincolnshire- it was very quick and rushed because they sold their property more quickly than they anticipated.

Within months they felt trapped in a small village with few amenities and were very dependent on the car as public transport was poor, they had to drive quite long distances to get even the most basic items, though I suppose nowadays you can buy most stuff on-line.

Although they had a lovely bungalow and garden it was not quiet because at night the local boy racers would charge up and down the roads on the their quad bikes etc!

Yes, they were close to the sea but in an area liable to flooding also.

My advice is to do your homework well before making the move. Look at local amenities and transport links particularly, GPs, dentists and hospitals.

I hope your move goes well though, there are lots of lovely parts of Lincolnshire but I suspect you have to pay more for the well-served places.

Second Bodach with the suggestion of the cliff villages. Buses every half hour to Lincoln, though the furthest villages only get one an hour. Most have local shops and Navenby has quite a range. Navenby/Wellingore have a doctor.
However, there are loads of proposed solar farms throughout Lincolnshire if this worries you.