Friday 28 August 2015

A visit to Tattershall and Coningsby

Hello. I started this post last night, but tiredness overcame me and I went to bed. So this morning, fully refreshed, I resume. 

It was a lovely sunny morning so me and the pooch went out today. I am running out of local places to visit so each trip is a little further afield from the one before. This time I headed south through Lincoln and along a 'B' road through Metheringham and Billinghay, and made a stop at a picnic area for lunch. On then to Tattershall. I have been past many times but never had time to stop. The castle is visible from the road, so now is my chance to have a look around. I went in the church first.
The Collegiate Holy Trinity Church is 180 feet long. All the windows are clear glass, except for the large coloured glass one in the Great Eastern Window.

There is a warm welcome inside. Ladies serving cups of tea and cakes, and lots of bricabrac stalls. It looked a bit like lots of charity shops selling donated goods, all clustered together at one end. It was free to go in so I bought a packet of scrumptious home made oaty biscuits.


If you look at the map the castle is only a short walk away. The trouble is that once you pass the entrance at the Gatehouse it is hard to push the buggy through the deep shingle surface. Rocky had already had a walk up to this point, and he was struggling to walk through the loose stones, but I persevered and pushed him along on the grass where I could. 
The castle is a National Trust property, access is free to the grounds but there is a charge to go inside. The Gatehouse has a shop where they would like you to spend your money, either buying goods or joining up. I didn't want to do either so I bypassed that and took a path to the side. Besides there wasn't room for a buggy inside there. 
There is a moat around the castle and to get to it you have to cross this small wooden bridge. I don't like the look of those supports underneath it, the whole thing looks a bit dilapidated and could do with replacing. Parts of the moat are also full of reeds.

Aaahhh, I can see water there. Apparently the view is very good from the top if you want to climb the stairs. There are six floors, 149 steps.

The castle is built of red bricks, by Patrick Cromwell, between 1434 and 1447, as a display of his wealth and power in unstable times. For more information you can look at the web site.  It was a warm sunny day, and nice to see the families out with their children. Lots of space for them to run around in.

View of the castle from the churchyard. 
Next I thought we would take a look at the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight  exhibition at nearby Coningsby. Oh dear, I forgot to check that, no dogs. I went in and asked if they could make an exception for an elderly dog in a buggy, but the computer said no, so we had to be content to walk along the outer perimeter for a short distance and peer through the wire fence.

This little gnat was buzzing around, landing and taking off several times, I think they were rookie pilots practicing. 
Then it came down and landed, taxiing to it's parking slot.

The pilots climbed out and left it in the capable hands of the ground crew for inspection and maintenance.

I reckon this plane is strategically placed to block the view from the many enthusiasts poised with their zoom lens cameras along the fence. I spoke to a man and he said it was the same one in this exact spot he had seen on his previous visit, weeks before. 

The man told me that these two planes are kitted out with radar, the dishes on the top pick up signals from other aircraft while patrolling the skies. Like an early warning system.

Here is a link to the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.

After half an hour of standing and watching, and not much else happening, I decided to go back to the car. Earlier I had heard the boom of several Spitfies taking off, and hoped there would be more, but no luck. Plane spotting needs a lot of patience, maybe it's not for me, ha ha.

Time for a nice steady ride back through the Lincolnshire countryside, with the usual battle through the traffic at Lincoln. A nice relaxing day out, it's good to get out of the house now and again.

Looks like another sunny day today so I'll say Toodle pip and thanks for popping in. A bit more hedge trimming to do, and playing in the summerhouse. Catch you soon.

8 comments:

  1. Just up the road from us , some days there's planes coming in and out every 10 minutes, there's tons of activity at night , the Lancaster currently isn't flying due to a rather dramatic fire, spitfires and the hurricane fly over us every day , we even get the Vulcan about once a month

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  2. Very interesting castle and church. Not sure why we would have tables for selling set up in the church, but whatever. Enjoyed the tour. The planes are always fun to watch. Just on the edge of our city we do have a small airport that attracts lots of small plane pilots.

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  3. Oh fairly close to where I used to live. Great pics & commentary (I need not mention the doggy in the buggy). Natalie

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  4. Gorgeous, gorgeous and gorgeous! I know you are not suppose to be envious, but most of your trips make me envious. ;) The church is beautiful. I love your pix of the churches. Thanks for letting me tag along. :)

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  5. I lived in conningsby when my husband was stationed at the RAF camp in the '70's.The church in Tattershal was inhabited by bats, don't know if the powers that be were allowed to get rid of them but the pews used to be littered with bat droppings!

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  6. Hi.Just gorgeous countryside and sights to see in your neck of the woods,Ilona.I've had my architectural appreciation fix ,an am especially fond of of medieval buildings.So nice that you and Rocky( the "king of the castle") had good weather and a splendid day.It is unusual to see things for sale in a church of such magnificence and history,but I suppose funding needs take priority over sentiment on occasion(am taken aback a little bit by that)We have the Canadian Forces Base Trenton just twenty five minutes away.Their base is very busy and we can hear the planes often,though I never get out in time to catch them in their glory.The churchyard photo is such a nice balance of the light and shadow,it's really good,I think.Your very talented that way.Thanks a lot for sharing.Bye for now,D.

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  7. I've made myself sit down and read (and reply to a couple of blogs). Can't get so out of date as I have been doing! These photos really took me back to when I was 8 years old and I went with my Mum and Dad on a tour of Lincolnshire, doing the old airfields. My Dad was stationed in Lincolnshire during the war and I can't remember which ones but think Scampton was one, maybe Coningsby too. At that time we visited Tattershall Castle and I was thrilled with it and went up on the roof to look at the view, then realised my Mum and Dad had gone down the steps. I thought they had left me and panicked a bit.

    The black aircraft is I think a Dakota, we saw it fly at Rhyl last weekend. Also seen it fly over a show at Manchester Airport last year.

    It was lovely to be reminded of Tattershall as it is one of the places I remembered from that holiday.

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  8. Por favor, deixe-me saber se você estiver procurando por alguém para escrever
    para seu blog. Você tem alguns conteúdos fantásticos
    e sinto que eu seria uma boa aquisição. Se você quiser eu gostaria de escrever
    algum material para o seu blog em troca de um link para
    o meu. Por favor me envie um e-mail se estiver interessado.
    Parabéns !

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