A winter trip.

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny break in a week of lousy weather so we decided to make the most of it. As the swimming pool has closed for some renovations we got away early in the morning after deciding we would make a trip to the City of Lincoln. Neither of us have visited the City for some years now. The journey was smooth and uneventful through the gently rolling Lincolnshire countryside.

Having found a place to park we came to the market place and the River with its modern sculpture that spans the river Across the bridge is a new Waterside Shopping mall that opens onto the main shopping street of Lincoln.

Once busy with traffic it's now completely pedestrianized and busy with people browsing the shops

After a reviving coffee break at Costers we set out to explore......

These are the narrow streets in the old upper part of the city. They get progressively steeper until you reach the Cathedral and the ruins of the castle built for William the Conquer, perched at the very top of the hill.

This is the start of a very narrow road called Steep Hill. Once the traffic use to go all the way to the top but now it has been pedestrianized thank goodness. At the top sits the Cathedral and Castle. Today we chose not to climb to the top.

Jews Court is one of the oldest buildings at the bottom of Steep Hill, the streets that leads up to the great Lincoln Cathedral, is reputed to be older than the Cathedral. Although there is no proof of it’s construction date the building was by tradition a medieval synagogue and central to Lincolns Jewry. Today, after surviving plans for demolition in 1930, it is the home of the Lincolnshire History and Archaeology Society. It also houses a book shop for new and secondhand books.

Next door is the 12^th Century Jews House, which was by tradition the home of the Rabbi. The Jews House is the oldest known surviving dwelling house in all Europe. Today the Grade 1 listed building is the home of an excellent Restaurant. It has just reopened after a fire two years ago closed it. The two years was taken up with complex planning applications due to the buildings status.

Looking at the menu outside we decided to have lunch here instead of 'Pensioners Fish and Chip' meal we saw near the market further down in the newer part of the City.

Lunch was a delight. An ancient building sympathetically modernised inside to a simple tasteful contemporary style. Crisp white starched tablecloths, faultless service and mouthwatering delicious food.

The food is prepared by the Chef/proprietor Gavin Aitkenhead and front of house is, manageress, Samantha Tomkins. We passed a good many eating places, pubs cafes and restaurants as we walked along the main shopping street but I'm sure we couldn't have made a better choice for our lunch stop than The Jews House.

For all the conservation work carried out on preserving the wonderful architecture of the city, across the road from this ancient building, on a once open piece of ground the planners have allowed a row of hideously bland architectural uninteresting red brick homes to be built. Their defence apparently- 'in a hundred years time they'll be quirky'. Personally I doubt if they will survive a hundred years!

After lunch we wandered back along the main shopping street. Past an eclectic mix of architecture from ancient churches..........

.....to Victorian Gothic ........ to hideous 1960's architecture..... to some of today's better contemporary styles.

This half timbered Medieval style building survives, now a cafe it is on a bridge that spans right over the River Witham that runs through the center of the City.

Although Lincoln has the usual the run of boring high street global chain stores it has retained a good mix of smaller individual shops with quirky goods for sale that makes a shopping expedition more interesting.

Despite my parents once living 12 miles north of the City and my sister once working in the city center Lincoln is a city I don't know too much about but is steeped in history. I think in retirement it will have a few more visits from us.