Lady’s Day Trip to Lincoln Guide

Today I want to share about my experience on a day trip to Lincoln. This cathedral city in the East Midlands is worth a trip for its rich history and picture-pretty streets.

Day Trip to Lincoln

When I first moved to the UK, I asked a British friend for a recommendation for a day trip from London. She suggested Lincoln. I had never heard of the city before, but I put it on my travel bucket list.

Years later, I finally got around to taking a day trip to Lincoln. When I did, I wondered what had taken me so long.

That’s because Lincoln is the center of the world. At least that’s what my guide, Vic from Visit Lincoln, said.

And he would know. He had an encyclopedic knowledge of the city’s history and a gift for storytelling that made it come alive.

Lincoln Sightseeing Tour

Vic met me and two of my friends as we were having lunch at Brown’s Pie Shop, a Lincoln establishment on Steep Hill.

Steep Hill itself was a narrow cobbled lane flanked by pretty shops that led up to the city’s famous castle and cathedral. It’s won the Academy of Urbanism’s Great Street award.

When Vic arrived, we finished lunch and got ready to explore the city. I was excited to see as much of it as I could during our day trip to Lincoln.

Castle Square, Lincoln

Heading to the top of Steep Hill, we found ourselves in Castle Square, a pretty plaza surrounded by half-timbered buildings and cozy pubs. It was so perfectly English that I wanted to wrap it up and send it home for Christmas. (I didn’t).

Lincoln Castle

On one side of the square was Lincoln Castle. We continued our day trip to Lincoln by entering the gates and finding ourselves surrounded by beautiful historic buildings and pretty grounds.

Our first stop was an exhibition where we saw one of the four remaining originals of the 1215 Magna Carta. I had seen one of the others at Salisbury Cathedral a few years back, and it was just as exciting to see another.

The lasting historical impact of one small piece of paper with tiny writing across it gave me goosebumps.

From the Magna Carta, Vic took us to the Lincoln Castle prison. There he showed us one of the eeriest chapels I’ve ever seen.

Built several centuries ago in an effort to keep prisoners isolated from one another, the chapel had an array of tiny one-person compartments, ensuring each prisoner could see the pulpit but nothing else.

Lincoln Cathedral

Outside Lincoln Castle, the grounds showed off their autumn colors and the leaves waved good-bye as we continued our day trip to Lincoln by making our way back across Castle Square to Lincoln Cathedral.

A famous pilgrimage site in the Middle Ages, the cathedral was just as vibrant today as it had been back then.

The harvest festival was in full swing when we walked in, and inside the choir the sounds of songs echoed through the vaulted ceilings.

Vic took us around Lincoln Cathedral, telling stories about saints and pilgrims, botched construction jobs and eerie tombs. His tales were effective in bringing the place to life.

Roman Lincoln

Back outside, our day trip to Lincoln continued as we walked through some of the historic streets and down into the cellars of a few shops to see Lincoln’s Roman roots.

Until visiting, I had no idea that Lincoln was one of the major Roman cities in Britain.

From the UK’s tallest Roman wall to the only Roman city gate in the country that traffic still drives through, Lincoln’s ancient history not only ran deep, but was also remarkably well preserved.

Vic’s tour had us so fascinated that we hardly noticed that almost five hours had elapsed from the time we met him at the pie shop.

It was dark when we finally let him go, and even then we were loath to do so. Our tour with him was the highlight of our day trip to Lincoln.

All day he had insisted that we needed to come back for at least four days to see everything there was to see in Lincoln, and I had no doubt he was right.

Dinner in Lincoln

After parting with Vic, my friends and I headed back to Steep Hill for dinner at a local pub called the Wig & Mitre.

It was an impressively cold night, and a hot dinner was exactly what we needed to help us defrost before our travels back to London.

Day Trip to Lincoln

Once we started said travels, I was a bit sad to be leaving. Having taken years to finally visit Lincoln, I was already eager to go back.

The pretty streets, rich history, and warm welcome were enough to convince me that my friend had been right all that time ago. I just hope I have at least four days for my next visit.

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