< PreviousARTISTIC LINCOLNSHIRE Jonathan Truss should be a name familiar to those with even the most fleeting interest in art having secured major accolades, famous fans and a visual style people can’t help but fall in love with. The wonderful world of wildlife 20-21.qxp_Layout 1 22/05/2019 10:29 Page 1LINCOLNSHIRE TODAY 21 ARTISTIC LINCOLNSHIRE Jonathan Truss is one of the foremost wildlife artists and among the very best working in Britain today. His instantly recognisable artwork graces the walls of private residences and corporations from New York to New Zealand, from Botswana to Beverly Hills. But rather than demonstrate elitism, it instead shows the broad appeal of both his style and subject matter. The enthusiasm Jonathan has for animals is obvious from every piece he produces, capturing the majesty of the natural world and finding a charm, grace and, often, humour. “Nothing seems more natural or enjoyable to me than painting wildlife,” he says. “Nature has already painted its masterpiece… it’s all the inspiration I need.” Doubtless this ability has arrived at least in part from years spent watching animals in their natural habitats in search of ideals and inspiration. Observation is, after all, one of the most vital tools for any artist. These annual trips have seen him camping under canvas in the incredible game parks across Africa, while he’s conducted art safaris in India and South America. As well as earning famous fans, Jonathan has been awarded a number of prestigious accolades for his work having been named both the ‘BBC Wildlife Artist of the Year’ and the ‘David Shepherd Wildlife Artist of the Year’. If he sounds familiar then it might be because you’ve seen him on TV, where he’s appeared more than one-hundred times as well as featuring in many THE LITTLE RED GALLERY Love art? Then we’d love to meet you, please call in for a cup of tea and a chat. The Little Red Gallery are feeling ‘Love’ with a fantastic range of pieces and perfect gift ideas. 8 Bailgate Lincoln LN1 3AE 01522 589134 8 St Mary’s Hill, Stamford, PE9 2DP art@thelittleredgallery.co.uk www.thelittleredgallery.co.uk national and international magazines. Now he can add Lincolnshire Today to that list! Yet as well as receiving, Jonathan is very much a giver, having co-authored the major artbook How to Draw Wildlife. He’s also supports the conservation of many endangered species, having raised thousands of pounds for wildlife causes. Jonathan’s paintings have been sold through major auction houses in the US including Christies and Sotheby’s, but if you’d like to pick one up for yourself, you won’t need to hop on a plane. The Little Red Gallery in Lincoln has a selection of his work on display. To see more of Jonathan’s work, visit www.jonathantruss.com or follow him on Instagram @ jonathan_truss 20-21.qxp_Layout 1 22/05/2019 10:29 Page 2ORDER FORM Yes, I would like to subscribe to Lincolnshire Today magazine for the next 12 months, with the first 3 issues only being £1. Personal Details: First name: Last Name: Address: Town: County: Post Code: Tel: Mobile: Email: Payment by DEBIT/CREDIT card Name as it appears on card: Type of card: Mastercard / Visa / Visa Debit / Other Card Number: Card Verification number (3 digits on signature strip) : Expiry Date: Amount Authorised: Cheque enclosed YES / NO Please post this form back to: Subscriptions, Lincolnshire Today Magazine, Armstrong House, Armstrong Street, Grimsby. N.E. Lincolnshire DN31 2QE Make cheque payable to Business Link Magazine Group & Call now to subscribe on 01472 310301 8 or order online www.lincolnshiretoday.net/341 Total Price: £27.55 Subscribe today 4 great reasons to subscribe... 3 Each issue is brimming with a diverse topic range... • Heritage • Fashion • Hair & Beauty • Leisure • Homes & Gardens • County Motoring • Dining Out • What’s On • Free Reader Giveaways and much much more… 3 First 3 issues only £1! 3 FREE delivery to your door 3 Receive your copy before it hits the shops or Scan QR Code fashion IWWWLNC IOLNSHIRETO O www.blmgroup.co.uk T MA£2.95 WWWLINCWWW.LINC OLNSHIRETOOLNSHIRETO ODAYNEODAY.NET G www.blmgroup.co.uk WWWLINCWWW.LI OLNSHIRETOOLNSHIRETO OETODAY.N www.blmgroup.co.uk First 3 issues for £1 Looking for a great gift idea? 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Growing your own vegetables is becoming increasingly more popular for several reasons. For example, it is more sustainable, can benefit your health and you know where it has come from! Furthermore, you don’t have to have a large garden to create a ‘veg patch’. You can create a purpose-built patch by building sleeper beds. These can be whatever size fits into your garden and save you from bending and kneeling on the ground when you tend to them. They can also be used for seating when you have a well-earned cup of tea. There are a variety of receptacles that you can use to grow your vegetables. My children wanted to grow their own potatoes and I had some old tyres that I need to dispose of. We have stacked them up, filled the bottom with some stone for drainage and the rest with soil and hey presto, a couple of potato planters, by upcycling. Hanging baskets are also another way you can grow your own. For example, Cherry Cascade tomatoes will grow happily in hanging baskets and produce an abundance of tomatoes. These would also be a good fruit to grown on a vertical wall. If you really are short of space, then a vertical wall planter would be ideal. It is a wall with pockets along it that you fill with soil and your desired plants. It enables you to grow an abundance of plants without 24 LINCOLNSHIRE TODAY The garden is a place for beauty and relaxation, but it can also provide for you - as our expert Ed Fullers from Fullers Forestry and Landscaping explains. NATURE’S BOUNTY 24-25.qxp_Layout 1 22/05/2019 11:04 Page 1LINCOLNSHIRE TODAY 25 using a huge amount of space. When you are growing in a small space you do have to select your crops carefully. Some require more space than others and so you need to make sure that what you are going to grow with thrive in a smaller compact area. Furthermore, try to pick crops that will be high value to maximise your garden’s overall productivity. Tomatoes will give lots of fruit over the summer, while chard can be cut repeatedly over a long period to give several harvests. Runner beans and courgettes are also prolific, and radishes are prefect for growing between slow growing crops as they grow quickly and can be harvested early. Specialised Services in Garden Design Landscaping and Tree Maintenance Backed by a highly-skilled and experienced team, we’ve built our reputation on an ability to provide our clients with professional, tailored gardening and forestry solutions FULLERS Forestry & Landscaping Call 01522 868717 or 07867 510544 info@fullersforestry.co.uk l www.fullersforestry.co.uk www.landscapinglincolnshire.com Around the garden While you are planning your vegetable patch there are other jobs that also need doing in the garden this month: •Plant out annual summer bedding plants now the risk of frost has passed. •Plant up containers, hanging baskets and planters. •Pinch out the tips of Fuchsias to encourage more flowers. • As soon as your sweet peas start to flower, keep picking them to encourage more blooms. •Harvest salad crops and re-sow every 2 weeks for a constant supply of tasty leaves •Start to prune your plum or cherry trees now •Protect any developing fruits from birds and squirrels by placing netting around your plants. •Use water butts as much as you can to water your plants • Keep removing blanketweed from your pond to allow the plants and fish room to breathe. © Shutterstock / sanddebeautheil © Shutterstock / sanddebeautheil 24-25.qxp_Layout 1 22/05/2019 11:04 Page 2Lincolnshire heritage explored Situated near the southern edge of the Wolds as the hills begin their descent to the fens Spilsby’s name derives from the Old Norse personal name of “Spillir” with the familiar addition of the Danish “by” meaning farmstead or village. By the time of the Domesday Book it was recorded as “Spilesbi” and even today, only a little imagination is needed to travel back through the centuries in one’s mind’s eye to earlier times. The town has had a market charter since 1302. Spilsby is unique for Lincolnshire (and as far as I know any other market town) in that it has three Market Places; the East, Central and the West, the latter two being bordered on their southern side by the “The Terrace” with its wide, raised pavement and characterful Georgian style houses and shopfronts. The East Market is notable for its well preserved C14th buttercross and it was here that in times past the stocks and a whipping post were located. The eastern end is dominated by the imposing façade of the Methodist chapel built in 1877, whilst across the road is the Nelson Butt inn dating from circa 1700. According to a town guide, written some years ago by Ted Davy, once the town crier, it was possible in the Central Market, until as late as the early C19th, to attend on market day and buy – or sell - a wife with the going rate latterly being around ten shillings. The Central Market also has a series of information boards recounting the adventurous life story of Sir John Franklin the arctic explorer who was born just across the road. In High Street (by the bakers) is a plaque marking his birthplace. Go and look if you haven’t seen it before. And when we move on to the West Market we find his imposing statue with an epitaph around the base composed by the Lincolnshire poet Laureate Alfred Lord Tennyson. The West Market however has even more of interest. Here we find the former Town Hall of 1764 which originally had open arches at ground level that accommodated the market Last month we discussed the life of Sir John Franklin. This month we follow up with a visit to his birthplace – the historic market town of Spilsby. 26-27.qxp_Layout 1 22/05/2019 10:30 Page 1demolished although the court still met here until 1984. Just a few yards further west on the opposite side of the road are the remains of the avenue (now bisected by the by- pass) leading to the site of Eresby Hall, nearly a mile to the south, the former ancestral home of the Baronets of the Willoughby de Eresby family. It was Sir William Willoughby who obtained Spilsby’s market charter in 1302. The hall burnt down in 1769 the only remains now being a tall gate pillar. We now return to St James church, whose appearance was much altered by the Victorians who covered its exterior in Ancaster stone in 1879, though it retains the original C15th west tower built of local greenstone. The inside however is truly surprising since a vast interior was created in the C14th by building a new nave, the old one becoming a second north aisle alongside the original north aisle. Another south aisle was also added in 1879.The result is an extremely spacious, cathedral-like church – only LINCOLNSHIRE TODAY 27 and Corn Exchange whilst the upper floor was occupied by the council chamber as well as Spilsby’s original court and jail. Across the road we also find another of Spilsby’s ancient inns; the White Hart. This old coaching inn dates back to the mid C17th and in its heyday was capable of stabling up to 60 horses. The Royal Mail stagecoaches would arrive and depart from here; they left London at 5.00 pm and coming via Boston reached Spilsby about twenty-four hours later before continuing to Louth and Grimsby. Still set into the front wall is a C19th post-box from those times. No tour of Spilsby is complete however without venturing along Church Street where we soon reach the King Edward Grammar School building on the right. (Almost opposite the church.) Founded by Edward VI in 1550 it was originally only for boys and in spite of being under the patronage of the Willoughby de Eresby family (more of them later) was for years short of money. A new school building – the one fronting the street today – was built in 1732 but was reduced from three storeys to two in 1864. The school is now known as the Spilsby High School. A few yards further on we come to the Spilsby Theatre with its massive, Doric- columned portico. Built in 1824 this was originally the Courthouse and also a former House of Correction together with a prison behind it. The police station was here too. The prison only functioned for 50 years and several nearby houses were built from its recycled bricks after it was appreciated by going inside. Most people know that Spilsby as the birthplace of Sir John Franklin the arctic explorer though few realise that he came from a very talented family. In particular two of his brothers distinguished themselves in India; James, a major, made the first military survey of India and Willingham became a judge in the supreme court of Madras. There is an imposing row of memorials to all three at the west end. However, most people come into St James to visit the Willoughby Chapel with its extraordinary collection of Willoughby and Bertie family monuments spanning 300 years from John, First Lord Willoughby de Eresby (1348) through the Bertie’s to Peregrine the tenth Lord in the early C17th. Through marriage the family became Earls of Ancaster and moved to Grimsthorpe castle near Bourne and their remarkable series of family monuments continues in St Michael’s, Edenham. by Hugh Marrows 26-27.qxp_Layout 1 22/05/2019 10:30 Page 228 LINCOLNSHIRE TODAY LINCOLN © Jason Batterham / Shutterstock.com 28-31.qxp_Layout 1 22/05/2019 11:23 Page 1LINCOLNSHIRE TODAY 29 LINCOLN O ne of just 8 ‘British Heritage Cities’, Lincoln has a 2,000-year long history and is therefore steeped in artefacts. Entering the centre of the city one steps back in time – medieval houses, Roman remains and Norman fortifications are all ready to be discovered. The city is mentioned 13 times in the Domesday Book, published in 1086, where it was shown to be a cosmopolitan city, and Lincoln remains a bustling town today with a population of around 100,000. Also a major university city, 16,000 students from the thriving University of Lincoln and Bishop Grosseteste University study in Lincoln. The city, placed in the heart of the county, is perhaps most famous for its cathedral and castle. Lincoln Castle was built by William the Conqueror in 1068 and today you can walk its Medieval Walls for wonderful views of the city, as well as see its Victorian prison. Any visitor to the Norman castle should also make sure to enjoy one of its biggest draws, one of the The historic city of Lincoln 30 Á With historical sights, a stunning waterfront, and an abundance of galleries, museums, shops, restaurants and venues, Lincoln is a captivating city with a lot to offer. 28-31.qxp_Layout 1 22/05/2019 11:23 Page 2Next >