By Amelia Cosgrove
Lincoln has neighbourhoods of its own to explore and I want to bring the same sense of discovery to our villages.
When you visit a big city, you don't spend the whole trip at the headline sights. In New York you don't spend all your time in Times Square or Central Park; you stroll between the East and West Village. In London you might surrender to an afternoon in Soho, then watch the sunset from Primrose Hill.
Think of Lincoln as your West End and the villages as the side streets where the locals actually gather (and where the parking is, frankly, better).
Of course, there are plenty more villages I haven't named here. These are simply the ones I know well and can recommend, the ones closest to my heart.
So, consider this a starting point - and please do tell me about your own favourites.
Navenby
Navenby is the hub of the cliff villages and the ideal place to start with the busiest high street of the villages. If your perfect morning involves a yoga mat, think Notting Hill with a sound bath, minus the £9 oat flat white. The village has been adding morning wellness to its calendar, so you can stretch first and feel virtuous about lunch later.
And lunch matters here, because the high street serves seriously hyper-local cuisine. My favourite is The Kings Head, named Lincolnshire Country Pub of the Year in 2024. Go on a Welly Wednesday for the signature beef wellington, available all day, so there's no need to panic about the lunch rush. The rest of the week brings steak nights, tasting evenings, live music and a quiz every Wednesday. Yes, that means Wednesday is a double threat.
What's on:
Friday, October 16 - South African night with live music from Alex Caram
Thursday, October 22, 7–9pm - "Make a Fruity Friend" pottery workshop with Claytime, £28pp. I can't promise your fruit will be museum-worthy, but it will be yours.
Coleby
If you read my articles regularly, you'll know I won't shut up about this village and I'm not about to stop.
Coleby is award-winning with plenty of personality, and after admiring the quaint countryside charm, you should obviously head straight to The Tempest Arms.
It sits right on the Viking Way and it’s in the 2026 top 10 for best dining pub in Lincolnshire Life's Taste of Excellence awards, and if this isn’t convincing, the beer garden has cliff-top views, so you can be smug about the scenery while you eat. I like to go with my partner, armed with a drink and one of the many board games available to borrow.
In winter there are log fires, and year-round there are quiz, open mic and multicultural tapas evenings, with live acoustic music now and then.
Then there's All Saints Church, which recently turned into Broadway with meze. It hosted a Mamma Mia night with a Greek supper, a glass of bubbly and live music. Church, but make it ABBA.
What's on:
October - Coleby Lodge Farm has pumpkin picking and a brand-new six-acre maize maze, with a viewing platform in the middle and a quiz trail on the way round. It's perfect for families, and a decent test of whether your relationship survives being lost in a field.
Friday, October 30, from 6pm - Halloween Eve at The Tempest Arms, with a hog roast, live music from Lost Lynx and fancy dress encouraged.
Saturday, November 7, 5–6:30pm - village fireworks with hot food and drinks.
Saturday, November 21, 6pm –
Wine tasting with small plates at The Tempest Arms, £55pp.
Harmston
Every city has its date-night neighbourhood.
Around Lincoln, it's Harmston.
The Thorold Arms is owned by the village itself: locals clubbed together to buy and renovate it, and it reopened in 2019 as a community pub. That makes every regular a vert part-time landlord, and it's hard to think of a better first-date icebreaker.
It's known for a seasonal menu that keeps changing, which makes it a natural pick for a special evening.
Book ahead and check opening days before you go, as it's typically closed early in the week. Nothing kills the mood like a locked door.
The village hall and community calendar add games nights and seasonal gatherings, plus a flower festival with a pop-up coffee and baked goods stand.
What's on:
Saturday and Sunday, October 3-4, 10am–4pm - flower festival with a pop-up coffee and baked goods stand, entry £2.50
Friday, October 9, 6–10pm - board game night with a bar. Friendships may be tested.
Tuesday, October 27 - quiz night at Harmston Memorial Hall (held on the fourth Tuesday of every month)
Saturday, October 31, 7–11pm - Halloween party with a DJ, bar, hot dogs and a prize for best fancy dress
Wednesday, November - Bonfire Night
Long Live the Village Social
I keep hearing a social media trend doing the rounds: - everyone wants a village, but no one wants to be a villager.
The sentiment is really about building friendships and community, creating a constant space that you return to and support. I think the same idea applies to travel.
Whether you're a Lincoln local or a visitor, there is something to be said for returning to these village spaces. Come back often enough and you might find the same faces sitting at the same tables creating a kind of familiarity between locals and visitors
It’s also important for us locals to play tourist in our own villages and support the communities around us. You don’t need a passport, just an appreciation for the Lincolnshire countryside and an appetite for pub grub!
Wholesome activities are, naturally, plentiful in a village. And we’re living through something of a wholesome era, with people seeking out real connection and intimacy through low-cost, low-pressure ways of spending time together.
There is a real loveliness in attending your local church’s flower festival, bringing a chessboard along for a game with your fellow villagers, or dancing at a Halloween party with your community - and yes, wearing the costume.
Inconvenience is the cost of community in this day and age, but sometimes you have to make the extra journey, turn up, chip in a little funding money and support the people and businesses around you. That’s how a village grows.
In Potterhanworth, for example, profits from one popular annual festival have helped pay for the village pavilion, the play park and other community events.
That’s a village raising money by having a good time, then spending it on more good times.
It’s the most sensible business model I’ve ever heard.
And villages know how to keep the social calendar turning.
Harvest suppers and pumpkin patches arrive with autumn; Christmas fairs take over winter; then fêtes, open gardens and pub garden BBQs bring everyone back out when the sun returns.
It’s not about choosing the villages over Lincoln, it’s about seeing them as part of the same social map. After all we want our villager residents to come and enjoy the delights of Lincoln too.
So, the only real question is: which village are you starting with?