As she does every year with her family, Beth Brown, a young journalist from Spalding in Lincolnshire visited the Lincoln Christmas Market in 2011. This is her review of the event:
“Lincoln is the biggest Christmas market in the UK with over [335,000] visitors over the 4 days!” - Holly Parker, the events organiser responsible for the 2011 Lincoln Christmas Market.
The most important event in the city’s calendar draws people in from across Britain and Europe; 600 coaches and over ten thousand cars arrived to take part in the longest running German Christmas market in England.
The gothic cathedral is the stunning backdrop of the Lincoln Christmas Market
Music fills the air, mulled wine is on tap and food is in abundance. The scenery is exquisite and the heritage of the place provides real depth to the event. The bygone era is revived and visitors taken back in time in the beautiful settings and the Victorian dressed sellers are a reminder that this event is soon to be in its 30th year.
After Oliver Cromwell cancelled Christmas due to his Puritan beliefs in the 17th century, Lincoln’s German style Christmas market was the very first to be introduced in 1982. Back then it only consisted of 11 stalls, yet this year’s had over 260.
The 2011 Lincoln Christmas Market had more street entertainment than ever before, including live music and traditional street plays. The Twelve Days of Christmas, A Christmas Carol, nativity play and various Dickensian plays were just a few of the many performed by Chapter House Theatre Company and Lincoln Mystery Plays. Each play was theatre standard and the market wouldn’t have been the same without the ambience the live music created. Westgate School also played host to Ruddocks newsagents who organised a variety of children’s craft activities.
Even though the market is the oldest in the country there are no concerns about it becoming outdated. This year has seen the introduction of Lincolnshire’s own virtual Christmas Elf, who just happens to be ‘tweeting’ to let everyone know that Lincoln is still leading the pack by mixing tradition with innovation. Jingle, the Twitter elf offered helpful directional tips as well as hints and highlights of the market and answered any questions proposed to him via the visitors.
He can be found at: www.twitter.com/lincolnelf
The market is split up into six zones with different marquees in each. As Lincoln’s uphill area is reminiscent of the medieval times, cobbled, quaint, windy walkways are the path of the visitor; meaning unlike many markets of its kind, Lincoln has innovatively implemented a one-way system. The system is in the hope of avoiding bottlenecks which could cause holdups and make stalls inaccessible. Each zone has something new and enticing to offer including; A Winter Wonderland, Perfect Presents marquee and fairground rides.
“The atmosphere is great! You don’t need to spend an awful lot, but just … come and soak up the atmosphere, it is a special four day event.”
Castle Square, the first section of the market is right in the heart of Lincoln’s cultural quarter between the historic Gothic cathedral and the Norman castle. The area adds a special touch to the market with plenty of stalls selling intriguing items from fruit pot pourri to German glühwein and bratwurst. The aroma from the pot pourri stall was delicious. The merchant said: “It draws people in… they walk past and wow…” The smells floating out of the German glühwein marquee were also mouth watering and added a special something to the visitor’s first impressions of the market.
“The surroundings that we have here …. the beautiful back drop of the cathedral and the castle …. makes Lincoln Christmas Market one of the most special.”
The German inspiration in the market’s early stages was a strong influence as it still is today. Lincolnshire was twinned with the German town of Neustadt in 1969, making it one of the oldest and strongest foreign links in the country.
Next are the Castle Grounds, which are not to be tackled by the feint hearted, crowds were gathering as early as an hour before the opening with constant tannoy announcements informing visitors of the history of the market and what to look forward to. The stalls in the grounds ranged from Bubble Inc. (holders of several Guinness World Records) to Lincolnshire’s famous Poacher cheese. Nearing the end of my visit, the grounds were inaccessible for health and safety reasons due to the sheer number of visitors who wanted to experience the most popular part of the market. This could be very off putting for future visitors as it admittedly did disappoint a large number of the visitors who had to wait around in the cold for crowds to thin out. There was also no guarantee in this part of the market that people would be able to see the stalls. Visitors seemed more focused on getting through the crowds than looking at what was on offer.
While discussing next year’s market John Latham, Director of Development and Environmental Services, said: “One thing we have thought about to improve the crowd situation is to look at the layout of the stalls and see how we can improve pedestrian traffic flow further.” I was at the market extremely early, and my companions and I noticed that at 11am the crowd numbers just exploded. I would advise that you try and get to the market at 10am and look around the Castle Grounds in the first hour, the marquees after there are much easier to get around and this will make your visit more stress free and your shopping experience will be easier as you will be able to browse rather than feel rushed.
After the Castle Grounds comes The Lawn, it is the first zone to be partly indoors and this is a huge benefit to the visitors after the queuing in the grounds and square. The crowds also seem to thin out after the entrance to this zone as there are two sub marquees; Christmas Bazaar and Lincolnshire Larder. The first of the two showcases some more unusual and innovative ideas, providing quirky inspirational Christmas presents. The second displays many fine and well produced quality foods. Georgie Porgies Puddings have some unusual flavours and fruit packed deserts. This is also the perfect place to grab a spot of lunch or a snack. Being a pescetarian I tried the salmon fish cake from Belleau Bridge, trout farm and smokery. It was delicious, distinctly salmon, cooked to perfection and the recommendation of sweet chilli sauce really complimented the flavours. However my meat loving father had a Lincolnshire Red Beef burger and said it was one of the best he had ever eaten, and with him being a butcher the praise must be well deserved.
“People can do their Christmas shopping, there are plenty of marquees offering different stalls from crafts to food to jewellery, it’s all here.”
The Westgate zone comes next with three sub marquees; Crafts, Big Wheel and Perfect Presents. By this time crowds have thinned down and it is somewhat easier to manoeuvre around the stalls. It had taken us six hours to reach this point and we were beginning to feel weary but the new delights kept us going. The products on display were still as amazing and quirky as ever, maintaining our enthusiasm. One stall was selling hand spun socks, a different angle to the usual High Street routine gift. Other stalls were selling earrings made from Lego, Scrabble tile rings and English pewter thimbles, perfect items for a unique collection or a teenager who isn’t shy of their own style. There is no chance you would buy any of these products at your local department store or on a trip to the closest shopping centre. The Perfect Presents area was very easy to get around and provided some good stalls with twists on the classic present. It played to host in particular to a chocaholic’s dream stall called ‘Choklet’ which offered distinctive confectionary and quirky cheaper pieces.
“One trader had to shut up early on Friday night to travel back to Gloucester for more stock as he had sold out!”
Finally there is the Bailgate section which includes the Assembly Rooms and somehow felt a bit detached from the rest of the market. It was however the perfect place to sit down, use the rest rooms and have a lovely warm mince pie and coffee for a bargain two pounds!
After the Assembly Rooms we strolled back down Bailgate accompanied by several hundreds of other visitors taking in the historic scenery including the exquisite cathedral and arrived at Exchequergate. We were greeted by the festive refrain of the award winning Market Rasen Band. Now it truly was Christmas and while wrapped up warm amongst fellow revellers singing along with the choir, the scenery, ambience and culture seemed to complete a tiring but wonderful day.
My top five things to do:
1. Try the hot German glühwein
2. Go on the Big Wheel - views are spectacular
3. Watch the carol singers
4. Take photographs
5. Have a snack at the Lincolnshire Larder marquee
