While attending an Army Benevolent Fund fundraiser at a beautiful estate home, I met a lovely lady named Lindsay. When you meet a person sometimes you just click with them. Well that is what happened with the two of us. After being introduced that evening, we didn’t stop talking until the event was over, and we hadn’t finished telling each other our stories yet, so we decided that we would meet for tea sometime soon.
Lindsay was kind enough to invite me over to her house so that I could visit the village that she lives in, Hackthorn in the County of Lincolnshire. I gave her my business card and by the time that we left the fundraiser that night, we had become friends.
A few days later Lindsay emailed me asking me to choose a date for us to meet. That is how I came to visit the awesome village of Hackthorn. Since I do not have my own car yet and there isn’t a bus to her village from Lincoln, Lindsay offered to pick me up and bring me to her house. Fortunately it is fairly close, about 15 miles away.
She made a delicious lunch – a wonderful spread of food – remembering that I did not eat any of the meat hors d’oeuvres at the fundraiser reception. She served a vegetarian lunch consisting of three varieties of smoked salmon with a specialty bread that she had bought at a local bakery that makes the breads to order, ready to be picked up fresh that day. Surrounded on the beautifully set table was a variety of salads and a colourful bowl of fresh fruits and berries. The special blend of tea was brewed to perfection to enjoy with the freshly baked dessert that I indulged in.
While Lindsay was finishing the preparation of food, and during the meal as one would expect, we never stopped talking, we barely came up for air – just long enough to swallow our food.
From the moment I entered Lindsay’s house, the warmth and cosiness of her home was so welcoming and inviting that I felt at home immediately, as if I had known her for years. Her beautiful garden was filled with the colours of the rainbow as all of the flowers were in full bloom.
We finished lunch, cleaned up and just as we grabbed our jackets to go off and explore her village, it began to rain. This is England so you must expect it. It was just a light shower that only lasted a short time and then we were on our way.
We walked up and down the small winding dirt and gravel paths. The first place that we came to was the Village Hall. It is a place where the people in the village attend community events as well as a place for organisations to hold meetings. It is also rented out for private parties such as weddings and special birthday celebrations. We met the local ducks that hang around there, as you can see by the photos that they are well taken care of by the locals.
We then headed down the public path to the local park. We were greeted by two beautiful horses. I was so surprised to see horses roaming free in such a large public area. Lindsay assured me that she knows these horses and their owner, in fact sometimes she helps groom them and then goes for a ride on them with the owner. You could tell by how friendly they were and how they responded to Lindsay that they were familiar with her. They even posed long enough for me to take photos of them. The chickens and ducks also gathered around us waiting for us to throw them a few bits of bread to hold them over until their lunchtime.
We continued our walk through this beautiful public park with its own lake and ducks. Lindsay played tour guide and pointed out a few more of the local sights to me – the stately home that is owned by the family that owns the land around the village, and the village church – St. Michael Church where Lindsay’s family has attended services since she was a young girl. I took a photo of her sitting in the seat that she and her family have sat in when at the church services. She was brought up in this village and told me the fascinating history of the church as well as a bit of her family’s history in that church.
It was now time for Lindsay to take me home after a beautiful day in her village. As we left the village of Hackthorn and drove down the small winding road and onto the main road to take me home to Lincoln, Lindsay and I talked about how lucky she is to live in such a quaint and friendly village with a picturesque landscape and a close-knit community where everybody seems to know each other and look out for one another, like an extended family.
I look forward to my next visit to Hackthorn to catch up with Lindsay and to meet some of her other friends who have their own stories to share of living in this wonderful village. You can view more of my photos of Hackthorn here.
