A Spotlight on September Events in Lincolnshire

Welcome to September in Lincolnshire; summer is just about hanging on by a thread, but there's a vibrancy in the early autumn air brought on by a burst of activity and excitement from all the events planned for this month across the county. Whether you're a lover of the great outdoors, a foodie, a culture enthusiast, or just looking for a bit of fun, Lincolnshire has something special for you.

Kick off the month by taking an evening stroll around the historical uphill Cathedral Quarter, or take in the sights & sounds of the thrilling Burghley Horse Trials, set to captivate with equestrian excellence, while the Marvellous Makers Market and Food & Drink Fayre both promise to delight with artisanal crafts and culinary treats.

For those looking for something a little different, the Naughty Night Market offers an evening of cheeky fun, and the Crazy Races will have you cheering on the wildest of rides. Art lovers and bookworms can immerse themselves in a range of activities at Oxcombe Art & Ceramic Exhibition & the much-anticipated Lincoln Book Festival, where you’ll even have the chance to meet renowned chef & author Rick Stein.

SUNDAY 1st September - Naughty night market, southside

Your favourite alternative night market returns on Sunday 1st September at Southside. This is an 18+ only event, where you can enjoy a drink whilst you browse and shop all things on the cheeky side. Exhibitors include Banana Makes, Wildone Jewellery, Lottie & Lu, Jailhouse Frock, Inappropriate Bunting as well as delicious, mouth watering street food and fabulous music. £1 entry. 6-9pm

Tuesday 3rd September - Lincoln evening walking tour

Lincoln Free Walking Tour will guide you on this two hour evening walk through Lincoln’s historical, uphill quarter, starting in Castle Square. I’ve been on one of their Roman Walks earlier in the year and I can’t recommend them highly enough. I thought I knew a lot about Roman Lincoln, turns out I didn’t know the half of it!

5th September - Peace Doves, Lincoln Cathedral

This beautiful installation titled 'Peace Doves' by Peter Walker, is made up of 12,000 paper doves which will be suspended above the Cathedral’s Nave and accompanied by music composed by David Harper. On display from 5 September to 14 November 2024, the paper doves have all been written on with messages of peace, love & hope by members of the public visiting The Cathedral over the summer, local schools and communities groups. I wrote on one, so I'm particularly looking forward to going to see this.

5th - 8th September - burghley horse trials, stamford

Thursday 5th - Sunday 8th September - Burghley House is the setting for this weekend event attracting fantastic crowds who come to watch all the equestrian action unfold, as well as enjoying world renowned shopping avenues & trade stands, local food and drink and even the opportunity to camp overnight on the trials glamping site. All set in a truly stunning Lincolnshire location.

7th September - marvellous makers market, EXO centre

Saturday 7th September - Over 100 curated makers will be attending the inaugural Marvellous Makers Market to take place at the EXO Centre located on the Lincolnshire Showground. As well as the many workshops you can get involved with, exhibitors include local food and drink producers, creatives, artists & designers, with pretty much something for every taste & budget.

Sunday 8th September - food & drink Fayre, stourton woods

Sunday 8th September - Following on from the success of their popular artisan market, this will be the first Food & Drink Fayre held at Stourton Woods. The day offers a wide selection of quality Lincolnshire food & drink producers showcasing their goods in and around the Roundhouse in the woods. As well as demonstrations and talks from local producers, there will also be Farm Safaris on the estates tractor & trailer, a picnic area in the arboretum and relaxed music to create a fabulous atmosphere.

sunday 15th September - krazy races,

Lincoln Krazy Races will be the first of it's kind to be held in the city and is a free to attend. Its a national award winning soapbox derby event, aiming to bring all manner of wild and zany races to towns & cities across the U.K and beyond, while raising substantial funds for local charities. The event will see a mixture of individual, charity and business teams design, build and then race their handcrafted soap box down Danesgate, through chicanes, around obstacles and more (I'm thinking probably cobbles and perhaps a rogue pigeon).

21st - 22nd September - oxcombe art & ceramics exhibition

Returning for it's third year, Oxcombe Pottery's annual Art & Ceramics Exhibition offers a diverse selection of unique artwork and functional pottery, celebrating fantastic local creatives from Lincolnshire and beyond. Enjoy the idyllic surroundings of Oxcombe whilst exploring four gallery spaces to discover work by 25 artists and makers.Refreshments and delicious food from Holly’s Garden Kitchen will be available throughout the day.A wonderful event for all the family, well-behaved dogs welcome.

26th - 29th Lincoln book festival

Lincoln Book Festival attracts big name authors and rising stars of the publishing world to converge on Lincoln for four days of engaging talks, readings, discussions, workshops and Q&As. There’s a rich variety of free and paid events and activities to enjoy too, including competitions, podcast talks, open mic style performance events and much more. One of the star attractions, Rick Stein, who we know loves Lincolnshire produce following his visit to the county for his latest television programme 'Food Stories', he'll be at Waterstones signing copies of his new book to accompany the series.

*As I've mentioned before, this is only a very small, personal selection of events happening this month, there are some brilliant souces of event information available from various souces where you will find even more events happening. My go to websites I viti are Visit Lincoln, Visit Lincolnshire and I also always read the What's On Guide published by the Lincoln Independent every month, both in paperback and digitally

August - Un Petit What’s On Guide

It’s a short & sweet guide to events in and around Lincolnshire this month, not because there’s not much to choose from, there’s hundreds of things happening, but because I’m currently on my annual holiday to France and ran out of time to write it before I came away, but I’ve managed to put something together in between croissants & rosé. I’ve had some great feedback from my little ‘what’s on guide’s’ so far, and didn’t want to miss not telling you about these. So if you have an event you’re organising for later in the year and would like me to share it please do get in touch

2nd & 16th August

open evenings at Lincoln Cathedral

Friday 2nd & 16th August - The Cathedral will be keeping their doors open till 8.30pm on these two evenings. After Evensong at 5.30pm, The Cathedral will be open again, with free entry, as a tranquil way to end your day in this stunning space.

4th August

Day of Lincolnshire Folk, Leadenham House

Sunday 4th August - The Day of Lincolnshire Folk is a free, annual, one day event, now in its 14th year, and celebrates Lincolnshire folk music, dance, song & poetry in the beautiful grounds of Leadenham House. There’ll also be an Artisan Market.

10th & 11th August

Medieval Joust - Lincoln Castle

Saturday 10th - Sunday 11th August - The exhilarating thunder of hooves and clash of lance on armour returns to Lincoln Castle once again. Bringing together some of the best jousters in the country, with various other medieval activities throughout the castle all weekend.

16th - 18th August

Summer Beer Festival, Dambusters Inn

Friday 16th to Sunday 18th August - A three day, summer beer festival, with over 20 real ales, music and a Saturday BBQ at this well loved Lincolnshire country inn, based in the village of Scampton.

17th August

Lincoln Pride, tentercroft street carpark

Saturday 17th August - Celebrating its 10th Anniversary, Lincoln Pride is a full day of live performances and festivities, in celebration of Lincoln’s LGBTQ+ community in a fun and safe space

21st August

moonrise swim - ocean walker academy

Wednesday 21st August - Have you ever swum under the full moon in beautifully clean open water? Well now’s your chance, as well as sunset yoga sessions, at The Ocean Walker Academy, near Wragby.

23rd - 26th August

Lincoln Steampunk Festival

Friday 23rd to Monday 26th August - Weekend at the Asylum, a four day Steampunk Festival which takes its name from its first venue in the city, The Lawn, originally a lunatic asylum. It’s the largest Steampunk Festival in the world,with events through the city, centring around the Cathedral Quarter. This is a festival where your imagination really has no limits.

25th August

BHSC Family Dog Show - Blankney

Sunday 25th August - A fun, annual dog show which is open to all, with fun & attractions for all the family.

You’ll also find more city & countywide events happening throughout August on both Visit Lincoln’s website and Visit Lincolnshire’s website

July's Pockets of Lincolnshire Loveliness

If this is the first time you've read one of my 'Pockets of Lincolnshire Loveliness' posts, this is where i try to point a spotlight on events held in the corners of our fabulous city & county. Some are organised by volunteers, friends, schools & small organisations; and some are simply events I would love to go to. What they all have in common though, is that they are contribute to the heart and soul of our city and wider county. So if you have a fete, open garden, charity lawnmower race, shopping extravaganza or dog show that doesn’t feature on the big search engines, please do get in touch

And if you've been inspired to visit any of the events I've shared over the past couple of months, it would be great to know in the comments.

saturday 6th july - ellis mill open day

Saturday 6th July - 10am to 2pm - This rare open day is a unique chance to take a look inside Ellis Mill, Lincoln's last windmill. It was built in 1798, and is the last of nine windmills that stood along the ridge of Lincoln Edge. Located on Mill Road, just off Burton Road, behind the Museum of Lincolnshire Life, this exclusive open day will give visitors the chance to look inside the ground floor of this impressive tower mill, and find out more about the inner workings from the knowledgeable volunteers.

Friday 12th July - summer fete & plant sale - Age UK

Friday 12th July - Held at their city centre location on Park Street, Age UK Lincoln & South Lincolnshire are combining a summer fete with their popular plant sale, with not only plants grown on they're own Age UK LSL allotment, but also plants donated by local business, Pennells. There'll also be games, craft stalls, a bake-off contest, salad boxes plus strawberries & cream!

12th July - breakfast birdwatch walk

Friday 12th July - 8am - 10am - Join expert birder & keen naturalist Stevel Lovell for a morning of bird watching. You'll have a chance to spot a variety of birds as you travel through the characteristic open grassland of the South Common. The walk will be followed by a delicious breakfast roll and hot drink at the popular community venue Southside (included in price). Booking is essential, so please email on LL.HH@lincoln.gov.uk to find out more and reserve your spot.

13th july - anderby rocks

Saturday 13th July - Anderby Rocks Five, is a FREE family music event, raising funds for the Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance, with nine bands, fully licensed bar, bbq, jacket potato stall and a gin & Pimms bar. As well as craft stalls, ice-cream stand, goat petting pen. It's also dog friendly so every member of the family can enjoy this day out, starting at 10am

14th July - Summer Artisan Market, Stourton Woods

Sunday 14th July - If i wasn't working, i'd definitely be going to this at Stourton Woods, a peaceful, woodland idyll, near Baumber. The Lincolnshire Makers' Summer Artisan Market will showcase a huge range of products - from local art to accessories, meat to macarons, fudge to florists, candles to cheese, and much, much more! There will also be guided safari's throughout the day on the Stourton Estate, travelling through the parkland where the Stourton red deers graze. These do need to be booked in advance, and as well as getting to see part of the Lincolnshire countryside you don't normally have access to, they're also really interesting and informative tours (I was lucky enough to go on one last year)

21st July - Vintage Flea Market

Sunday 21st July - Located at The Lincolnshire Showground and organised by Arthur Swallow Fairs, this is a vibrant indoor Sunday market ideal for seeking out cool one-off pieces for the home as well as interesting collectables and surprise finds, from homewares, textiles, fashion, jewellery, art and much, much more.