The 2006 market was open for four days starting on Thursday 7th December from 4pm to 9.30pm. On the Friday and Saturday the market was open from 10am until 9.30pm and on the final Sunday from 10am until 9.30pm. The Lincoln organising body claims that over 150,00 people visit Lincoln at this time of year so you can imagine the scene throughout the streets of Lincoln.
As a Lincolnian it’s an amazing sight with hoards of visitors tramping up the trail from the City Centre to castle Square and the heart of the Christmas Market. I guess many will be getting a taste of this beautiful city for the first time and will want to return at a later stage when the streets are less crowded and more compatible for a detailed exploration of this medieval town.
There are loads stalls that have allegedly been carefully selected to extol the spirit of Christmas and provide visitors with a chance to buy anything from hand painted glass decorations, locally forged ironwork, hand-made sweets, jewellery, leather work, crafts and a range of novelty items including the candle driven toy boat, something I’ve never seen before and if I had grandchildren would have been tempted to buy.
Street entertainers strut their stuff through the streets playing to the hoards of children that gaze open mouthed at the whole spectacle. Although parts of the market (particularly the castle square) are crowded and somewhat bewildering for young children there are parts of the market that are less crowded and are brightly lit and full of lively entertainment.
Christmas shopping completed on a recent holiday we were free to enjoy the stroll around family streets of our birth city and watching the amazement on the faces of the children.
Some stall holders dress up in traditional Victorian costumes and alongside their stall decoration attempt to win the coveted Best Stall prize. It certainly adds to the fun and sets the ambiance of the market.
Quick Tips:
Check out the city’s website (I just typed in Lincoln Christmas Market into Google) and that will give you the flavour of Lincoln’s market. They certainly suggest that if you’re travelling by car you should tune into to BBC Radio Lincolnshire 94.9 FM, 104.7 FM or 1368 AM for all the latest travel and traffic news as you approach the city. Lincoln is always a bit of a nightmare to get into and we could only imagine how bad it would be a peak time.
Of course you’ll need to hang on to your possessions – there’s so much jostling around the market that it must be a pickpockets dream. I’d say travel light and put wallets in inside pockets "zip up" outer garments. Ladies hang on to those handbags as if your very life depended on it and make sure you’re not distracted when taking those all important photographs – that’s the time you’re probably most vulnerable from the preying thief. I don’t want to scare monger, as generally the town is safe and there’s a great atmosphere around the City, but sensibly you’ll know that villains are attracted to this kind of event. Easy and rich pickings!
Some general advice that’s offered by the market’s governing body is that as most of the market is outdoors and December is a cold and damp month is to "wrap up well" – layers are always a good idea. They also advise that you take regular warm drinks and food - this is especially important if diabetic (but I presume diabetics would know that anyway). If you’re a little bit tottery on your legs I think you’ll struggle at Lincoln Market. It’s hard walking with the majority being on cobbled pavements or temporary decking laid over the Castle lawns, although real efforts have been made to make it "disabled friendly." There really isn’t a quiet time so I can’t even suggest that you visit "off peak".
Best Way To Get Around:
As you can imagine with thousands of visitors to the city parking is a real nightmare and you’d be ill advised to use anything other than the approved well-signed park and ride. They haven’t been overpriced and if you’ll have the advantage of getting on the bus that will transport you to the edge of the market. The only way to get round the market is on foot and the organiser’s have tried to make this straightforward. They enforce a one-way system with officials clad in bright yellow florescent garments shouting directions and sometimes overstepping the mark by telling people not to dawdle. I resisted telling that that was one of the points in coming to the market, but resisted the temptation with a defiant look as I walked the wrong way up a one-way street in search of my wife!
Dogs (except guide/hearing dogs) are not allowed in the market area and the organisers would strongly dissuade you from taking prams, buggies, wheelchairs and trolleys. There are two reasons for this – firstly the crowds are horrendous and they would be difficult and often dangerous to manoeuvre and secondly the quaint cobbled streets really do not lend themselves to wheeled transport. I did see the odd child in a buggy and I have to say the poor children looked terrified and other visitors did not take kindly to being rammed on the heel as they toured the busy streets.
As I’ve said the walk between the Market area and the city centre is up the appropriately named Steep Hill and if you’re feeling unfit I’d suggest that you catch one of the shuttle buses that runs between the two.
We opted to walk up through the recently refurbished arboretum with its pink band stand (apparently this was the original Victorian colour) and to admire the newly working fountains. This walk brought back many a memory - it's just a shame tha the city council felt that they needed to remove the majority of the shubbery so they could more effectively police the area and chase out paedophiles and drug users (a sad reflection, I'm afraid of the times we live in).