A Great British Summer will offer food for thought in Lincoln

A feast of festivals is set to bring a bumper British summer to Lincoln Castle in 2022, including a new event celebrating the best of Lincolnshire food and drink.

Providing an eighth of Britain’s food, Lincolnshire can lay claim to being the ‘food capital of the UK’, and next summer’s event will showcase food and drink from right across the county

Part of a summer of festivals at the Castle throughout June, July and August 2022, it will also feature a craft beer tent with local brews from artisan producers and major breweries.

And as well as a shop window for some of Lincolnshire’s finest fayre, the festival is being planned with sustainability in mind, as part of Lincoln Castle’s aim to become a net zero carbon visitor attraction.

The castle, built in 1068, is already one of Lincoln’s most popular destinations and a venue for a host of events during the year – but for 2022, the attraction is set for its biggest ever summer of celebrations.

Along with showcasing food and drink, other events will feature live music and family fun, and will be staged throughout the summer holidays, covering Bank Holidays, key celebrations, and iconic sporting events.

Launching with the Great British Outdoor Picnic, a chance for people to come together over the Queen’s Jubilee Bank Holiday weekend in June, the Castle’s festival season will end with the return of the quirky Steampunk Festival over the August Bank Holiday weekend.

Billed as the biggest Steampunk festival in the world, a celebration of the retro and nostalgic blended with science fiction and inspired by 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery, the annual festival has been staged in Lincoln since 2009.

It was cancelled in 2020 and again this year, but 2022 will see the event – which attracts up to 100,000 people over the weekend – return to Lincoln Castle.

During the festival, people wearing fantasy neo-Victorian costumes, from top hats and flying goggles, to corsets and flamboyant feathers, can be seen on the cobbled streets of uphill Lincoln.

In addition to the summer festivals, Lincoln Castle’s grounds – popular with families for relaxing and picnicking – host various events through the year, including the city’s famous Christmas Market.

The Castle is also an award-winning visitor attraction, with a Medieval Wall Walk, offering panoramic views across the city; a Victorian Prison, where visitors can follow in the footsteps of prisoners; and the underground Magna Carta Vault, home to an original 1215 Magna Carta, one of only four still surviving today.

For more details about Lincoln Castle visit www.lincolncastle.com

For details about visiting Lincolnshire, see www.visitlincolnshire.com