< Previous40 LINCOLNSHIRE TODAY The new year is the perfect time to embrace change. The new year provides the opportunity for a clean break, and a reason to make those lifestyle changes you’ve been putting off. I f you are wanting to make a change in the new year then it’s important to implement these changes in a sustainable way, and in a way that is kind to yourself. If you make changes too quickly, or beat yourself up when things go wrong, your chances of success will be greatly reduced. The best way to achieve your goals is to start with something easily achievable (such as reducing the number of takeaways you eat) and work your way up to an overall lifestyle goal (losing a pre-determined amount of weight). Let’s explore some easy healthy habits to form, which will help you achieve your bigger health and fitness goals. Firstly, it can actually be quite difficult to determine what you want to achieve. Saying “I want to be healthier” doesn’t help to figure out how you’re going to get there. Setting specific goals has shown a higher chance of success. The easiest way to do this is by journaling your everyday experiences for a few weeks. This helps you to identify patterns in the way you feel, and any triggers for negative or positive emotions. This might help you figure out exactly what you need to do to feel better. For example, finding that going for daily walks consistently improves your mood, then you could aim to increase the length of your route. Journaling the progress of How to embrace the new year healthily © stock.adobe.com/Miha Creative 40-41.qxp_Layout 1 12/12/2022 14:27 Page 1LINCOLNSHIRE TODAY 41 HEALTH & FITNESS your journey will help you to see if you have improved from your starting point. If not, it allows you to re-adjust without giving up completely. Journaling is also a fantastic way to improve your mental health. Working on this is just as important as looking after our physical health, as work and life stressors can go ignored much longer than physical issues. Journaling is an easy commitment to maintain and provides a positive outlet for all the minor worries you feel embarrassed to admit to loved ones. Keeping a running log also helps you to identify repeating negative thoughts and behaviours. You could then develop a plan to resolve these issues, furthering your overall goal of improving your mental wellbeing. Having determined exactly what you want to achieve, you can then turn to setting actual goals. Before committing to any weight loss or fitness plans, it is worth consulting your GP. Certain diets may not be well suited to some with underlying health conditions. For example, those with Type 2 diabetes need to strictly control fasting diets. Furthermore, they will be able to refer you to services to help achieve your goal. If you’re dieting to lose weight, do not start by starving yourself. Extreme hunger can lead to binging, and it could even backfire by causing your body to hold on to excess fat rather than expel it. Crash dieting (consuming an exceptionally low number of calories for a few weeks or months) only works once for most people, and a second try will not yield the same results. Even then, most crash dieters struggle to keep weight off permanently. A better approach is to evaluate your meals. Base your meals on starchy carbohydrates, high in fibre. Pasta, bread, potatoes, and rice should make up just over a third of your meal. Whilst this seems contradictory, carbohydrates satisfy you for longer, meaning you are less likely to snack between meals. Better still, the contain fewer than half of the calories of fat, meaning that they are not as fattening as some believe. Another easy switch is to eliminate added fats whilst cooking and serving – such as oil on bacon or chips, butter on bread and creamy pasta sauces. Whilst these are fine for a one-off treat, they are the major source of additional calories. These ideas can be seen as the initial building blocks to a healthier lifestyle, making that overall goal seem much more achievable. Similar techniques can be employed to achieve fitness goals. Start by assessing current health advice to develop a sustainable solution. Adults should do some physical activity each day. Current NHS guidance is to undertake strengthening activities which work all major muscle groups (such as legs, arms, and abdomen) twice weekly. This could include combinations of weightlifting, walking, and swimming. At least 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity or 75 minutes of vigorous activity should be done per week. This can be split into several moderate intensity sessions (such as going for a brisk walk 4 times a week) or a mix of vigorous and moderate sessions (such as a gym session, with weight and cardio training performed at intervals). Use your journaling to assess how you feel. © stock.adobe.com/Gorodenkoff 40-41.qxp_Layout 1 12/12/2022 14:27 Page 242 LINCOLNSHIRE TODAY FOOD & DINING options January is often seen as the month of the health conscious, and even if those resolutions won’t last we can at least provide some tasty options to assist. © stock.adobe.com/ Studio KIVI Celery, spinach and cucumber juice Method: Chop the cucumber, celery and apple into chunks. Put everything through a juicer then chill in the fridge. Stir well before serving. Recipe courtesy of www.lovethecrunch.com Serves: 1 Preparation time: 5 minutes each Cooking time: n/a You’ll need: 1 cucumber 5 sticks of celery 2 apples 1 bag Fresh & Naked baby spinach leaves 1 lime 1 tsp honey Boost your nutrient intake with this super green juice. Enjoy in the morning for a healthy start to the day or in the evening to help with a good night’s sleep as celery contains the chemical serotonin, one of the most important brain chemicals, or neurotransmitters, for regulating the sleep/wake cycle. 42-45.qxp_Layout 1 12/12/2022 14:28 Page 1LINCOLNSHIRE TODAY 43 To promote your services call Angie Cooper on 01472 310302 or email: a.cooper@blmgroup.co.uk FOOD & DINING Smoked Mackerel on Rye Bread © stock.adobe.com/ trendyrowdy Special Edition Chocolate Willingham Hall, Market Rasen, LN8 3RH Tel: 01673 844073 Web: www.specialeditionchocolate.com Treat yourself or someone to our beautiful handmade chocolates. Free delivery quoting LT100 Method: 1. Put the radishes in a bowl. Mix in the vinegar and sugar. Leave for 10 minutes. 2. Meanwhile, mix together the sour cream, horseradish and seasoning. Spread over the rye bread. 3. Top with the flaked mackerel, the drained radishes and garnish with dill. Recipe courtesy www.loveradish.co.uk Serves: 2 Prep: 10 minutes You’ll need: 5 radishes, sliced 2 tbsp white wine vinegar 1 tsp caster sugar 2 tbsp sour cream 1 tbsp horseradish cream or sauce Salt and pepper 2 slices rye bread, toasted 1 large fillet peppered smoked mackerel, flaked Dill with Pickled Radish 42-45.qxp_Layout 1 12/12/2022 14:28 Page 244 LINCOLNSHIRE TODAY Method: In a pan of boiling water, poach the eggs to your preference. Meanwhile, slice each muffin in half and toast. Spread with a little butter. Assemble the muffins on plates, topping with the watercress and eventually, a poached egg on each muffin slice. Drizzle with Hollandaise and cracked black pepper. Recipe courtesy of www.thewatercresscompany.com © stock.adobe.com / Pixel-Shot Eggs Florentine with Watercress FOOD & DINING Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 5 mins Serves 2 You’ll need: Hollandaise sauce 4 eggs 2 English muffins Butter 80g Watercress Black pepper 42-45.qxp_Layout 1 12/12/2022 14:28 Page 3© stock.adobe.com/Stephanie Frey Apple fritters You’ll need: 250g all-purpose flour 2.5tsp baking powder 2tsp ground cinnamon 1tsp salt 2 eggs 100g sugar 2tbsp melted, unsalted butter 180ml milk 2tsp vanilla extract 3 medium apples peeled, cored and cut into small pieces Vegetable oil for frying Icing sugar for dusting (optional) Method: Heat a large pot of vegetable oil In a large bowl mix all the dry ingredients together. In another small bowl, whisk eggs and the sugar together, then add butter, milk and vanilla extract. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir. Fold in the apples. Take a large spoon and very carefully drop balls of batter directly into the hot oil. Flip the fritters once they’ve browned. Careful not to let them burn. Use a slotted spoon to remove the apple fritters from the oil, and work in batches as to not over crowd the pot. Repeat with remaining batter. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve warm. © stock.adobe.com / Stephanie Frey 42-45.qxp_Layout 1 12/12/2022 14:28 Page 446 LINCOLNSHIRE TODAY A s so often there is more history there than meets the eye when merely passing through. Straddling the A15 in the rolling countryside of South Kesteven Folkingham is bounded to east and west by two Roman roads; Mareham Lane to the east and King Street to the west. The best approach today is from the south when the view of the church and pantiled roofs appear prominently on their hilltop site. In the Domesday Book (1086) the village is recorded as Fulechingeham from the Old English Folchinga (i.e. the homestead of the family of “Folca”). There was clearly a settlement here well before Domesday recorded that there were 38 households here made up of villagers, freemen and smallholders; so, a population of around a hundred. The chief tenant was Gilbert de Ghent, made Lord of the Manor and permitted to build a castle by William the Conqueror. A church and a mill are also mentioned. Another old – but later C18th - spelling, “Falkingham”, appears on the front of the old workhouse in West Street where the nearby New Inn dates from the C17th. The population had risen to 50 households by the 1560’s and 79 by the early C18th and 820 people by 1841. It’s around 900 now. The first market recorded at Folkingham was in 1239. The Market Place once held a town hall, had a pond and was divided up into areas for selling produce and livestock such as sheep, cattle and horses. It was cleared in the late C18th after one Sir Gilbert Heathcote had bought the manor in 1788 and wanted to tidy up the market and encourage its use by the stage coaches from London and Peterborough on their way to Lincoln. Today it is still surrounded by houses (several, especially on the west side, of Georgian age) built in local stone and mellowed brick of which some have moustache-shaped lintels, an unusual but distinct and very localised architectural feature. The late 1700’s and early 1800’s did indeed become Folkingham’s heyday as a coaching stop between Peterborough and Lincoln and today the market place is still dominated by the impressive façade of the former C17th Greyhound Inn with its grand coach entrance archway. There was more to the Greyhound however than just a coaching inn. Attached to this lovely old building, on the righthand side as you face it, were the Assembly Rooms (added about 1789) with a fine “Venetian” style window. This also served as the court house where the South Kesteven area Quarter Sessions were held. Although a church is mentioned in Domesday there may well have been an Any readers travelling along the A15 would do well to stop and explore the picturesque village of Folkingham. Lincolnshire explored FOLKINGHAM MILLENIUM GARDEN ST ANDREWS FOLKINGHAM 46-47.qxp_Layout 1 12/12/2022 14:29 Page 1LINCOLNSHIRE TODAY 47 even earlier one on same site where the present St Andrew’s stands today tucked away just off the Market Place. Architecturally, although originating from the C12th, St Andrew’s is principally in the Perpendicular style of the late C15th with a rood screen of the same date inside. Like most churches it is an amalgam of styles however and has some Early English and Decorated work as well as a surviving Norman pillar. Some stained glass is from the C14th. There were Victorian restorations in 1825, 1858 and 1860 and for many years a Free School was held inside. The tower has unusually large pinnacles and in 2006 gales blew off two of them causing £100,000 of damage to the roof below. Near the church the village stocks and whipping post are preserved. From the Greyhound the spacious Market Place slopes away to the south and at the bottom on the left stands the Manor House. This was built by Lord Clinton in the mid C17th and mostly with stone taken from the castle. Across the road, by the junction with the road from Billingborough, is a more modern “heritage” feature that of the village a Millennium Garden established in 2000. Even lower down the hill and facing across the road to Billingborough is the site of Folkingham castle and here we find Folkingham’s most interesting and unusual building; the House of Correction. This stands within the site of the moat of the former castle which was of Norman origin, built by Gilbert de Ghent, Earl of Lincoln, and nephew of William the Conqueror’s wife, having been granted the “Manor” shortly after the conquest. It was largely rebuilt in the C14th by Henry Beaumont but is known to have been in ruins by 1535 and what was left was slighted further by Parliamentary troops during the English Civil War in the 1640’s. The House of Correction, dated 1825, reflects Folkingham’s importance as a judicial centre since it was here the local Quarter Sessions were held and thus created a requirement for a local prison. This primarily served as a debtor’s prison and did so until closure in 1878. What survives today is the original governor’s house and arched gateway which is now Grade II listed. Since 1982 it has been owned by the Landmark Trust and is available to let as a highly unusual holiday property. There is a public right of way around part of the castle moat which gives a close-up view. Two and a half miles to the southwest are the remains of RAF Folkingham originally set up in 1940 as a decoy to attract German aircraft away from other more important airfields. By 1944 it had been handed over to the USAAF whose forces took part in D-Day. It was closed down in 1947 under “maintenance” until 1959 when it briefly became a Thor missile base; but then only until 1963. Later the airfield runways were used by Raymond Mays (from nearby Bourne) to test his famous BRM racing cars. by Hugh Marrows FOLKINGHAM HOUSE OF CORRECTION FOLKINGHAM MARKET PLACEFOLKINGHAM 46-47.qxp_Layout 1 12/12/2022 14:29 Page 248 LINCOLNSHIRE TODAY WEDDINGS A new world of weddings A new world of weddings Since couples were free to tie the knot again post- pandemic, leading to the wedding boom of 2022, we’ve seen the ceremony become more personal than ever before in many new and unexpected ways. We take a closer look. T here have been numerous changes to the wedding scene even after the pandemic – and quite a few of them have made ceremonies easier. Perhaps most noticeably and stressfully different to weddings in the post-pandemic landscape is the guest list, numbers for which are still down compared to the pre-COVID average of 102 per happy couple - a weight off some who feel less obliged to invite just to avoid offense, while others bear the pressure of having to bring bad news to extended family and friends. But it seems the key to the freshly bittersweet trials of wedding planning is to embrace the challenge. Many have been using the oddness that now surrounds life’s milestones as an excuse to inject the unique, perhaps even a touch of shock and awe, into their ceremonies. The world is different now, so why shouldn’t that mean a new normal for weddings too. This exciting trend is set to have its own explosion in popularity as we go into 2023. The essence of ‘anything goes’ is there to be sprinkled over any aspect of the big day, or the smaller celebrations that surround it. The traditional, modern and quirky will be mixed and matched with wild abandon. From the where’s to the when’s, all the way through to what brides, grooms and guests will be wearing, there’ll be something new to see in almost every wedding, down to the smallest of favours or the subtlest quirk to table dressing. Another pandemic-inspired change being adopted all over is the outdoor ceremony. Prior to the high panic of lockdown, venues required a specifically licensed structure, such as a pagoda, to facilitate vows and exchanging of rings al fresco. But when a rush of couples began opting to marry outdoors as a safer option for themselves and their guests, temporary permission was given to all licensed venues to host weddings in any of their outdoor areas. Because of 50 Á 48-53.qxp_Layout 1 12/12/2022 14:31 Page 1LINCOLNSHIRE TODAY 49 WEDDINGS © stock.adobe.com/mirage_studio 48-53.qxp_Layout 1 12/12/2022 14:32 Page 2Next >