Sarah Lamballe

soMy Lincolnshire story is one of discovering and making creative spaces.

It began in 1994 when I moved to Lincolnshire from Leeds to rent desk space in a design studio in Grimsby. I had a very different picture of Lincolnshire life back then. I’d been visiting for a couple of years, driving alone on the M180 on a Friday night, leaving the city, felt like the road to nowhere. There was no traffic. Zero. You could estimate journey time by how many miles to minutes. Once there, from Grimsby to Lincoln you’d be unlucky to meet anything on the road.

Marshchapel

My first summers were spent whizzing around on dune buggies on the coast near Marshchapel avoiding the perilous incoming tide at Horse Shoe Point. Evening cycling on the flat marshlands and walking my Staffordshire Bull Terrier for miles. I was 26 and had no idea of the depth and breadth of this vast county made of sky and coast and countryside. Double years later, I’ve discovered so many fabulous places, yet still only a fraction of what makes Lincolnshire unique.

By the mid 90s, I worked from The Old Chapel, a Grade 2 listed chapel in Tealby, the chocolate box village of the Lincolnshire Wolds. I lived in the village too, in another listed building, The Old Schoolhouse, now home to my friend, Sarah Brown, master baker, seamstress and creator of mouthwatering take-out afternoon teas in vintage china. It was here I first learned about property renovation, developing a love of Tealby stone and reclamation yards!

Tealby

Back in those days, Tealby was a village with two thriving pubs, the Olde Barne on Cow Lane run by the late great Trevor King and his lovely wife Kathy. That pub is sadly now closed and a site for new housing. The King’s Head, the county’s oldest thatched pub, lives on and has even hosted painting workshops for me. Tealby has always had tremendous community spirit, now with a thriving community run village shop and Vintage Tearooms attracting walkers and visitors to the church and village playing field. In fact, it was thanks to a legendary pub walk from Normanby le Wold down to Tealby (and back after a few pints) that the chapel was first discovered for sale at auction. From Methodist place of worship, to design studio and recently renovated to a luxury  country house, it’s fascinating to see heritage building history at work in your own lifetime!

After 8 years in Tealby I moved to Belleau in 2002. The most delightful hamlet south east of Louth where I enjoyed a wonderful view of the listed Pigeoncote and old watercress fields from my window. I loved being nearer to the coast and weekend walks across to the Railway Tavern at Aby. Bealleu is now home to the super talented cook, food writer Dom in the Kitchen, whose blog is bursting with delicious recipes championing local Lincolnshire produce.

Belleau

While living at Belleau I discovered I was pregnant. Living in the middle of nowhere was probably not the best idea with a new baby. Although I loved driving the Blue Stone Heath road in summer with the windows down and Queens of the Stone Age blaring, in winter battling Wolds’ drifts was a different story! We found a house on the river in Market Rasen but it took ages to complete so I spent the summer of 2003 living in a shed at the second highest point in the Wolds where my daughter’s father was based.

Lincolnshire Wolds

I had met Jim and discovered Wold View House via the effervescent Mrs Kendall, who ran an award-winning tearoom and B&B for humans and horses. In those days, we loved riding out over the Wolds on horseback, the incredible sunsets, soaking up the big skies over Sutton Estates’ working agricultural landscape, galloping up Rothwell Valley or trotting down to the woods in early autumn giving a sense of peace in nature like nothing else I’ve ever experienced. I was born and brought up in the industrial North East, then lived in the cities of Oxford and Leeds, so coming to the ‘Shire was something quite surreal and different for me.

Is it the light that feeds the creative here? I am not sure, but the sense of space to be, to imagine, to live consciously is ever present. No wonder Lincolnshire’s back roads and byways are so popular with horse riders, cyclists and bike riders. Sure, the roads are a little busier now but we are still unspeakably lucky to have the sense of freedom and a quiet liberty that’s so rare for Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. You only have to think of how hectic it can get in the Peaks, Dales or Moors by comparison. We are blessed.

Around 2003 the very first ideas for Jim’s Yard formed. Mrs K had done brilliantly to run her horse business and antiques and bricabrac from a collection of rickety old outbuildings but was struggling to do it all. My then partner Jim was establishing his tree surgery and landscaping business and we started to imagine what a beautiful space it would make for sustainable business. It took a few years until we bought the land from Mrs K and then a further few years to get planning permission for the buildings with loads of innovative ideas like a biomass boiler and rainwater harvesting. It then took five years (including the two harshest winters on record) to complete the build in local stone and reclaimed brick, as we were self-funding rather than grant based so were working our day jobs as we went.

Towards the end of building 3 – the building that was destined to become the gallery and holiday let, I saw an image online of a tree made in stone in a wall. At the time I thought it was Andy Goldsworthy’s work, but with hindsight I believe it’s a concept that’s been done all over the world. It stands out so beautifully because of the switch up in textures and materials from one type of stone to another. So Jim and our builder, Simon Bogg, worked a ‘brick’ tree into the bit of building we had left. This symbolised my ethos of creating with what you have. Add in a twist of nature, recycled or salvaged materials and that’s the essence of my creative vibe always.

Bricktree Gallery began as a way to step back from corporate writing and into championing small Lincolnshire makers. My friend, Holly Smith, North East Lincolnshire’s queen of soya wax candles, introduced me to Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. I tried it, loved it and became a stockist which helped me connect with like-minded customers. It started a lasting passion for upcycling furniture and running painting workshops. I love helping others save things from landfill and create beautiful bespoke interiors on a budget.

While the yard was being built I got involved in volunteering as Arts Director for Mr Big (Market Rasen Business Improvement Group). This was relentlessly hard work but I really wanted to make a difference. We had so much fun and created loads of media interest with themed markets and big ideas. I worked with some brilliant local individuals and won a £10K Arts Council grant for the town to host a 4 week Arts and Crafts festival in February 2013.

While working on Market Rasen’s award winning markets I met many Lincolnshire artists and crafters. I also met Mary Portas and showed her around the town. She is such a creative thinker with amazing vision. I love her post-Covid ideas centred on a ‘kindness economy’, social responsibility and making experiences. I’ve always tried to do this with my workshops, whether it’s my own or facilitating other artists to make creative occasions more memorable.

February 2016 saw a massive fire at Jim’s Yard and we lost all our power, heat and light for almost two months. I had my first furniture painting event planned with local furniture painter Jonathon Marc Mendes so we relocated to Tealby Village Hall and welcomed 35 furniture painters to a demo morning. Even back then Jonathon was incredibly well known online in the Annie Sloan painting community. With the yard out of action we took our pop up painting workshops on the road for heritage events at Gainsborough Old Hall – a new place for me to discover – and a series of 2-day Painting Residential Workshops at Papermill Cottages in Tealby which brought new overnight visitors to the area from all over the world. Many have returned to visit. It’s been a pleasure to help so many people discover Lincolnshire for the first time!

Once we were back up and running after the fire it was super hard to host workshops in the holiday let kitchen and then flip the space back for guests. As Jim and I had separated it felt like a good time to relocate Bricktree Gallery to pastures new and do my own thing.

Caistor

When our electrician offered to sell me his workshop in Caistor I instantly fell in love with the quirky old building at the end of Bobs Lane with its rugged timber beams and bare brick walls. You may have guessed I’ve got a thing for brick and timber! I knew it would look stunning as a backdrop for filming tutorials and hosting workshops of all kinds. The Loft was featured in Period Living, November 2019 as Jonathon’s workshop in their British artisan feature.

That’s how Caistor became Bricktree Gallery’s new home. A beautiful Lincolnshire market town on the edge of the Wolds. It feels like a creative place to work with its rich heritage dating from Roman times to the most beautiful Georgian and Victorian heritage buildings. I often walk around and just stare at the old doors – so much colour and inspiration around every corner. We are blessed with a wonderful community spirit.

People in Caistor make a real effort to support our little independent shops like Pig and Poke, Paisley & Rose, Drakes Drum, Sweetiebelles, Sandhams Wine Merchants, Caistor Arts & Heritage Centre, their charity shop, a brilliant Post Office, Smith & Flo Vintage and I4beauty up on the top. We also have a wonderful early evening street food market on the first Wednesday of each month, run by Rachel Axcell of Bottle & Carriage. And the Saturday morning food market is open and thriving. You can pick up fresh fruit and vegetables, meat, baking, some weeks fresh pizza and even bird food from local producers who all work hard to make Caistor a real destination. I love that I can share all these creative delights with my customers. There’s a real appetite to support local and creative businesses and it’s so wonderful to see.

I love feeling part of the Caistor community. Before lockdown we were co-hosting all sorts of creative workshops at The Loft with local artists and makers. It has been a pleasure to reopen as a space for local makers to sell over the spring and summer and restart workshops this autumn using our versatile, practical space with a ‘messy’ basement workshop for paint and clay and warmer wooden shop floor above for sewing, sketching and knitting. We launched Bricktree Gallery Online Workshops Facebook during the pandemic and hope to do more there in future. I know for myself that staying creative, in whatever form, is brilliant for mental health.

We also used social media in lockdown to harness the collective creative power of the online furniture painting community. Over 35 female furniture painters created bespoke artwork for the Edan Lincs domestic abuse refuge in Lincolnshire. Most pieces were on recycled canvas or found materials, we even had an old window. The brief was to make all the paintings truly uplifting. Beki Doig, photographer and videographer for Lincolnshire Makes, helped bring it together into this virtual exhibition.  The donated artwork has now gone to the refuge for its original purpose to let the victims of domestic abuse know they were seen, cared for and loved.

Since reopening in the autumn of 2020 to today Bricktree Gallery has showcased work of over 40 artists, creators, makers and curators. Stock has been ever changing with preloved pieces curated as well as local art and craft and work sold at Preloved from Lincolnshire on Burton Road in Lincoln and Started with a Stitch on Abbeygate in Grimsby.

Louth

For Winter 2021 we are working with a few Lincolnshire makers to create Bricktree products and sustainable creative kits with the emphasis on recycled fabrics. You can find us on the vibrant Louth Market on a Wednesday (another favourite Lincolnshire place) to reduce the carbon miles until I can afford an EV to go with my solar powered Zappi!

So what space am I creating next?

A few years ago I had made a conscious effort to step back from copywriting for fast fashion and lifestyle brands and was winding down my copywriting business. However, Covid meant the need to keep on evolving so I went back to creative marketing and won the tender to create the branding for Spark Grimsby last year, a super new initiative run by CDI Alliance and North East Lincolnshire Council to support and develop Grimsby’s creative community. Everyone from established design agencies and architects to fledgling makers who might have just started selling small pieces on Etsy. This is part of a bigger piece of creative rejuvenation for Grimsby town linked with the arts, culture and creativity as a whole. It is an incredibly exciting time for the county. Amazing work is being undertaken by the Towns Fund team delivering spectacular investment for East Lincolnshire and Boston coastline which means better places to live, work and visit.

The longer I live in Lincolnshire, the deeper I understand and appreciate its many facets and hidden gems. I applaud the huge efforts of those promoting our county with all its different elements and I love our drive for sustainability. Lincolnshire Makes is probably just my personal extension of that thinking. A place to kick start my content writing again and attract clients who share my core values and want to feature in a different kind of editorial space.

I will go deeper into the stories behind our local artists, crafters, food and drink producers, those who create amazing experiences for both locals and visitors and people who want to make a difference. I seek to understand what makes their Lincolnshire lives happy and fulfilling and to explore how and where we can share that content more widely.

Lincolnshire might not have the footfall of more visible counties or have magazine editors weekending in every village like the Cotswolds (yet) but I believe it’s only a matter of time!

For now at least, we have the space to breath, to imagine, to love where we live and to tell our amazing stories to each other.

You never know who might be listening.