Lincolnshire produces over 20% of the UK's food. It is the second largest county in England by area, and its vast agricultural landscape supports an extraordinary range of independent producers who are often overshadowed by the county's sheer scale.
Two products define Lincolnshire's food identity above all others. The Lincolnshire sausage, first recorded in 1886, is one of the most fiercely contested recipes in English food. Every butcher guards their own variation on the theme of coarsely ground pork, sage, and breadcrumbs, and the annual Lincolnshire Sausage Competition draws entries from across the county. Redhill Farm was rated in the Top 3 Best Sausages in the UK by BBC Good Food. Uncle Henry's won Britain's Best Sausage on BBC's The One Show. Mountain's Boston Sausage has been perfecting their recipe since 1904.
Lincolnshire Poacher cheese is the county's other flagship product. Made exclusively at Ulceby Grange Farm in the Wolds by the Jones family since 1992, using unpasteurised milk from their own herd of 280 Holstein Friesians, each batch matures for up to 18 months. It won Supreme Champion at the British Cheese Awards. At Cote Hill Farm near Market Rasen, the Davenport family makes five different handmade cheeses from unpasteurised morning milk, including the award-winning Cote Hill Blue.
The drinks scene is anchored by Bateman's, an independent family brewery in Wainfleet since 1874, now in its fourth generation. The 8 Sail Brewery at Heckington produces beers using locally grown and milled grain beneath the county's unique eight-sailed windmill. The Lincoln Distillery, established in 2017, is the city's first commercial distillery since 1863. Pin Gin from Louth Distillery has become one of Lincolnshire's most recognisable brands. Stokes Tea and Coffee has been roasting in Lincoln since 1892.
The heritage runs deep in every category. Welbourne's Bakery in Navenby has been making Lincolnshire Plum Bread to an untouched 1896 recipe. Hawkens Gingerbread in Grantham revived England's oldest commercially traded biscuit, originally created in 1740. Maud Foster Windmill in Boston, a working seven-storey five-sail windmill, produces stoneground organic flour. South Ormsby Estate raises 100% grass-fed Lincoln Red cattle on 3,000 acres in the Wolds with full farm-to-fork traceability on every cut. Dennett's has been making dairy ice cream to their own recipe since 1926.
These producers are spread across one of England's largest counties, and finding them takes local knowledge. Enter your postcode and we'll show you every independent food and drink producer within 20 miles of your door.
