Living beside Lincoln Cathedral

The view from my living room

I don't think I could ever get tired of this view in the evening when the night draws in and the floodlighting illuminates the stonework that has stood here over many centuries.
The first cathedral on this site dated from 1092, but fires and an earthquake took their toll until the present building was completed in the 13th and 14th century.
Until 1549 this was the tallest building in the world, but in that year the central spire came down in a storm, never to be replaced despite local enthusiasm for the project as recently as the 1980s

It is a place of great peace, a focal point for the local community for concerts, exhibitions, graduation ceremonies for the local university and colleges, as well as place of regular worship. Every week throughout the year there are 34 church services from Mattins at 7.30 in the morning through to Evensong (usually choral) at 5.30 in the evening. There are three choirs; the male voices, the boys' voices and the girls' voices. The separation of boys and girls voices creates two choirs with slightly different tone and lends scope for a wider variety of music since they can share the Soprano/Treble and Alto workload and take turns to combine with the male voices in services. And, of course, the male voices have plenty of scope for some wonderful Plainsong chants with echoes that hang in the vaulting over the choir.

I was incredibly fortunate to be offered a lease on my apartment. The rent is fair and the terms are very favourable, but the best feature is the sense of community and the fact that the Cathedral's substantial property portfolio is managed by the Cathedral Works Department with everything properly maintained and all the safety checks carried out to the letter of the law.

I arrived with boxes of possessions (and, of course, all my pots, pans, ladles, knives and chopping boards!) but with no furniture apart from one very old and rather shabby pine blanket-box. Over the past three months I have started to make a home, and I confess that it is one of the happiest places I have ever inhabited.