MIKE LAYCOCK visits an historic cathedral city with Roman origins, walls and a castle – and no, it’s not York.

WE SPOTTED it from miles away, as we drove towards Lincoln through flat, dark countryside. Almost bronze in colour under powerful floodlighting, Lincoln Cathedral appeared to float over the city, an incredible Gothic structure which was once the tallest building in the world.

Unlike our own dear Minster, it’s also situated at the top of a very steep hill, so that the structure utterly dominates the scene for miles around.

My wife and I had been invited to sample the delights of this historic city during a weekend break at a country house hotel just a couple of miles away, Branston Hall.

After a journey of barely 90 minutes down the A1 and A57 – including a brief and slightly anachronistic stop to pay a 40 pence bridge toll to cross the River Trent – we drove through 88 acres of parkland to the 53-bedroom hotel, situated in a mansion dating back to Victorian times.

Originally a family home and then a hospital during the Second World War, it is now a haven from the world where guests can chill out before and after exploring the city and surrounding countryside.

In the bar was a roaring log fire, while our bedroom had a sofa, flat screen TV, free wifi, tea-making facilities and one of those great corner baths in the en-suite bathroom.

We had the use of a small but attractive swimming pool featuring murals of Italian scenes, and also a jacuzzi and a sauna. I swam twice, having the pool to myself on both occasions. We had breakfast each day in the Lakeside Restaurant, with its views of… a lake, with full English breakfast available at a buffet as well as continental alternatives.

In Lincoln, we parked at the bottom of the hill and gradually made our way up High Street, home to all the usual high street retailers as well as some local independents. We walked through the tudor Stonebow Arch and then began to climb and climb. The road became increasingly narrow and attractive, and also steeper – so steep that it’s actually named Steep Hill.

Puffing and panting, we went round a corner to find the cathedral ahead of us in all its glory. We had arranged for a guided tour of both the ground floor and the roof top.

Our excellent guide told us how William the Conqueror established it in 1088, shortly after the Norman Conquest. One Norman end of the building is still standing today.

A central spire was built which took the structure’s total height to more than 500 feet, making it the tallest structure in the world for more than 200 years until it collapsed in a storm in 1549. The central tower remaining, at 271 feet, is still the tallest medieval tower in Europe.

The cathedral is unusual in featuring two major rose windows, the Dean’s Eye and the Bishop’s Eye, with beautiful stained glass. After the ground tour, our guide led me up various spiral stair cases to the roof, where there were magnificent views out across Lincoln and the surrounding countryside.

A one-time bishop of Lincoln, Hugh of Wells, was one of the signatories to the Magna Carta, and Lincoln holds one of only four surviving copies of the original. It is normally on display at Lincoln Castle, just across the way from the cathedral, but the castle is undergoing a £22 million refurbishment, known as Lincoln Castle Revealed.

This five-year project will open up areas of the site which have been closed to the public for decades, including parts of the walls, but a new heritage skills centre has also been built.

A new vault is being created to house the Magna Carta, which restricted the powers of the king in favour of the barons, and the Charter of the Forest, which re-established the rights of access to the Royal Forests for freemen, which had gradually been eroded since the Norman invasion.

You can still visit parts of the castle while the project is ongoing, and I went on a guided tour that reached parts that general visitors could not reach The castle restoration is due to be completed in time for the celebrations marking Magna Carta’s 800th anniversary next year.

We returned to the hotel for a rest, a swim and a sauna before returning to the city for an excellent meal at the Electric Bar and Restaurant, situated on the top floor of the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel and overlooking Brayford Waterfront, an inland marina dominated by modern buildings – on one side by the University of Lincoln and on the other by a host of restaurants, bars and a cinema complex.

As we settled down to eat an excellent meal, I turned to see stunning views through the windows, including, almost inevitably, that floodlit cathedral.

Fact file:

• For more information about Lincoln, go to visitlincoln.com

Prices at Branston Hall start from £139 B&B or £169 dinner B&B. For more information, go to branstonhall.com or phone 01522 793305.

• For more information about the Electric Bar and Restaurant, go to electricbarandrestaurant.co.uk or phone 01522 565182.