Boston

Medieval merchants made Boston rich, and you can still feel that prosperity echoing through its streets today. The Georgian terraces speak of wealth built on wool and grain, while the massive St Botolph's Church - known locally as the Boston Stump - dominates the skyline from miles around. This is proper market town England, where the Wednesday and Saturday markets have run for centuries and locals still pop to the high street for their weekly shop.

Walk the town centre and you'll stumble across The Bubblecar Museum, a wonderfully eccentric collection that celebrates Britain's most optimistic attempt at affordable motoring. It's the sort of place that perfectly captures Boston's character - practical, unpretentious, and quietly proud of its heritage. The surrounding Fens stretch endlessly in every direction, their ruler-straight drainage channels and vast skies creating a landscape unlike anywhere else in England.

Just outside town, Holland House Farm wildlife reserve offers cracking birdwatching, especially during winter when the wetlands fill with migrating wildfowl. The area's network of drove roads and ancient church sites like St Peter's Church Wildmore tell the story of medieval land reclamation on an epic scale.

Getting here is straightforward enough - Boston sits on the A16 between Spalding and Grimsby, with regular trains from Nottingham taking about 90 minutes. The town makes a brilliant base for exploring the Lincolnshire Wolds to the north or the coastal resorts around Skegness.

Staying at one of the nearby parks like Tattershall Lakes Country Park puts you right in the heart of this distinctive landscape, with easy access to both Boston's historic streets and the wild, windswept beauty of the Fens.