A village in the centre of the Gainsborough Constituency has been named as the Campaign to Protect Rural England’s best kept village in Lincolnshire.

Ingham has been awarded an amazing 385 points in the Class I category, meaning it has scooped the award ahead of runner-up East Keal.

Conservative West Lindsey District Councillor Roger Patterson praised Ingham as a great asset to the district, saying:

“It’s a beautiful place and this is a well-deserved award. Ingham is a real community village and the parish council do a lot of work to make sure it maintains these high standards. To me, it’s one of the best villages in Lincolnshire.

“The village hall attained a gold standard two years ago and that, combined with things like the Ingham Heritage Group, the Tuesday Lunch Club, community tennis courts and the village’s gardener taking care of the look of the village make it a really enviable place to live.

“It would be really good if this inspired other villages to get involved.”

Plenty has been done to make the village welcoming in recent months. This has included the renovation of the village phone box, which has been converted into a book exchange. Residents are encouraged to borrow reading material and to drop off books for others to enjoy, which has been a real success. There are other projects taking shape and have just staked out some space near the village hall and school for a wildlife area for the children.

Ingham Parish Councillor Gavin Monks said:

“The fact that private and individual premises are really taken care of also helps, as well as the footpaths around the village and the village greens being cleared regularly.”