Usually celebrated on February 2nd (or the eve of February 1st), Imbolc (pronounced 'im'olk') is one of the four Celtic fire festivals that make up the wheel of the year, and celebrates the passing of winter and the return of spring. It comes at a time when many of us are longing for the end of cold, dark days, and serves as a reminder that brighter mornings and new growth are on the horizon.

As Imbolc is also St Brigid's Day, celebrations of this Celtic fertility goddess are also held to signify her transformation from the crone of winter to the maiden of spring, and often take the form of lighting candles, fires, and celebrating the sunlight. Appropriately, snowdrops are one of her symbols, and form as a further reminder that the bleakness of winter is waning.

The day is also a great opportunity to reassess any goals you set yourself back at the start of January, as the start of spring we plant the seeds that will grow and nourish us for the rest of the year. Spring-clean whatever you want to be rid of (both literally and metaphorically) and set forth on a new journey of optimism and hope. You could also plant some actual seeds to symbolise the promise of this new season.

Head over here for more ideas on how to celebrate the festival.

A visit to Lincoln is always a joy; it boasts historic buildings and quaint tearooms and is without a doubt the place to go for the best of Lincolnshire food. It is no wonder, then, that the annual Lincoln Sausage Festival manages to lure us back to the city to explore and taste the best of what's on offer. This weekend we visited and sampled sausages in preparation for our wedding - I'm quite aware that for many people this may be an odd concept, but we are food lovers and as such what we eat on our wedding day is up there in terms of importance with what we will wear and where we will get married.

The sausage festival gave us the opportunity to taste a range of options and we have pretty much made our decision now. Not only was the day productive in this sense, it was also a lovely chance for us to spend some quality time together and sample other foodie delights that lined the lawn inside the grounds of the castle, before wandering down Steep Hill and returning home together.

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The sun was (thankfully) shining all morning long as we explored the different stalls in the grounds of Lincoln Castle. The sausages were all delicious, but this rare breed variety particularly impressed us.

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I love mushrooms. This stall was pretty much my idea of heaven.

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Other meat-based products on offer, including chorizo crisps, which we decided against in the end.

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Alongside the sausages I managed to sneak in a couple of other purchases too: sourdough, whisky and orange cheese (which is absolutely delicious despite how it might sound) and some truffle oil from the mushroom stall. I mentioned in my last post that I'm trying to be more creative in terms of my cooking ingredients, and I'm hoping that the cheese and truffle oil will inspire me to create autumnal feasts. Any recommendations for what to cook with them?

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