Editing Grantham (section)

== Culture and amenities ==

=== Amenities ===
Wyndham Park has two children's play areas. There is an open-air paddling pool, football pitch and cafe. Dysart Park has a paddling pool and safe play area for children under six, a green for football and a bandstand. Indoor amenities for children include a swimming pool at the Meres Leisure Centre.

The public library is located in the Sir Isaac Newton Centre. On St Peter's Hill in the centre of town stands [[Grantham Museum]] and the Guildhall Arts Centre, which includes a 210-seat theatre.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.guildhallartscentre.com/|title=Guildhall Arts Centre|website=www.guildhallartscentre.com}}</ref>

[[Belton House]] is a popular [[National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty|National Trust]] site with events for children, a play area, train rides, picnic area and woodland walk.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/nottinghamshire-lincolnshire/www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/nottinghamshire-lincolnshire/belton-house|title=Belton House &#124; Lincolnshire|website=National Trust}}</ref>

=== Nature ===
[[File:Saltersford Marsh.JPG|thumb|right|Saltersford Marsh]]
Grantham and its surrounding area host [[peregrine falcons]], which have in recent years roosted in the [[bell tower]] of St Wulfram's Church.<ref>{{cite web |title='St Wulfram's Church' Peregrine falcons set up nest on top of A1 pylon near Grantham |url=https://www.granthamjournal.co.uk/news/peregrine-falcons-set-up-nest-on-top-of-a1-pylon-9195734/ |website=Grantham Journal |date=18 April 2021 |access-date=1 December 2022}}</ref> Grantham is surrounded by rolling countryside and woodland, such as nearby Ponton Park Wood, which has walks and views of woods and farmland.{{citation needed|date=May 2012}} To the north-east there are the attractive gardens and the magnificent deer park of the [[National Trust]]'s [[Belton House]]. Adjacent are Londonthorpe and Alma Park Woods, both owned by the [[Woodland Trust]]. The former comprises young woodland and open areas of wild flowers, while Alma Park has mature woodland on its steep [[limestone]] scarp and offers views over the town and the surrounding area.

To the south of the town, between Little Ponton and Saltersford, the [[River Witham]] flows through marshes and water meadows that support a variety of plant species, including [[vetches]], cowslip, ''[[Primula veris]]'', Lady's bedstraw ''[[Galium verum]]'', and orchids, including the [[southern marsh orchid]], and wildlife, including [[grey heron]]s, [[mallard]]s, [[greylag geese]], [[Arvicola amphibius|water vole]], and the now critically endangered [[white clawed crayfish]]. The area has notable populations of dragonflies, especially ''[[Aeshna grandis]]'', ''[[Anax imperator]]'', ''[[Libellula quadrimaculata]]'' and ''[[Calopteryx splendens]]'', which are also found on [[Grantham Canal]] as it runs through The [[Vale of Belvoir]] to the west of the town. Wildlife can also be found in the town's Wyndham and Dysart Parks.{{citation needed|date=May 2012}}

The Woodland Trust is based in Dysart Road and has been in Grantham since 1978; its new £6 million building,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/lincolnshire/hi/people_and_places/newsid_9192000/9192111.stm |title=BBC – New eco-friendly HQ for Woodland Trust in Grantham|date=15 November 2010}}</ref> on the opposite side of the road, opened in November 2010. The building, designed by [[Atelier One]] and [[Max Fordham]], has won several architectural awards.<ref>{{cite web |title=Feilden Clegg Bradley – Woodlands Trust Headquarters, Grantham |url=http://www.bdonline.co.uk/home/interior-design/feilden-clegg-bradley-woodlands-trust-headquarters-grantham/5019837.article |publisher=Building Design Online |access-date=23 November 2012}}</ref>

=== Gingerbread biscuits ===
The town is known for gingerbread biscuits, first made in 1740 by a baker, William Eggleston. He produced a biscuit called Grantham Whetstones. Whetstones were a rusk-like dry biscuit enjoyed locally and by coach drivers who would stop in Grantham to change horses while travelling along the Great North Road. According to folk belief, Egglestone was baking whetstones in his dimly lit kitchen one morning when he mistook one ingredient for another, resulting in a ginger-like biscuit to emerge from the oven. The mistake was a huge success and the biscuit became established as Grantham Gingerbread, known as a white gingerbread, as it is not made with molasses or black treacle. This has a delicate ginger flavour, rich in butter, with a domed top and a crackled surface. The centre is hollow like a honeycomb.<ref>[https://www.foodsofengland.info/granthamwhetstones.html Foods of England project. Retrieved 17 April 2025.]</ref>

=== Media ===
[[File:Grantham Radio Station - geograph.org.uk - 608243.jpg|thumb|Grantham Radio Station, owned by [[NATS Holdings|NATS]] (En Route) Limited, for [[radio navigation]] for aircraft, and is situated in the north of [[Waltham on the Wolds|Waltham]] near the [[Sproxton, Leicestershire|Sproxton]] parish boundary]]Grantham's local newspaper, the ''Grantham Journal'',<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.granthamjournal.co.uk/|title=The Latest News & Sport From Grantham|website=Grantham Journal}}</ref> first went on sale in 1854 as ''The Grantham Journal of Useful, Instructive and Entertaining Knowledge and Monthly Advertiser''.  It was founded by Henry Escritt, a Yorkshireman by birth, who moved to the area in 1861. The ''Journal'' is owned by Iliffe Media (formerly by [[Johnston Press]]), and has a sister newspaper in [[Melton Mowbray]], the ''Melton Times''. In the 1960s and earlier it produced the ''Melton Journal'' and ''Rutland Journal'', both versions of the main paper.

[[David Wood (journalist)|David Wood]] (1914–1990), former political editor of ''[[The Times]]'' (working under Sir [[William Haley]]), started out at the ''Grantham Journal''.

Local news and television programmes are provided by [[BBC East Midlands]] and [[BBC Yorkshire and Lincolnshire]] on BBC One, and by [[ITV Central]] and [[ITV Yorkshire]] on ITV1.

Radio stations that broadcast to the town are [[BBC Radio Lincolnshire]] and [[Greatest Hits Radio Yorkshire|Greatest Hits Radio Lincolnshire]]. Grantham also has a full-time community radio station, [[Gravity FM]]. The station has its own studios in Riverside Walk, on the western side of Grantham College. It is operated by local volunteers.<ref>{{cite web |title=Gravityfm.net |url=http://www.gravityfm.net |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140114053400/http://www.gravityfm.net/ |archive-date=14 January 2014 |access-date=21 June 2017 }}</ref>