A new start. A local life.

I’m Lee. In 2024, I moved to New York — the little village just outside Coningsby — with my three kids to start a new life.

Honestly, I didn’t know anything about the area. I didn’t know anyone. The kids didn’t even have schools lined up yet. As a full-time single dad, there was a lot to figure out.

The move followed divorce and redundancy at the same time. It was a lot of change for all of us, but we’ve been finding our feet, discovering what’s around us and making this place home.

There’s still plenty to explore. We’re getting there — and we’re loving it.

Finding our way around

When you’re new somewhere, you start from scratch. Where do you go for a haircut? Who can fix the car? Where’s good for lunch? Who’s the local person to call when something breaks?

You discover things through conversations, recommendations and a fair bit of searching. And you keep finding businesses you wish you’d known about sooner.

That’s where Coningsby Life came from.

I started putting together a list of businesses around Coningsby, Tattershall and our nearby villages. Somewhere useful for people who’ve just arrived, people who’ve lived here for years, and anyone who wants to support what’s on their doorstep.

A little about the geek behind it

I’m a huge geek. Before moving here, I spent more than 20 years working in Digital Innovation for a large UK company.

Now I run DigitalEmber, helping businesses with digital marketing, website development, AI and making better use of technology. I love figuring things out, building useful things and helping people turn an idea into something that works.

Away from a screen, I’m seriously passionate about cooking outdoors. You’ll find that side of me over at Smoke & Sear, on the website and Instagram.

Food and community are a big part of what I enjoy: bringing people together, sharing what you know and giving something a go. This guide is another way of doing that.

Coningsby at heart. Our villages included.

The name says Coningsby, but the guide includes Tattershall and our nearby villages too — including places such as New York, Dogdyke, Holland Fen and Frithville.

I’ve chosen a defined list of villages rather than drawing a circle on a map. It keeps things genuinely local and gives some of the smaller communities a place to be found.

Woodhall Spa and the larger surrounding towns aren’t part of this guide. You can see the full area covered on the Add a business page.

Who have I missed?

I’m still discovering the area myself, so this will always be a growing guide.

Most listings started with information I could find online, alongside suggestions from local people. If your business is missing, please tell me about it. If a detail is wrong, a link needs updating or somewhere has closed, I’d appreciate knowing that too.

Use Add a business to send the details for review. I look through suggestions myself and decide whether they fit. Nothing is published automatically, and submitting doesn’t guarantee a listing or a reply.

A grey contact button simply means I haven’t found or verified that detail yet. It doesn’t necessarily mean the business has no website or social page. If you have the missing link, send it over.

Please check opening times, availability and services directly with the business before travelling or booking. If you own a photograph used here and would like it changed or removed, just get in touch.

Helping good businesses get discovered

One thing building this guide has reminded me is how easy it is to miss a good business when there’s very little about it online.

If you’d like help with your website, digital marketing or working out where to start, that’s what I do through DigitalEmber. I’m always happy to have a conversation.

And if you’re here simply to find somewhere local, I hope this helps you discover a few more of the people and businesses around us.

You can also reach me at lee@digitalember.co.uk.