in surrounding villages. The village came second in the 1979 Lincolnshire Best Kept Village competition (Class I; population between 100 and 500). It also came third in the 1983 competition. The award plaque is close to the phone kiosk at the centre of the village but that reads Best Kept Village 1980. Governance South Willingham parish council is the lowest tier of local government, responsible for services including allotments, cemeteries, play areas, street furniture and neighbourhood development plans. The parish is in the Binbrook Ward which covers ten local parishes and sends one councillor to the East Lindsey District Council, the next highest tier of government, which is responsible for services including economic, business and tourism support, housing benefits, collection of local taxes, refuse, planning and environmental control, licensing, and leisure facilities. Above this, the parish is represented by one councillor for the Louth Wolds Division of Lincolnshire County Council, the council provision including highway maintenance, social care, libraries, heritage sites, school admissions, trading standards, fire and rescue, emergency planning, and public health. For the UK parliament, South Willingham is represented through the Louth and Horncastle constituency, whose sitting Member of Parliament is Victoria Atkins of the Conservative Party. Prior to Brexit in 2020, South Willingham was represented in the European Parliament through the East Midlands constituency. Geography The village is south-west from the A157 road, south-east from Market Rasen, north from Horncastle, 10 miles west from Louth and north-east from the city and county town of Lincoln. The civil parish is east to west and north to south, covering —expanded from in the 1880s—and is on the western edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AOB). The AOB runs north–south through the village. Part of the eastern boundary of the parish follows the course of the River Bain. The main portion of the village was designated a conservation area in January 1994. The core of the village was reported to be in poor condition, deteriorating, and of high vulnerability in Historic England's 2019 Heritage at Risk report, however it is not mentioned in the 2021 report. Topography Situated on the first hill on the western edge of the Wolds, there is an uninterrupted view from the village to Lincoln Cathedral, across the Central Lincolnshire Vale between the Wolds and the Lincolnshire Edge. The village is on a small rise 100m above ordnance datum (AOD) towards