Kirkby on Bain

The Ebrington Arms village pub

The village public house is the Ebrington Arms on Main Street which dates back to at least the 16th Century.[4][5] It was popular with airmen from the nearby RAF Woodhall Spa famed for its links with the 617 Squadron Dambusters.

The parish church is dedicated to St Mary,[6] and is in the Bain Valley Group of churches. It dates back to Norman times, and the parish records to 1562.[7] The church was largely rebuilt in 1802 and expanded in 1879–82.

River Bain (Horncastle Canal) looking south towards Kirkby on Bain from atop Red Mill Bridge

To the north stretches the shallow glacial valley of the River Bain. Along the valley floor and flood plain the land is largely pastoral farmland used for rearing cattle and sheep, whilst further away from the river the land is more arable.

Bridleway through Kirkby Gravel Pits Nature Reserve

To the south along the valley are sand and gravel pits, many of them now long disused and some transformed into Kirkby Gravel Pits Nature Reserve, which is managed by Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust. The nature reserve is very biodiverse, and is one of very few inland sites in the county which have been visited by Eurasian spoonbill.[8][9]

Typical Lowland Heathland landscape of Kirkby Moor Nature Reserve

To the west are Kirkby and Roughton Moors; a landscape once dominated by Lowland Heath now restricted to Fox Hill, and beyond is Ostler's Plantation, a pine woodland owned by the Forestry Commission. In this landscape can be found Kirkby Moor and Moor Farm Nature Reserves, both SSSIs, and soon to be joined by the former airfield of RAF Woodhall Spa purchased by the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust in September 2014.[10]