Freiston, Boston

One random postcode and a story you probably haven't heard before.

PE22 0 takes producer Polly Weston to a landscape like no other... the flatlands east of the town of Boston. Among the fields and small villages, the most obvious landmark when she arrives is "The We'll Meet Again Museum". It turns out to be the life's work and personal collection of one couple, Linda and Paul. They chose this spot, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, because of the landscape's historical significance. At the back of the museum facing the sea are a line of well preserved WW2 pillboxes. Polly's guides are The Lincolnshire Poachers, a group of teenage WW2 reenactors dressed in full uniforms, who volunteer here every weekend - "We're not like all these other youngsters who are out in the streets causing havoc, we're here causing havoc”.

But there's another history to this landscape. In 1935 twelve teenage young offenders were marched from Stafford to this postcode, to set up camp. The teenagers began the process of reclaiming the land from the wash - they dug a bank by hand to hold the sea back, which in time formed the landscape you see today.

The camp the teenagers built eventually became the open prison, HMP North Sea Camp. Locals joke that it's a holiday camp today, with reports of people who have run away - but what's the truth?

Produced/Presented by Polly Weston
Editor: Chris Ledgard
Mixed by Michael Harrison