We Go To Nottingham

I visited Nottingham this weekend to meet up with some of the Ladies and one Gentleman of the Robin Hood 2006 Forum .

I arrived on Friday lunchtime, and since I have never been to Nottingham before was totally lost the minute I stepped out of the train station by the wrong entrance - note to Midland Mainline your signage is pants. Floowing my inbuilt shopper radar, I soon found the shops and had a calming latte before eventually discovering the Tourist Information Centre. Pausing there briefly to grab a free map and some brochures, I left before I did too much damage to my finances in their shop.

It rained all afternoon, and there was me trudging round Nottingham with nary an umbrella and weighed down by a bag full of Robin Hood goodies from The Tales of Robin Hood, obligitary pen, teddy, snowglobe and hat, so I nipped into Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem for a half, for purely medicinal and drying out purposes of course.

The pub is extremely old and full of small nooks and crannies. Standing at the foor of the Castle, its well worth a visit if you're in Nottingham, it has a good choice of local beers and the usual drinks and a varied menu. The food is delicious, service quick and friendly and decent size portions.

After I was suitably dried out and refreshed I made my way to my hotel. I walked but I would recommend (especially in rainy weather) geting a bus or a cab. I stayed at The Travel Inn, Castle Marina. I like Travel Inn's, know what I'm getting with them and not pricey either.

I spent the evening with Dantesmuse from the Forum who is a Nottingham resident and who runs the wonderful Robinhood.org website. After meeting her in the centre of town in by this time heavy snow.


On Saturday I made my way back to the Trip to meet the ladies who were arriving that day, Lady Wolfshead, Clberg, Lexie, Hazzardgal, Nottinghamlass, Piffy, Tdcheck, Dantesmuse, Scarlettwoman. However, we seem to have mislaid a member somewhere, our very own Romantic Knight, could it be in fact he was just a lily livered knave who was scared of being the only man in a group of ladies. Hmm, well he came out with multitudous reasons for not attending and was berated soundly over the phone by the group, and threatened by Clberg with all sorts of things mainly involving handcuffs.

After a very enjoyable lunch and chat (and alcohol) we made our way up to the Robin Hood statue for photos. Time was spent admiring the statues, especially that of Robin, with close attention paid to his big sword and thighs. There are also statues of the Merry Men and some wall friezes depicting amongst other things Robin firing an arrow from his deathbed - in the legend, Robin having been poisoned by the Abbess of Kirklees Priory and her lover, lies on his deathbed in the gatehouse and tells Little John that he will fire an arrow and wherever it lands is to be his grave

We then went to the castle. Stopping non too briefly in the shop, very tempting to buy bow and arrows and wooden swords

The castle is a more modern building, built in the 17th Century, so for those of you whom like me were expecting something similar to Alnwick or Warwick Castles, you could be disappointed. The old castle was knocked down during the civil war, although parts of it remain - namely a bridge built by Henry III I believe and the gatehouse in the photo above. The castle itself houses an art and sculpture gallery and also something we nearly missed, but which Lexie and I had a look at - The Story of Nottingham which is very interesting, and you can see artifacts, models and old photographs of the City there.

We followed this by a trip to the tunnels and caves under the castle. Built into the rock itself, the visit takes you way down underneath the castle where you visit the dungeon where King David I of Scotland was held prisoner for 5 years. Its very damp, dark and cold. Its hard to understand how anyone could have survived a winter down there, 30 minutes was enough to chill me to the bones. Leaving that area you climb back up and emerge in the courtyard where the old stables and coach houses are, which is quite suprising. There is a pillory there which is great for photo opportunities, and with the help of Clberg we used them.

Leaving there you walk under a tunnel, then back up some steps to the castle before going deep below again to Mortimer's Hole. This is named after Roger Mortimer, lover of Queen Isabella the consort of Edward II. Isabella and Roger had had her husband killed, a homosexual, Edward was killed using a method which did not leave marks on the body - a red hot poker inserted into his bowels - not pleasant. This was a painful but effective way of ensuring that the body looked untouched. However, it was obvious what had happened, and Edward and Isabella's son, King Edward III, resenting what they had done and also the fact that they were ruling the country in his name, sneaked into the castle through the tunnel in which we stood and with the help of others dragged Roger Mortimer out through the tunnels, from where he was taken to London and hung, drawn and quartered. Legend has it that Queen Isabella was locked up in the castle for the rest of her life where she went mad, but in reality, she retired to Castle Rising in Norfolk.

The visit to the caves was extremely interesting. However word of warning it is not suitable for infirm or extremely unfit people, there are a lot of stairs up and down, some quite narrow and in places slippery.

We finished off with a visit to the Brewhouse Yard which is next to the Castle. Your ticket for the Castle gets you in there for free. This has a series of rooms and a shop depicting life in the last 300 years. You can stand in an old kitchen and air raid shelter, and with its interactivity it encourages you to touch and smell the artifacts there.

All in all it was a great weekend, despite the weather and lovely to meet and put faces to some of the members of the forum.