VISITNOTTINGHAM & NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 2020 EXPLORE. PLAY. EAT. STAY #LOVENOTTS | www.visit-nottinghamshire.co.uk READY TO BLOW YOUR MIND? WELCOME TO NOTTINGHAM HOME OF ROBIN HOOD, CASTLES, CAVES AND CULTURE Nottingham is the home of Robin Hood and his spirit It’s a city with a sense of fun, and a renowned is more alive here today than ever before. The city is vibrant live music scene. A city of festivals and famous for its castle on the hill, vibrant culture in its carnivals celebrating everything from caves, streets and curious caves beneath your feet. Once comedy, cider and cinema. It’s a city to feel safe in, named the “Queen of the Midlands”, celebrated with Purple Flag status and more Best Bar None for its lace, breweries and rebellious spirit, today accredited venues than any other UK city. it’s an attractive and fun place to visit, brimming It’s a to pick up THE WORLD'S FIRST FREE ROAM VR ARENA RIGHT HERE IN NOTTINGHAM with creative charm and recently named the UK’s fantastic shopping destination treats and souvenirs. High street favourites and friendliest city. major shopping centres sit alongside charming CAN YOU SURVIVE A ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE? FIGHT OFF Nottingham is a city steeped in legend and boutiques and eclectic independent shops. Visit WAVES OF AI ROBOTS IN DEEP SPACE? OR CAN YOU SOLVE A history and is a UNESCO City of Literature. quirky Hockley, the indie Cobden Chambers or the MIND BENDING GRAVITY DEFYING MAZE? It’s a city of rebels, once home to reform rioters, upmarket Exchange arcade. suffragettes and castle destroyers alongside its famous legendary outlaw. Follow Robin Hood on Nottinghamshire is greener than Robin Hood’s hat, a trail around the city and find horrible histories in boasting the largest number of Green Flag parks in An out of this world virtual reality experience for company socials, the National Justice Museum. the country, tree-lined boulevards, the River Trent and Sherwood Forest alongside beautiful heritage sites team building activities or just fun with friends and family. Old Market Square is one of Europe’s largest city such as Wollaton Hall (Batman’s mansion), Newstead squares and Nottingham’s beating heart, transforming Abbey and Rufford Abbey. Your body is the controller and your mind believes it's real. with the seasons from a summery seaside to a festive winter wonderland. Historic and modern architecture sit Everyone knows delicious food is a key ingredient to side by side on the skyline, and the best days and nights a good time; here you’ll find the UK’s best restaurant, start at the most iconic meeting point in the city, the left England’s oldest inn, cosy independent cafés, lion statue who watches over the square. international restaurants, underground bars and dining in historic buildings. Nottingham is a city of hidden places and secret spaces. With a unique subterranean underworld of It’s a city of sport, with its riverside sporting quarter over 800 caves and a network of cobbled alleyways including the world-renowned Trent Bridge cricket 20% OFF waiting to be discovered, this is a city where getting ground, the world’s first football league club and To learn more and book online visit: PROMO CODE: lost leads to great adventures. double European champions Nottingham Forest. www.meetspacevr.co.uk VISITNOTTS20 VISIT-NOTTINGHAMSHIRE.CO.UK | 1 VISIT NOTTINGHAMSHIRE FEATURES 04 06 07 STAY UP TO DATE WITH WHAT’S ON WHATSONNOTTINGHAM.COM Take a look at our What’s On guide for a comprehensive list of the latest and most exciting events in Nottinghamshire. JOIN THE As new events are always being announced across the city and county, the Visit Nottinghamshire What’s On guide continually lists events to suit #LOVENOTTS all ages, budgets and interests, so you never miss out. CONVERSATION FOLLOW US: ON THE COVER 10 14 16 @VisitNotts @MeetInNotts LEGENDARY HEROES SIT SIDE BY SIDE IN @MarketingNG_ visitnotts 04 08 16 A 21ST CENTURY CITY ROBIN HOOD : GOING UNDERGROUND INDEPENDENT SHOPPING LIVING THE LEGEND Discover a hidden world beneath the city. Retail therapy in Notts. Wander the modern streets and Visit Notts Visit Notts Will the real Robin Hood please stand up? quirky hidden pathways and rub 10 18 shoulders with our famous outlaw – CONTRIBUTORS 06 EXPLORE PILGRIM 10 DAYS OUT FOR the legendary Robin Hood. EXPLORE THE COUNTRY UNDER TEN POUNDS Explore Nottingham with 10 ideas that In the photo: Ezekial Bone LEGENDARY SHERWOOD Walk in the footsteps of the (Robin Hood Town Tour of Nottingham) FOREST Mayflower Pilgrims. won’t break the bank. Photo credit: Hunter Films Photography Visit Sherwood Forest Visitor Centre and National Nature Reserve. 12 20 NOTTINGHAM CASTLE WHAT’S ON PUBLISHED BY VISIT NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 07 A world-class heritage destination Your diary of events in Nottinghamshire. (PART OF MARKETING NG) FESTIVAL SPOTLIGHT on your doorstep. Project Manager: Kinga Kapias Get ready to celebrate the very best that Editorial content: Sophie Milne, Claire Jones, Sophie Gargett, Alistair Webster the region has to offer. 14 Promote your tourism business through Visit Nottinghamshire. Gemma Howarth Sara Blair-Manning Senior Site Manager, Chief Executive Officer, TASTEH TREATS Contact [email protected] | visit-nottinghamshire.co.uk Sherwood Forest Visitor Centre Nottingham Castle Trust Truly unique food and drink experiences. and National Nature Reserve 2 | NOTTINGHAM TOURISM CENTRE +44(0)8444 775678 VISIT-NOTTINGHAMSHIRE.CO.UK | 3 KEEPING THE LEGEND ALIVE ROBIN HOOD: Of course, visitors are keen to know how they can engage with the legend today, LIVING THE LEGEND and Nottinghamshire doesn’t disappoint. Here are some ideas to get you started: STAY Stay at the boutique Lace Market Hotel, which overlooks St Mary’s Church where Robin was famously captured by the Sheriff of Nottingham, and the National Justice Museum where he was reportedly held prisoner. This charming Georgian building in the heart of the ancient Lace Market offers a wealth of elegant period features such as original sash windows, fireplaces and a quirky layout. Will the real Robin Hood please stand up? PLAY Test your wits in Escapologic’s latest escape From hell-raising heretics to Hollywood heroes, marauding murderers to men in room, Robin of Lockskey, and visit the Robin tights and alienated aristocrats to anthropomorphic foxes, interpretations of Robin Hood Stories and Boardgame Museum at Ludorati. Don’t forget to grab a selfie with the Hood’s story have captured hearts around the world for over seven centuries. Robin Hood statue, and drop into the nearby Robin Hood Experience: an interactive, story- based journey over three floors. Then why not try But who is the man beneath the hood? Hooded hooligan or on the straight and arrow? your hand at archery in Sherwood Forest? He’s Nottingham’s most famous figurehead - this much Most people would concede that Robin Hood is an EXPLORE we all agree. A legendary outlaw who appears in English outlaw in one form or another. Some versions of the story Join the famous outlaw himself on the Robin folklore from the 1400s and later in literature, theatre describe a man with a penchant for gratuitous violence, Hood Town Tour, following a trail of historical and on the silver screen. In popular culture, he’s usually certainly not one to shy away from a casual murder or facts to discover how simple ballads over depicted as a skilled archer and swordsman, dressed two. Stealing from the rich and swerving the Sheriff, an 700 years old grew into one of the greatest in Lincoln green. He robs from the rich and gives to the irreverent rogue who laughs in the face of authority. So far, stories every told. Visit Sherwood Forest and poor, a champion of the downtrodden and thorn in the so bad. see Robin Hood’s hideout, the world-famous side of the establishment. And yet Nottingham places him on a pedestal, both Major Oak, and explore the brand-new visitor But in the hunt for the facts behind the folklore and the figuratively and physically. What does this say about us? centre to learn about the flora and fauna of history beneath the mystery, everything gets a little Is the city a hotbed of anarchy, with arrows flying through this beautiful, ancient forest. murky. Our slippery prince of thieves has eluded scholars the streets and visitors getting robbed every time they for centuries, frequently changing guise as his story is step outside? adapted to appeal to new audiences and embellished by LEARN No. Robin Hood is so much more than a common Peer down into the National Justice TASTE the imaginations of those who tell the tales. Stop by at Forest Lodge restaurant, thief; he’s a global icon and a hero for our times. He Museum’s oubliette cell where Robin Hood Edwinstowe, for fresh, locally sourced Was he a disillusioned lone wolf, or surrounded by a fearlessly challenges injustice and greed, corruption and was imprisoned. Visit St Mary’s Church in cuisine such as rustic wild mushroom band of bandits? A commoner or nobleman? A literary oppression. He stands up for what he believes in and takes Edwinstowe where Robin Hood and Maid fricassee or beef and ale pie - a feast fit for invention or an amalgamation of real historical figures? bold measures to make the world a better place. Equality Marian were supposedly wed. Understand the rightful King Richard himself! Round Some say he was nothing more than a stock alias used by and sustainability are high on everybody’s agenda these the ways of the woods and how Robin and his off your day with a pint of ale (or two) at Ye bandits, the Joe Bloggs of yesteryear.