New to Nottingham

Despite being in Nottingham for 3 months now, I have only just had the time to sit down and write this post that I meant to write about 2 months ago. My new program of study and other activities have kept me very busy (it makes me wish I was working again and not studying) Anyways, I hope to give a quick to give a quick summary of the things I have been up to.

On my second weekend here I took advantage of a student organized tour of Nottinghamshire ‘On the Trail of Robin Hood’. It was a great day out! I got a nice feel for the area and history as well as meet some other postgraduate students.

Our day started out at Newark Castle. This castle is supposedly where King John (the one featured in Robin Hood Folklore) died. There is not much left of the castle itself, but upon on a hill it gave a good view of the surrounding area on that sunny blustery day. Next to the castle there is a nice small exhibit on the English Civil War and the lifestyle back then. The town of Newark itself is not bad either with a nice church and a quaint weekend market.

Next stop was Southwell Minster. Apparently it had connections to Robin Hood through some of the architecture that depicted some of the merry men. We couldn’t find this architecture, but it was still a nice place to visit. Not the most grandiose cathedral, but distinct nonetheless.

Stop three was Sherwood Forest. Here there have a visitors centre with a video of the history of Nottinghamshire and plenty of tacky souvenirs to buy. The best part is the actual forest itself. Walking around some of the trails was peaceful and relaxing. Many of the trees are quite old especially the Major Oak – the tree where supposedly Robin Hood and his merry men slept.

The last stop was a small stop at the church where supposedly Robin Hood and Maid Marion got married. We couldn’t go inside because the church was closed because it didn’t have a priest…but the outside was nice.

I haven’t actually been to many of the historical buildings in the city of Nottingham, but there is still next semester! But I did manage to go in the castle…albeit at night and it was for beer festival. It was still pretty cool to be in a castle having several different types of beer. Also if you are in Nottingham and interested in beer culture, you must stop at the oldest pub in England – Ye Olde Trip Jerusalem. it’s quite cozy (kind of like a cave) and serve their own brand of beer.

Lots of the events in Nottingham take place in the Forest Recreation Ground. The first such of these events was the Goose Fair. Now when my friend suggested going to the Goose Fair. I thought ‘What the heck is a goose fair?’ After checking with my trusty pal Wikipedia, I found out that it is a historical even from the days when people ate geese for Christmas and typical bought them at a fair. Today’s Goose Fair is pretty much an carnival with lots of overpriced rides and greasy food. But it was fun none the less.

A similar scene took place on Bonfire night (in celebration of Guy Fawkes and his attempt to blow up parliament in the 17th century) But on this occasion there was a big bonfire and fantastic fireworks.

The last thing of note during my first few months in Nottingham was the Christmas events. In the centre of town there was a skating rink and a Christmas market (not as big as the one in Brussels, but still quite nice) Even in my part of town it was all decorated and lit up at night. With the unusual amount of snow that Nottingham received early in December it really felt like Canada…but only for a moment until the weatherman said it was ‘bitterly cold’ at -8°. Ha! They clearly have never experienced -40°…

Advertisement