Things to do in Nottingham

Nottingham is a small city near Leicester in the midlands of UK, about 130 miles from London. The city is iconic for it's heritage and history around Robin Hood. This blog is about some of the places we visited over the weekend early this year when the summer hadn't kicked in fully.


Nottingham Castle

The castle is very close to the rail station and city center. It's on top of a small hill, offering some fantastic views over the city. There are various aspects of the castle worth having a look around, such as the museum, the gardens, the statues. The large photo on top is of Robin Hood and stands about 9 feet tall, solid iron.

Other things you will not miss are historic walks through the underground tunnels which tell tales of the legend of Robin Hood.

Something I found interesting was the artwork on the castle grounds in the shape of leaves, eyes, peacock feathers etc, with poems and stories written on them.



The Justice Galleries

The justice gallery is a worthwhile place to visit. It is one of the only remaining prison and courts which still stand today. The tour starts with the impersonation of convict telling the tales of how she got executed despite being innocent. She then takes you around the dungeons, cells, trial rooms, and finally where they were hung till death. You can also get a feel of the scents used, the potions, the stationary etc of the jailers.

One particular observation was the level of sexism at it's best. Women as prisoners seemed to be quite a common occurrence back in the dark ages primarily with the accusation of knowing witchcraft.







Nottingham City Center and Town Fairs

The town fairs in Nottingham are pretty cool. We went there when it wasn't really cold, but slightly chilly. The rides at the fairs were basic - the vertigo was fun though - 50 meters high in the air at speed of - not sure - was busy looking down !!

We enjoyed the lack of crowd and could walk around stalls selling street food from around the world, cheese, patisserie etc.The open market culture is quite strong and still lasting, when compared to London or other large cities where super market chains have taken over.

Enjoyed festive little shops serving hot chocolate, cross buns, sausages all in pretty much German theme.

Hotels in Nottingham
Nottingham has about 50 or so hotels under pretty much all leading chains. We stayed at the Mercure Nottingham - Paid about £140 for 2 nights in a superior double with breakfast - pretty cheap.

The hotel itself was a sight to remember - it's a 18th century building that Mercure acquired and renovated. We were invited by their management team as a loyalty offer to mark relaunch of the hotel.

This is a view from the stairs as you enter the rooms on the upper floors.

Green's Wind Mill

On the second day we took out day tickets to explore the city. The day rider tickets are cheap - £5 for two.
We first headed for the Greens Windmill. This was actually my frist time I saw a windmill up close and explored inside. It's used as an academic center for students and houses a small science museum. The views from the top are truly worth shooting if you're a photo enthusiast.

Other places around the Green's Windmill include a cemetery and some roadside artwork depicting differential equations and other mathematical symbols.







Wollaton Hall

The highlight of our Nottingham trip was visiting Wollaton Hall. This is slightly outside the main town so you need to get on the bus - not within walking distance as advertised in some places. But it's worth the trip. The hall itself belonged to some wealthy dude who enjoyed the luxury hence built himself this massive hall to live where he enjoy deer spotting. This is my attempt at panoramic shot from the top of the hill as you leave the hall.

Deer Park

The Deer Park is actually the entire place around Wollaton Hall. As you can see the deer park houses loads of small & big areas worth exploring if you have the time. We spent half the day there, but weren't able to explore it all. 

Deer spotting turned out to be a failure, as they all hid among the trees due to the weather. The park itself was peaceful to stroll around.

The Wollaton Hall hosts a Natural Museum which is great if you like stuffed animals - don't even go there if you're thinking of something else.

I actually found the paintings and artwork pretty interesting. Other items in the museum such as rocks, minerals etc.


All in all, I wouldn't rank Nottingham too highly among my travels - I'd say 5/10, nothing exquisite.  It's a nice place to visit if you like to get away from London - any place fits the bill for that matter - and you fancy a bit of shopping, a bit of hill trekking or perhaps find yourself a great hotel deal !!