A Day in Nottingham

My family took advantage of a beautiful day (clear skies and 0 C) this past Saturday (16 January) by hopping on a train for Nottingham.  When we were here seven years ago, we visited Sherwood Forest, but did not make it into the city of Nottingham.  We discovered on Saturday that Nottingham has a lot of offer!

Our first stop was the City of Caves.  We learned from a great guide that Nottingham has something like 500 caves below it.  Some of the caves we toured are beneath the Broadmarsh shopping centre.   I like the room in the photo below (click on the image for a larger view).

This horseshoe-shaped room stored beer for a pub called the Three Horseshoes (was this cellar the fourth horseshoe?).  A hole in the ceiling was used to warn gamblers in the room that local authorities were about to raid the pub.  The room off to the left in the above photo was dug out during World War II as a place to store documents in case the Germans made their way into England.  We also saw an air-raid shelter from World War II, though Nottingham was not hit like other cities in England.  Not far from the pub cellar are the medieval tanneries.  All fascinating to see and hear about!

We next visited Nottingham Castle, which dates to the 11th century.  But before entering the castle, I just had to pose with the Robin Hood statue (click on the image for a larger view).

My bloody left ulna is still broken, so I could not come close to holding a pulled bow like the folk legend in the statue.  Once in the castle, we especially enjoyed the view of Nottingham just outside the Ducal Mansion (click on the image for a larger view).

Nottingham Station, where we got the train, is visible left of centre behind the "British Waterways" building.  The station has a nice clock on top.

After a great day of learning about Nottingham, we were met with snow when we arrived back in Sheffield.  The city looked beautiful at night with snow on it.  Not a bad way to end a great day!