"Welcome to Sherwood Forest!" a Nottingham Travel Page by ker13

My grandparents' hometown, Newark, in Nottingham, plays host to Prince John's Castle (from the Robin Hood stories, the evil younger brother of Richard Coeur De Lion.) Actually, my uncle did some archeological work on it, discovered another storey or something. When I was last there in 2000, the castle was under renovations, so I don't know if it's open to the public.
Newark is a REAL medieval town. Nothing has changed in 900 years except for the sliding doors at the supermarket. There are still Market days in the village square, sometimes textiles, sometimes cattle. The church is beautiful and untouched, although in need of repair- it holds some of the village archives, which are fascinating to look through, describing the last time the village was besieged. Mod Cons are everywhere, with a huge Morrison's supermarket, Boots Pharmacy, etc. But I like the more Olde Worlde aspects of the town. The theatre is art deco, to the best of my memory, with 20s' overtones. The roads around town are paved, but those leading to the market square are cobbled. Narrower roads than Toronto give it a nice feeling. Good walking available, around town (the houses are typically English Victorian architecture), down by the canal (watch out for the Travellers, the local gypsies), and of course, near the Castle, which is right on a main road. Newark is about an hour away from Nottingham train station, and I think there's a bus that comes in. The remaining narrow strips of Sherwood Forest are divided up by fields, but there's a small tourist-oriented place about half an hour out of down devoted to the Robin Hood legends, which has a semi-precious stone shop, a glass-blowing shop (say hi to Dan, he collaborated with my grandfather on some glass engraving projects!), and various other souvenir places.