What do you do when you’re working two jobs to try and save money for an Asian-Australian adventure and you find yourself with a very rare day off with no plans?
Drive nearly 100 miles to see some trees of course!
These aren’t any old trees though. This is the legendary and ancient Sherwood Forest – an absolute MUST VISIT if you find yourself in the lands controlled by the Sheriff of Nottingham.
Harriet and I excitedly set out to find the statue of Robin in the Forest. Well, I did. I don’t think Harriet was that arsed.
As is typical with autumn in England, the weather was miserable. Behind the visitor centre you can find this statue of Robin Hood and Little John fighting with quarterstaffs on a bridge. I’m sure if the legend of Robin Hood was true, this epic battle would not have taken place over a pond by a cricket pitch.
Into the trees we walked.
This Forest is old. Very old. Full of gnarly looking trees. No wonder people thought Sherwood was haunted.
We were following pathways that would lead us to the Robin Hood statue. Unlike a normal person who would use Google maps or an actual map as a guide, I was using Pokémon Go – which had the statue as a Gym. But every time we walked along a path towards it, we found a dead end and the barrier of a construction site. Annoying.
Eventually, somehow, we followed a path and found ourselves inside the construction site. A bemused builder stared at us as we approached the locked gate. It was reminiscent of that scene in Jurassic Park 3 where the characters meet at the big blue fence. Anyway, the construction worker informed us that this was the site of the original visitor centre, now demolished, and that the Robin Hood statue was at the new centre – the place we had just bloody been. Somehow we’d walked right passed it. FFS. If I’d used Google maps, I’m sure I would have known this. Serves me right for using Pokémon Go as a navigation tool – I was the only tool right here.
So we walked back, climbing over a fence to leave the restricted zone (still not sure how we ended up inside).
Finally it stopped drizzling, and some autumnal light shone through the canopy, igniting the shine on all the dying leaves.
Before returning to the new visitor centre, we took a mandatory detour to see the biggest oak tree in Britain.
The Major Oak. It’s named after the Major Heyman Brooke, who wrote a book about oak trees in the area – prompting locals to refer to it as the ‘Major Oak’ in his honour. It’s a very fitting name; the canopy has a spread of 28 meters, the trunk circumference is 11 meters and the tree is estimated to weigh around 23 tonnes. Pretty major, that. Legend has it that Robin Hood and his Merry Men would use the Major Oak for shelter, and hide inside its hollow trunk. We saw no Robin Hood, but here’s me in front of it instead.
The Major Oak is between 800 and 1100 years old, and just like an old person it needs support standing upright – hence the supports and chains.
If you walk further into Sherwood Forest, you will find another historic site – the recently rediscovered Thynghowe – a Viking era open air assembly place.
Harriet and I headed however for the visitor centre to find Robin Hood.
And here he is, in his new home by the entrance door to the visitor centre. Tbh, I was a little disappointed. I wanted to find him amongst the trees, like, you know, a forest outlaw, not stood out front like a grand garden gnome.
But apart from that, it was nice to wander Sherwood Forest and pretend I was an outlaw. In my heart, I do wish that the legend of Robin Hood was real, and I wanted to imagine that, somehow, he was with us today, quietly spying on us from the trees… I would love to have met him… cos I’m poor. I would have liked some of hit loot.
Next time you’re in Nottinghamshire, check out the Sherwood Forest website to plan your visit. It’s definitely worth a wander.
#VidOnTour 
One thought on “A Merry Meander Through Sherwood Forest”