Gingerjo’s Blog

Well we had a lovely day in Nottingham city centre. We got the Citylink 1 bus from outside the Travelodge straight into the city and after a quick visit to the Tourist Info Office (who were very helpful) we wondered off in search of Nottingham’s heritage.

The City of Caves is weirdly based inside the rather down market Broadmarsh Shopping Centre. In the Caves you are treated to a tour of the man-made sandstone caves beneath the city centre. Once they were open to the elements, overlooking the river, but now they are blocked in by concrete. It’s difficult to imagine people standing inside them blinking out into the sunlight. During the tour you meet several characters including the owner of a medieval tannery where they made leather and a warden in a WWII bomb shelter. These characters really bring the caves to life. It’s a shame some of the caves where destroyed in the building of the shopping centre, as the caves tour would be truly excellent if a third era in their history was represented. Two characters just aren’t quite enough.

We got a joint ticket with the Galleries of Justice – the old County Court and Gaol. Again we were regaled by characters from the past. It was much more interactive than the other gaols we’ve visited in the UK (Beaumaris and Inverary), and I have to say the most enjoyable. The character in the court was amusing and got everyone in the mood, the gaoler was genuinely scary and made a small child cry (not deliberately), and the female inmate was disturbing and pitiable. The oldest part of the gaol remains from medieval times and had a horrible atmosphere – it made my hair stand on end and I had to leave because it made me feel nauseous. I cannot imagine being stuck down there for years on end.

We then went for a mooch around the city. There’s a large square in the centre with a huge water feature used as a giant paddling pool by the local kids that’s just great. We were too late to visit the Castle but did take a couple of photos by the Robin Hood statue. Nottingham has a fabulous shopping centre and I finally found a pair of the Merrell shoes I’ve been seeking for several years. This alone was worth the trip.

After this we decided to check out some of Nottingham’s pubs. There are some really nice ones within spitting distance of the Galleries of Justice. In particular we liked the Pitcher and Piano which is housed in a large converted church. It has a spectacular stained glass window and while a pub is perhaps an irreverent use for a church it does at least still serve as a centre for the community!

We then ate at La Tasca before rushing off to catch the last bus back to the hotel.

Verdict: Nottingham is a lovely city and well worth a day trip or weekend. The location of the Riverside Travelodge is great so long as you don’t mind having to get the bus back at 8pm.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 24th, 2008 at 10:26 pm and is filed under Day Trips and Holidays. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.