Around the Countryside

Rufford Abbey, a.k.a. my new favorite place on earth

Wednesday morning meant meeting Steve (who is leading our next two days of the course) for class a half hour early to meet the bus...which was then ten minutes late.  But I got a chocolate croissant at the cafe, so the morning was still good.  We then headed out of Nottingham toward Sherwood Forest Park.  The bus trundled along through parts of town we hadn't seen yet, then across the scenic countryside which was rather lacking in the trees expected of a forest.  Steve explained the area known as Sherwood Forest in Robin Hood's day was actually never completely covered with trees; "forest" was just a term for the land surrounding the town proper.

Me at the Major Oak

The park itself was a little outdated, with only a few small rooms in the Robin Hood exhibit.  I enjoyed the story of "Royal Sherwood Forest," if only for its storybook feel produced by the bright colors and the part where you walked down a village street and into the castle.  The route to the Major Oak, the gigantic tree known as Robin Hood's home, took a meandering path through the trees.  (As is often the case when I visit places other than the Pacific Northwest, the forest looked strange to me for one reason: no evergreens!)  The Oak itself was pretty impressive.  It's grown wider over the years rather than taller, so beams support some of its branches now.  A sign informed us that it's thought to be about 1150 years old.  The same sign also taught me that apparently there is such an occupation as a "tree surgeon," which amused me greatly.  We had lunch back at the visitor centre and then I browsed the gift shop until it was time to meet the bus and head to our next destination.

Looking up from within the ruined hall

Not far from Sherwood Forest Park lies Rufford Abbey, the ruins of a medieval abbey that later became a stately country home.  The country house and most of the abbey are long gone, but one of the main wings, the cellar/undercroft, and the monks' dining hall, which later became the servants' hall, still remain.  I didn't know they were ruins when we pulled up; I thought it would be something like Lakewold Gardens back home, where elaborate grounds surround a pretty house.  But when I saw the crumbly stone walls, I made a beeline for the abbey itself.  It was amazing to stand inside and envision it as a home for both a family and a religious order.  I just fell in love with the place and happily spent practically all of our allotted time wandering the ruins and trying to imagine what would have gone where (naturally, I looked for the scriptorium and library first).

The undercroft is so still and quiet.

The only real exhibits in this park were in the rooms underneath the main hall, where they wouldn't be exposed to the elements.  The cellar in particular gave me the sense that if I closed my eyes and the people outside would be quiet for a moment, I could go back in time.  Later, Steve had us meet with the director of both parks and chat with her about the challenges of managing both Sherwood and Rufford.  We talked about attracting different age groups and types of people, dealing with a shortage of resources, and the problem of a location so far from public transit.  She mentioned the difficulty inherent in interpreting the layers of history that occurred at a place like Rufford, a phrase that caught my attention because that was exactly why I loved it: the layers of history that were almost palpable in the air.

The council chamber in the Council House

When we got back to Nottingham we had to hurry straight to the Council House to meet Linsey for a reception with the Lord Mayor.  A guide ushered us up the grand marble staircase and into a wood paneled room where the Lord Mayor greeted us and offered us refreshments (I chose coffee, as will surprise no one).  We sat down and chatted with him for a while, asking about his fancy chain of office he was wearing and what, exactly, a "Lord Mayor" even does.  He was perfectly nice, but he seemed to be under the impression that we were architecture students.  Our tour guide labored under this misconception as well as she took us around the building, kindly pointing out the columns and ceiling panels for us.  The design of the Council House was actually pretty interesting, but I was afraid she would turn to one of us and ask for some term we didn't know.

After seeing the Council House, we went across Market Square to the Bell Inn, a pub which claims to be the oldest in Nottingham.  This held lots of tightly twisting stairs which climbed to odd little dining rooms on multiple levels.  We talked about potential plans for this upcoming weekend and our free weekend over dinner, then Allie and Lauren met us there to take us to the ghost tour.

At this point, my allergies had been acting up all day - maybe the pollen counts were unusually high or maybe England just has some plant that my body really doesn't like.  Either way, the lilies in the dining room were just the icing on the cake; even though the waitress removed them, I still got hives on my ankles by the time we left the Bell Inn!  Lauren led the others to the ghost tour while Allie and I raced to Tesco for some allergy medication.  It seemed to work, because the hives went away quickly, but I will be sure to carry some extra tablets and lotion with me if we do any more roaming in the countryside.

This fellow was our dapper guide.

The ghost tour itself was led by a man in a top hat with a skull on the end of his cane.  He took us first to a graveyard, then to a quiet side street, Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem Inn, the castle, and finally the caves underneath the Salutation Inn, all the while telling us ghost stories connected to Nottingham.  Apparently a little girl, about 5 or 6 years old, haunts the cave under the inn.  Visitors bring dolls and teddy bears and leave them for the ghost, Rosie, to play with, and these scattered toys were probably the creepiest part of the tour.

I headed back to the flat earlier than the others because I was so tired from our day (and I had run out of tissues to deal with those stupid allergies).  There are so many different aspects to Nottingham that are absolutely fascinating to explore and learn about - and I'm so glad I'm not the one scheduling and figuring out the logistics of all these events!