The New Newport News News 149:  Sherwood Forest edition

Back during to 20+ years that Carol and Andrew were active in the Society for Creative Anachronism [SCA], they would sing,

 “Hey, ho! To the green wood now let us go!

 Sing hey and ho!”

And now they were going to do exactly that.  Zoe and Andrew had read Robin Hood over the summer as part of her summer reading requirements and, over the years, all had watched various Robin movies. 

Taking a city tram to the bus station, the fantastic four boarded the express bus for Sherwood Forest. [Ron was under the weather and stayed at the hotel].   This bus is newly in service, which surprised us.  More about that below.

They wended their way through farmlands; fields of hogs who live in Quonset huts; Spar convenience stores like Ron and Carol saw in South Africa; “Burnt Stump Country Park” [love the name.  I guess Smokey the Bear didn’t warn them]; Hollie Wood’s beauty parlor; and a few sheep.  A fairly nice road, by no means a country lane, and a skilled driver made the trip a delight. 

Arriving at Sherwood Forest, they alighted from the bus and joined the throng heading to the forest itself.  They read the sign, which held great import: the forest had long had a reputation for hiding robbers on the Great North Road from London to York.  But a warning followed to watch for faces in the trees—are outlaws lying in wait?  Do the trees have faces like spirits of the forest?

Sherwood Forest is not like an American forest, full of trash trees and undergrowth.  It looks curated, with massive Live Oaks [meaning they’re not deciduous] and vast swathes of ferns, and nothing in the midrange.  These Live Oaks “grow for 300 years, live for 300 years and then die for 300 years.”  The largest of them is currently The Major Tree, named after an officer, not it’s status.  It is currently 1100 years old; when Robin Hood possibly lived in Sherwood, the tree was a sapling.  It looks sickly, but there had been a drought; later we learned that it was visibly recovering.

The Live Oaks have names like Rotten Roger and Cyril.  And probably Bob’s Your Uncle and Cuppa.

Sherwood is undergoing an interesting development.  Apparently—and conversations with Brits on the train the next day confirmed—that Brits are largely unaware and uninterested in the Robin Hood legend.  The forest had been preserved as a bird santuary and haven for bird watchers; likewise, the gift store and town were all geared to that.  The gift store lady told us that the Robin Hood merch is all very recent.  The 3-weekend festival, with reinactments and children’s games are only a few years old.  And this is why the express bus is new as well.  The Buckitts⁴ speculated that American tourists created a demand that was creating interest in Britain.  Surprising.  But then, there are so many people of British descent in the world that we far outnumber those living there now.

We asked the store lady where to eat and she recommended Fables, housed in the Old Library, a charming and popular coffee house style restaurant.  So they walked 5000 miles across town, waited a bit in the charming courtyard for a table, and had a delightful brunch, with plenty to drink.

Carol, the old librarian, poses at The Old Library.

Carol noticed a graveyard on the 5000 hike and they stopped in on the way back to the bus.  It was beautiful and peaceful, but then they noticed wood cut-outs of Robin Hood characters and a clumsy sign that said “Robin Hood and Maid Marion were married in this church.”  Yikes.  The Brits have become a very secular people, alas.

The walk back to the bus stop was quite lovely.  They shopped a little going back; that building on the right ahead is a craft center.  They all appreciated the leash law dog, with his little Robin Hood hat.

The highlight of the trip back to Nottingham was the drive through Papplewick.  It had a round about that challenged the bus driver; he had to do a little jog around the block to make the turn.  AND, the Buckitts⁴ got to go through PAPPELWICK!

¹ Cousin Vinny’s: a stop on a bus tour that involves a store, often with a demo of what they make there and a long opportunity to purchase.  Always includes restrooms. 
² Trough: an all–you-can-eat buffet.  Always looks more delicious than it is.
³ CTC is Cheap Tourist Crap.  It is not necessarily inexpensive.  Often to be found in Cousin Vinny stores.
⁴ Buckitts [4 Buckles, 1 Prewitt]
⁵ Former is a term usually used in connection with trains, and means one who loves locomotives and knows all about them personally, by name and number, and are foaming mad for trains in general. [ Ron and Carol like trains very much and love to ride them, but we are not foamers.]