Castle Keep

There was some good news in Nottingham today, as it was announced that the castle had won a £13.9m award from the Heritage Lottery to help with the proposed five year restoration project.

The whole scheme is going to cost nearly £30m and would include a new visitors centre, the opening up of some more caves and the installation of a glass lift, which will take you down from the castle to the Brewhouse Yard area and the museum there. Very Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Naturally Robin Hood, aka Tim made the announcement in the grounds at a big press and media gathering, which sadly I missed due to being at work.  I still went to the castle, just in case there were some more press about, and Tim was still posing for the camera. But they weren't. And it was raining too. That very fine rain that seems to get everywhere.

So I had a wander about and took a few photos. Fortunately my Olympus camera is weather sealed, so I didn't have to worry about any of the rain getting in. There wasn't really anyone around. So I left and went into town to see if anything was happening there.

Our Robin

Here's a picture of Robin Hood and his merry men, which is on the inside of the Council House dome. There are all sorts of stories about whether he was a real character or not, and in fact whether he came from Yorkshire, rather than from Nottingham at all.

Sherwood Forest does exist and is now bidding for £50 million of lottery money to be spent on a new visitors centre (a weird design) and lots of new trees. Other bids include the Eden project in Cornwall and a national plan to improve the countries' cycle tracks.