I am still in pursuit of visiting every English country for a few days and a couple of weeks ago it was Nottingham’s turn. Regular readers may be aware that I have already been to Nottinghamshire once this year but that was a family holiday during which we barely left Centre Parcs, so didn’t ‘count’.
Day 1
The journey started well, with reasonable driving conditions once the blinding autumn sunshine had risen high enough to allow us to see where the road was. Then the M5 loomed. That would be the M5 with two junctions closed for roadworks. Despite this being only about a ten-mile stretch, the congested diversion put more than an hour on our journey time. I was still feeling less than lively, so we were very glad to arrive at Clumber Park.
The caravan site is situated down a long drive lined with lime trees. Lime tree avenues were made popular by William and Mary when they redesigned Hampton Court on coming to the throne in 1688. Others who supported the Protestant Whig cause sought to emulate this, whereas those who wanted to advertise their adherence to the exiled, Roman Catholic former James II, who were predominantly fellow Catholic Tories, planted oaks or elms. The avenue at Clumber Park was planted by the Duke of Newcastle in the nineteenth century. The double line of limes here contains 1296 trees and stretches for two miles, making it the longest double avenue in Europe. We were concerned about the black lines painted around the trees and hoped they weren’t ‘cut here’ lines. It seems that the lines have been there since 1906 when grease was painted round the trees to try to prevent insect infestation.
A slight downside is that the site has no phone signal but at least it will be peaceful. There is useable, if patchy, wifi so we aren’t completely cut off and we managed to get a television signal to enable us to watch Strictly.
Day 2
After a lazy morning, we headed out to meet relatives at Clumber Park. After lunch we wandered down to the eighty-seven acre lake, which was full of Canada geese and other waterfowl. There is no longer a house at Clumber Park. The 105-roomed mansion, that was built in the1760s by the 2nd Duke of Newcastle, suffered a fire in 1879. A scaled-down version of the 7th Duke’s plan was rebuilt but after another fire in 1912, the house was demolished in 1938 to save tax. There was information about the rooms on stones that were laid out to illustrate the footprint of the mansion. There was quite a chilly wind and black clouds were looming, so we didn’t linger too long.
Day 3
A return to Clumber Park, this time to meet some of my descendants, benefitting from a two week half-term, who had arrived to stay in nearby lodges. This time we did a ‘Stranger Folk’ trail, which seemed to involve a certain amount of dancing round trees and chanting. We investigated the extensive, walled kitchen garden, which was established two hundred and fifty years ago and once held eighteen glasshouses. I went back to their very superior chalet for a round of the Traitors board game, amidst much hilarity. They dropped me off back at the caravan site entrance and thereby hung the problem. I had only a vague idea where our van was amongst the hundred or so on site. They are arranged in artistic patterns, rather than a grid arrangement, making systematic searching difficult. One van looks pretty much like another in the dark and it took twenty-five minutes of wandering around the site before, amidst rising panic, I alighted upon ours.
Day 4
Although we had been here earlier this year when we went to Centre Parcs, we set off for Sherwood Forest and began with a trail that took us round Edwinstowe. We stopped to purchase sustenance in the form of sausage rolls from a local bakery, whose staff member likened Chris to a garden gnome, much to our amusement. The trail took us past the Major Oak. Until this summer, it was believed to be one of the oldest and largest oaks in Europe, being, it is estimated, between 800 and 1200 years old. Following the summer’s drought, the tree was pronounced to be dead and a branch had to be removed for safety reasons. It is now being left to decay naturally as a habitat for wildlife. After food in the café, we returned for more games, hot tubbing and watching episodes of House of Games and Banjo and Ro’s Grand Island Hotel, which the youngest member of our party is particularly enjoying.
