Sherwood Forest

Medieval Sherwood covered a large part of Nottinghamshire as royal hunting forest; what remains as ancient woodland is around four hundred and fifty hectares at Edwinstowe, but it is exceptional for its veteran trees, with roughly a thousand oaks over five hundred years old, one of the densest concentrations in Europe, and the deadwood habitat that comes with them supports rare invertebrates and fungi. The Major Oak is the celebrity: a hollow tree with a span of about twenty-eight metres, estimated at eight hundred to a thousand years old, propped with poles since 1908 and now fenced off because footfall was compacting its roots. The Robin Hood association is medieval in origin as ballad material and unverifiable as history, but Edwinstowe church is where the legend places the marriage to Marian.

What you actually see

• The Major Oak - a hollow veteran with a twenty-eight-metre span, propped since 1908.
• The veteran oaks - around a thousand trees over five hundred years old.
• The deadwood habitat - standing dead timber supporting rare beetles and fungi.
• Edwinstowe church - the church of the Robin Hood marriage in the legend.

When to go

April to October for the woodland; the Robin Hood Festival runs at Edwinstowe in summer and is aimed at families. Autumn brings fungi and the best light through the oaks, and winter shows the tree shapes clearly.

Honest expectations

The Major Oak can only be viewed from behind a fence at a distance and looks smaller in person than in photographs. The Robin Hood material is legend presented as heritage, and the visitor centre leans heavily on it. Paths near the centre are busy; the far ends of the reserve are quiet.

Nearby

Clumber Park and the Dukeries estates lie north; Nottingham is south.