Our housesit for June was in Worksop, England. Where’s that? It’s in the Midlands, specifically Nottinghamshire, very near to Sherwood Forest. Yes, that Nottingham and Sherwood Forest, of Robin Hood fame. (More on that in a minute.)
We had finished up a wonderful month in Cornwall, (link to posts), and decided to stop on the way to Worksop to visit Bletchley Park. There’s a whole post just about Bletchley, enjoy!
The Sheffield Steam Rally (in Worksop)
As we came into to Worksop, we saw signs about the Steam Rally. Our hosts said it was a yearly event, definitely worth checking out. Turns out that 2023 was the 49th year for the rally. I bet the 50th in 2024 will be huge. They had all kinds of steam tractors, steamrollers, vintage cars and motorcycles. It was very impressive to see so many of these huge machines in one place. And loud!
Most of the big machines dated from around 1900 to 1930, but all were bright and shiny!
They even had a steam-powered Merry Go Round.
On to Sherwood Forest!
Whether there really was a Robin Hood or not, the residents in Nottingham and Sherwood Forest vicinity have fully embraced the legend. We enjoyed visiting the Sherwood Forest Visitor Centre and the small village of Edwinstowe.
And here’s the Church of St. Mary where supposedly Robin and Maid Marion were married. I though it was a little strange that there were wooden figures placed around the church and cemetery, but clearly, they are All In on the Robin Hood theme.
How’s That?
There happened to be a local cricket match the day we went to Edwinstowe, so we stopped to watch a bit. I still find cricket to be rather confusing, and the idea of a match taking several days to complete is just mindboggling. A very British afternoon (even if we didn’t have tea ourselves).
