Things to See and Do in Nottingham
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If you're weighing up things to see and do in Nottingham, there's more packed into this city than most first-time visitors expect. Nottingham Castle sits on top of a network of sandstone caves you can walk straight through, Wollaton Hall's deer park doubled as Gotham City for a Batman film, and Sherwood Forest's Major Oak has stood for close to a thousand years a short drive north. Add a genuinely good independent shopping and eating scene around the Lace Market, a handful of solid theatres, and a tram network that gets you between most of it without a car, and a day out here holds up well against bigger cities twice the size.We put this guide together from the same streets we've spent over two decades fitting kitchens across - Victorian terraces near the Lace Market, semis in Wollaton and Beeston, new-build apartments near the city centre. If you're coming into Nottingham for a design consultation, or you live locally and fancy a proper day out, this is the practical version: what's worth your time, what's free, and what to skip if you're short on hours.
What this Nottingham guide covers
- Nottingham Castle and the sandstone caves and passageways beneath it, including Mortimer's Hole
- The City of Caves attraction and the National Justice Museum in the Lace Market
- Wollaton Hall and its deer park, used as Wayne Manor in The Dark Knight Rises
- Old Market Square, the Council House and the historic Exchange Arcade
- The Lace Market and Creative Quarter for independent shops, bars and galleries
- Sherwood Forest and the Major Oak, a short drive north of the city
- Nottingham's theatres, including Theatre Royal, Royal Concert Hall and Nottingham Playhouse
- Free and family-friendly options such as park space, deer-spotting and museum galleries with no entry charge
- Getting between the main sights on foot, by tram or by a short drive
Not Included / Costed Separately
- Up-to-date ticket prices and opening times - these get reviewed regularly, so check the attraction's own site before you travel
- Restaurant, café and hotel recommendations
- Event, festival and what's-on listings, which change month to month
- Day trips further afield such as the Peak District, which sit outside Nottingham and the immediate area
Making the most of a day in Nottingham
- Start in the city centre: Old Market Square, the Council House and the Exchange Arcade are all within a few minutes' walk of each other, and it's the easiest patch of the city to cover on foot or by a short tram ride.
- Go underground before the castle: The City of Caves tour and the passages beneath Nottingham Castle are usually pre-bookable - do this first if you want a guided run through the sandstone tunnels rather than queuing on the day.
- Give the castle grounds an hour or two: The current building was rebuilt in the 19th century on much older foundations and now houses exhibitions and gardens with views back over the city - a natural stop once you've come up from the caves.
- Head out to Wollaton Hall: A short tram or drive from the centre, worth a full morning or afternoon if you want to walk the deer park as well as look round the hall - deer graze close to the paths, so keep dogs on leads.
- Treat Sherwood Forest as its own trip: It's around 20 miles north of the city, so rather than squeezing it into a city-centre day, give it a separate half day if you want to see the Major Oak and walk any real distance into the woodland.
- Fit a home visit around either end of your day: If you're also seeing us while you're in the area, a design consultation happens at your own house rather than a showroom, so it can sit before or after your sightseeing without adding a second trip into the centre.
What it costs to see Nottingham's sights
Plenty of Nottingham costs nothing - Old Market Square, the grounds and deer park at Wollaton Hall, and Forest Recreation Ground are all free to walk round. The paid attractions, including Nottingham Castle, the City of Caves and the National Justice Museum, typically charge a per-person entry fee with family tickets usually available, though we won't quote an exact figure here since these prices get reviewed regularly - check the attraction's own website before you travel so you're not caught out.If your day includes a stop with us, that part costs nothing upfront either. A home design consultation is free with no obligation to book anything afterwards, and kitchens themselves start from around £5,000 depending on layout, units and worktop choice. Flexible finance is available through an FCA-regulated finance partner if you'd rather spread the cost, subject to status. A full, itemised written
quote only follows a visit to your own kitchen, because plumbing runs, electrics and wall condition all vary from one house to the next - we'd rather give you a figure based on your actual kitchen than a rough estimate that changes once we're on site.
Three ways to spend a day, compared
| Day out | Best for | Distance from the city centre | Roughly how long to allow |
|---|---|---|---|
| City centre & Lace Market | Shopping, caves, museums, no car needed | On foot or a short tram ride | Half a day to a full day |
| Wollaton Hall & Deer Park | Grand house, parkland, deer, film-location fans | About 3 miles - tram or short drive | Half a day |
| Sherwood Forest & the Major Oak | Robin Hood folklore, woodland walking, families | Around 20 miles north - car needed | Most of a day |
Local knowledge that goes beyond the tourist list
This guide exists because kitchen fitting takes us into houses across Nottingham every week, not because we're trying to sell a kitchen mid-sightseeing trip. Two decades working street by street across the city builds a working knowledge of the place that doesn't make it onto a tourist map - which streets near the castle sit on the same sandstone the caves are cut from, where parking gets tight around Wollaton on a weekend, and how the tram corridor through Beeston and Clifton can save time if you're trying to fit more than one sight into a day.
That's the kind of detail this guide is built from - practical, from being on the ground here, rather than a sales pitch dressed up as local advice. If you do end up talking to us about a kitchen while you're in the area, you'll be dealing directly with the people who'd actually design and fit it, not a call centre reading from a script.
Where this covers, on and off the tourist map
This guide focuses on Nottingham itself, which is also where we're based and where most of our work happens. Wollaton Hall and its deer park sit in NG8, the same postcode area as a good number of the classic-meets-contemporary kitchens we've fitted locally, where a traditional Shaker design often suits the surrounding architecture better than a fully handleless one. Head south to the River Trent and Trent Bridge and you're in West Bridgford, Wilford and Colwick territory - useful to know if you're coordinating a delivery, since bridge traffic can add time to a fitting day. The Lace Market and Creative Quarter, among the exposed brick and independent galleries, is also where we see the most demand for industrial-chic kitchens with matte-black hardware, which tends to suit the building stock in that part of the city. Nottingham Castle and the sandstone
caves beneath it are a reminder of what's under a lot of the older parts of the city - relevant if you're in a conservation-area terrace and wondering why your floor isn't quite level. The NET tram line running from Hucknall and Phoenix Park through Beeston and Clifton roughly marks out how far our mobile installation coverage reaches on a normal working day.Beyond the city, we cover Nottinghamshire towns including Mansfield, Kirkby-in-Ashfield and Stapleford, and into Derbyshire as far as Derby, Long Eaton, Alfreton and Heanor - broadly a 15-20 mile radius that stretches towards Chesterfield and the Derbyshire border. Closer suburbs like Arnold, Sneinton and Beeston are regular jobs for us too.
Got Questions?
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the top things to see and do in Nottingham?
For a first visit, most people cover Nottingham Castle and the caves underneath it, Wollaton Hall and its deer park, the Lace Market for shopping and eating, and Old Market Square in the centre. If you've got a full day free, add Sherwood Forest, though it's worth treating that as a separate trip since it sits outside the city itself.
Is Nottingham Castle worth visiting?
Yes, though it helps to know what you're getting - the current building isn't the medieval fortress it once was, having been rebuilt in the 19th century, but it sits on much older foundations, and the caves and passages underneath, including Mortimer's Hole, tend to be the more memorable part for a lot of visitors. The grounds and gardens are pleasant on their own even if you skip the exhibitions.
What free things are there to do in Nottingham?
Old Market Square, the grounds and deer park at Wollaton Hall (the hall's own exhibitions usually have a charge), Forest Recreation Ground, and simply walking the Lace Market and Creative Quarter for the architecture and independent shopfronts all cost nothing. It's worth double-checking current free-entry details for any museum or gallery before you go, as these do get updated.
Where can you see Robin Hood-related sights near Nottingham?
Sherwood Forest, around 20 miles north of the city, is the main one - it's home to the Major Oak, said by Visit Nottinghamshire and other tourism sources to be around 1,000 years old and long associated with the Robin Hood story. Closer to the centre, the castle grounds have a Robin Hood statue, though the forest is the better outing if you want an actual walk.
What is there to do in Nottingham with kids?
The deer park at Wollaton Hall is an easy win - it's free to walk round and children generally love seeing deer up close, from a sensible distance. The caves under the castle and the City of Caves tour tend to go down well with older children, and Sherwood Forest has waymarked trails if you want to get them outdoors for longer.
Are the Nottingham caves open to the public?
Yes - both the City of Caves attraction in the Lace Market and the caves beneath Nottingham Castle run public tours, generally on a timed or guided basis rather than free wandering, so it's worth booking ahead rather than turning up and hoping there's space.
How old is the Major Oak in Sherwood Forest said to be?
Tourism sources including Visit Nottinghamshire put it at around 1,000 years old, though like most ancient trees the exact figure is an estimate rather than a confirmed date. Either way, it's one of the oldest oak trees in the country and worth the trip out from the city.
Which Nottingham landmark was used as a filming location for The Dark Knight Rises?
Wollaton Hall stood in as Wayne Manor for the 2012 Batman film - it's one of the reasons the hall gets as much attention from film fans as it does from people interested in the building's own history.
If I'm visiting Nottingham for a kitchen consultation, is it worth combining it with sightseeing?
It can work well, since a design consultation happens at your own home rather than a showroom you'd need to travel to, so there's no need to build your day around us specifically. If you already live near somewhere like Wollaton or the Lace Market, plenty of customers do use the same trip to have a wander round afterwards, but there's no obligation either way.
Whether you're here for the day or the kitchen
However you spend your time in Nottingham, if a new kitchen is somewhere on your list too, there's no pressure to decide anything on a single visit. A design consultation is free and happens at your own home, with a full written quote only following once we've actually seen your kitchen in person - so get in touch when it suits you, whether that's before you've even planned your day out or well after you've walked off a trip round the caves.
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