More car-free adventures aroundNottinghamEast Midlands
With one of the country’s best transport networks, Nottingham is a great place to explore car-free; it was named as England's least car-dependent city in 2010. Visit the castle on foot, the Attenborough lakes by bike, the arboretum by tram, Newark by train or Melton Mowbray by bus... England’s largest publicly owned bus network can take you all over town and beyond. You can buy an unlimited all-day ticket from the machines at bus and tram stops for £4.80.
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1. Walk to the castle along the canal
Nottingham castle is a very short walk from the railway station, has no onsite parking (except for disabled visitors) and there are some really fabulous pubs nearby – so a car-free visit is a particularly good idea.
- Turn left onto Station Street, right onto Carrington Street, left along the canal, and right over the second bridge past the waterside Navigation Inn.
- Turning left onto Castle Boulevard, you reach the Museum of Nottingham Life open at weekends with reconstructed shops and houses and a system of underground caves.
- Exit from Brewhouse Yard next to Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem – possibly England’s oldest pub, carved out of the rock below the castle.
- Turn left up Castle Road, past the bronze statue of Robin Hood, to reach the castle entrance at the top of the hill. The Castle Museum and Art Gallery is currently being revamped.
- When it reopens, you can see some beautiful 17th-century Dutch paintings and works by famous 20th-century British artists, including Ben Nicholson, Edward Burra, L.S. Lowry and Stanley Spencer.
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2. To the Arboretum by tram
Nottingham’s recently extended tram system is one of the delights of exploring the city. There’s a handy stop on a bridge above the railway station and trams running every five minutes. Nottingham’s oldest public park, the peaceful Arboretum, is eight minutes away, via the scenic city centre.
- Look out of the window to admire Old Market Square, the Theatre Royal and more as you pass…
- Get off at the stop called “High School”, just after “Nottingham Trent University” and walk a few steps back down the hill to the Arboretum entrance.
- More than 200 different kinds of tree, from redwoods to cooper beeches, make for great displays of autumn colour and a variety of views at any time of year; a “tree trail” highlights different species.
- A 1930s Dahlia Border stretches into the northeast corner; the tall statue, facing the border across the lawn, is Feargus O’Connor, the Chartist MP for Nottingham until 1852, when the arboretum opened.
- Nearby, a Chinese Bell Tower with a pointed octagonal roof stands on a pink sandstone platform with a Crimean war cannon at each corner.
- J.M. Barrie, who wrote Peter Pan, lived and worked in Nottingham; he walked daily through the arboretum, which, with its wooded lake and piratical cannons, may have inspired him to create Neverland.
- A newly opened café, in the arboretum’s southwest corner near the lake, serves up tea, coffee, homemade cakes, superlative herby cheese scones and more.
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3. Cycle (or walk) the Big Track
For more waterside adventures, explore the ten miles of car-free Big Track, from Trent Bridge to Beeston Lock through the city centre and beyond.
- The route passes all kinds of historic sites, from coal wharfs to lace factories and you can download podcasts, maps and quizzes from The Big Wheel.
- Attenborough Nature Reserve, with its marshes and bird hides, is close to Beeston Lock at one end of the Big Track, where the River Trent meets the Beeston canal.
- You can also get to the reserve by bus or train and there’s a café in the Nature Centre, with great cake and balcony views across lakes and islands.
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4. Literary bus tours
Barrie, Byron, Lawrence, Sillitoe: Nottingham, a UNESCO City of Literature, is famous for its writers. Several trams are named after authors and book-lovers can visit their contrasting homes by bus from the city centre. You can buy an unlimited citywide all-day ticket from the machines at bus and tram stops (less with a Robin Hood pay-as-you-go card). Advice available from Nottingham City Transport.
- Medieval Newstead Abbey, with its huge formal gardens and Victorian interiors, was home to the romantic poet Byron in the early 19th-century. The Pronto bus runs every ten minutes from Nottingham’s Victoria Bus Station and stops at the Abbey gates.
- Entry to the park, gardens and café is cheaper on foot or by bike (as cars pay to park). There’s a mile walk through the grounds from the bus stop, past ponds and cascades with swans and peacocks.
- Inside the house (when it’s open), you can see the poet’s gilded bed, brought from his student digs in Cambridge when he moved here, his pistol and the desk where he wrote poetry, alongside letters, manuscripts and portraits.
- Dedicated fans could walk to Newstead Station, about half an hour away, and catch the train to Hucknall, where Byron is buried in the churchyard of St Mary Magdalene. Trams from Nottingham go to Hucknall too.
- There’s a very different kind of literary house museum at D.H. Lawrence’s birthplace in the former mining town of Eastwood. The bookable tours run Tuesday to Saturday (0115 917 3824).
- The Rainbow One bus goes from Nottingham to Eastwood every frequently and takes half an hour. A trail leads round the town, visiting landmarks associated with the writer’s life and work, including the Three Tuns pub, which appears in Sons and Lovers as the “Moon and Stars”.
- Fans of Alan Sillitoe can visit the Nottingham sights, like Market Square and the Trip to Jerusalem pub, in his 1958 novel Saturday Night and Sunday Morning.
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5. Newark by train; Melton Mowbray by bus
Nottingham is a fabulous hub for car-free journeys through the wider area; explore Robin Hood country, wander past a Trent-side castle, or sample locally made stilton and pork pies.
- Trains take half an hour or less from Nottingham to Newark Castle station, twenty miles northeast.
- As the name suggests, the station is a five-minute stroll from the medieval castle, where King John died in 1216. You can walk along the river below ancient stone walls or even take a seasonal cruise along the Trent.
- The historic markets nearby change daily, with antiques for sale on Monday and Thursday, and a bustling food market on Saturdays.
- At the National Civil War Centre, a couple of minutes further along Church Walk, you can see a 1646 siege map on velum, pick up a town trail, or have a break at the Nineteen20 café.
- Ye Olde Pork Pie Shoppe on Nottingham Street in the centre of Melton Mowbray has been serving authentic pies since 1851. You can book onto one of their sample-rich traditional pork pie making demonstrations.
- Or try a Melton Platter ( for a big wedge of authentic Melton Mowbray pie and slice of Long Clawson Stilton with homemade bread and chutney) at the More Coffee Co independent coffee shop in Market Place, round the corner.
