Frequently Asked Questions

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What is the people’s millions Living Landmarks funding programme about?
Which organisations are involved in Sherwood: the Living Legend?
Why does Sherwood Forest deserve £50m of lottery funding?
What is Sherwood: the Living Legend?
Where will this network of paths go?
What will be in the new visitor and education centre?
Will it be environmentally friendly?
How much new forest will you be planting and where?
I live near Sherwood Forest. Could my village have some money for a community scheme?
How will the project benefit local communities?
What about protecting the ecology of the forest?
What about Robin Hood?
How much will the project cost?
If you win when will building work start and finish?
How do I vote?
This sounds great - but is there a plan B just in case you don’t win?
I want to know more who do I contact?

What is the people’s millions Living Landmarks funding programme about?

The Living Landmarks programme has been designed by the BIG Lottery Fund to inspire communities to transform, revitalise and regenerate the places where they live, through social and community projects and major infrastructure investments.

Living Landmarks will award a small number of grants between £10m and £25m to projects of regional significance. It will also award one single grant of between £25m and £50m to a project of national significance. The successful project will ultimately be decided by a televised public vote in December 2007.

Which organisations are involved in Sherwood: the Living Legend?

Local community and voluntary organisations
Nottinghamshire County Council
Forestry Commission
Natural England (Formerly English Nature, The Countryside Agency and the Rural Development Agency)
Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust
The National Trust
Edwinstowe Parish Council
Newark and Sherwood District Council
Gedling Borough Council
Experience Nottinghamshire
Alliance SSP
East Midlands Development Agency (EMDA)
Thoresby Estates
Sherwood Forest Trust
Greenwood Forest Partnership
Groundwork
Newark and Sherwood Council for Voluntary Service (CVS)

Why does Sherwood Forest deserve £50m of lottery funding?

How much time have you got? There as soooooo many reasons - here a just a few!

It’s the home of Robin Hood!
It will huge benefits to local communities.
It contains the oldest collection of ancient Oak trees in Europe.
It’s national treasure located within the heart of England, within a couple of hours drive of about 70% of people in England.
Parts of the Forest habitat are more rare than the tropical rain forests.
It’s home to a vast array of wildlife from Spiders to Badgers, from Deer to Nightjars.
It’s given this country a lot over the last 1000 years, wood for ships and houses, coal for heating, land to grow food - it’s payback time.
Because breathing fresh air, walking in the countryside and getting muddy is much better for you than sitting at home watching TV.
Because if we don’t invest in and protect the fragile ecology of Sherwood it might not be around for future generations to enjoy .
94% of people in the UK say woodlands in the UK are an important part of the country’s natural and cultural heritage.

What is Sherwood: the Living Legend?

It’s all about...

Heart of Sherwood

The existing visitors centre has to be moved by 2010 to protect the fragile ecology of the forest. Our plan is to build a new and iconic visitor complex on nearby farmland, the ‘Tree’ will be built with cutting-edge sustainable technology and be linked to the ancient forest by a tree top walkway. Learn about Robin Hood, ancient oaks, find out where to go and what to see in the wider Sherwood area or enjoy the view at the treetop viewing gallery overlooking the tops of the glorious Sherwood Oaks.

Access in and around Sherwood

250 kilometres of walking, riding and cycling routes and crossings, 95 kilometres of which is new. The new Sherwood network will be linked to the national cycle network and 20 railway stations with access to the new visitor complex and local towns, villages and visitor attractions. This wide reaching network will connect Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, South Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.

Re-creating Sherwood

Returning the Forest to its former glory by creating 300 hectares (400 football pitches!) of new forest to improve the look and feel of the area and restore precious wildlife habitat. We’ll be tripling the size of the existing ancient Forest.

Sherwood: A sense of pride and place

Sherwood: The Living Legend is an opportunity to celebrate the unique character and local distinctiveness of the communities who live near the most famous forest in the world. The project will enable local people who live within the old forest area to enhance their the towns and villages. The 50 schemes will vary from new community designed signs to wildflower and tree planting, village walks and trails to improving local arts and cultural facilities.

Where will this network of paths go?

Our network of walking, cycling and horse riding routes will be 90% traffic free and safely link Robin’s Forest to much of the East Midlands and South Yorkshire.

Route 1 - Derby
From Sherwood Forest Visitor Complex - Bulwell Railway Station - Awsworth - Derby (60KM)
Route 2 - Chesterfield
From Sherwood Forest Visitor Complex - Warsop - Shirebrook - Bolsover - Chesterfield (30km)
Route 3 - Creswell Link
From Sherwood Forest Visitor Complex - Creswell Craggs (16km)
Route 4 - Clumber Park/Retford
From Sherwood Forest Visitor Complex - Clumber Park - Retford (10km)
Route 5 - Doncaster
From Retford - Bawtry - Doncaster (30km)
Route 6 - Lincoln
From Sherwood Forest Visitor Complex - Ollerton - Walsby - Tuxford - Lincoln (44km)
Route 7 - Newark
From Sherwood Forest Visitor Complex - Rainworth - Farnsfield - Southwell - Newark (34km)
Route 8 - Circular
This route links Sherwood Forest Visitor Complex to other visitor attractions in the area including Rufford Country Park, Vicar Water Country Parks, Sherwood Pines and Clumber Park. They will greatly improve access to these attractions on foot, by bike or on horse back from Edwinstowe, Ollerton, Mansfield, Clipstone and Forest Town.

In addition to these proposed new routes the exiting strategic cycle network will provide connections between Sherwood Forest and Sheffield (49km), Rotherham (52km), Gainsborough (43km) and Nottingham (48km).

What will be in the new visitor and education centre?

Entrance Area

At the entrance area you can:

Use our interactive touch screen information points to find out information about this and other attractions in the area
Ask for information from the Ranger Service based in the building
Access the 100 stairs which enable you to climb the "tree" until you reach either the "green roof" or the viewing Gallery 100 feet up
Access a lift to the viewing gallery

Catering Space

There will be family friendly self service cafe on the ground floor. There will be plenty of space to open up this area and spill out into the picnic area which is just outside the cafe so that you can bring your own pack up if you would prefer to.

There will be a small cafe area in the viewing gallery so that once you have climbed the tree you can have a snack and enjoy the beautiful views across the county.

Retail Space

There will be the usual retail space on the ground floor where you can bring gifts, toys and mementoes.

Exhibitions

Two exhibition areas incorporating some of the latest display technology that re-interpret the story of Robin Hood in a way which makes it relevant to 21st century audience. The themes of the exhibitions will be Sherwood history will be:

Sherwood's history
The forest and its people
Ancient Trees
Conservation issues

The platforms for the exhibitions will be:

Audiovisual theatres
Images projected into giant screens
Interactive consoles

The location of the exhibition boards/materials will be:

On the ground floor
In the viewing gallery which people can walk all the way round
Along the sides of the raised walkway from the visitor complex to the Major Oak

Educational and discovery Zone

This will be a flexible training and meeting space for students and life-life long learners, which will have whiteboards, live CCTV and web cam.

Outdoor classroom area

Learning opportunity which meets all the national curriculum.

Outdoor areas

The outdoor areas include:

Large picnic area.
Children's play area (green gym area).
Access to raised walkway (5 metre high, 150 metre long walkway which extends from building across the road and connects with the paths which lead to the Major Oak).
Educational trail around the site to understand how the site is carbon neutral e.g. the biomass boiler, coppice area, reed beds, wind turbines.
Green trail through the landscaped areas which tell visitors about the plants, trees and species which are native to the forest.
Transport "hub" i.e. opportunity to park your bikes so that you can get to the centre by bikes and a "bus hub" so that you can reach the centre by bus rather than by car.

Will it be environmentally friendly?

The whole project will be a beacon of environmental sustainability!

More trees, better access to Sherwood - so no need to bring your car and the visitor centre will have a carbon zero footprint. How I hear you cry?

Well, our aim is to create an attraction that is built from environmentally friendly materials. Where possible these will be locally sourced and the use of recycled and “second hand” products will be encouraged. We will also explore the option of using unwanted by-products from the adjacent colliery.

The building will use renewable forms of energy for lighting. 4 wind turbines will be erected on the site to generate electricity for the complex. This is a sustainable way of lighting the complex as it does not require the burning of fossil fuels which result in environmental pollution. Heating will be supplied by a biomass heater which will use locally sourced wood chips.

The concept of the entire structure is meant to achieve a carbon neutral footprint and one of the main aims is to use the complex as a model of sustainability by offering educational visitors a chance to explore and learn more about protecting the environment.

How much new forest will you be planting and where?

The plan is to give something back to Sherwood. 300 hectares - about 400 football pitches to you and me. We want to improve the visual landscape on the main approaches in to the Sherwood Forest area and reconnect fragmented parts of the ancient forest. This will triple the size of the existing Sherwood Forest Country Park.

I live near Sherwood Forest. Could my village have some money for a community scheme?

You can certainly put a bid in for some funding, if you meet the criteria. Why not contact us on 0845 330 4214 for more information.

How will the project benefit local communities?

As well as the opportunity to have of the 50 community schemes the project will have massive benefits to areas of Nottinghamshire, many of which are former coalfield communities in need of regeneration.

The project is expected to kick start major regeneration, supporting around 900 jobs and £20m annually into the regional economy.

What about protecting the ecology of the forest?

That is what this project is all about. Protecting and enhancing Sherwood so it can be enjoyed by future generations.

Sherwood Forest was designated a National Nature Reserve in 2002. Because of this, the current visitor centre has to be moved to minimise the risk of damaging the delicate ecology of the area and this has been one of the catalysts for the Living Landmarks project. The protection and enhancement of the existing natural environment, therefore, is an absolute priority and an integral consideration in every aspect of the project.

Natural England and Notts Wildlife Trust are amongst our partners and we are all committed to ensuring that building work will be carried out in such a way as to minimise any disturbance to the forest habitat and the protected species that live there.

A group of reputable environmental consultants was engaged by the partnership to carry out the necessary environmenat assessments to establish what effects (if any) would arise as a result of the proposed development. The environmentals assessments concluded that the project would have a positive effect on the forest and will actually enhance the protection of the forest.

What about Robin Hood?

Robin Hood is an integral part of the Sherwood Forest magic and we intend to build on this in the new visitor campus. There will be educational facilities that include state of the art interpretation boards with touch screen systems, infra-red sensors and push button consoles. Theese will help visitors learn more about the myths and legend of Robin Hood. Plus in the grounds of the Tree you might be able to challenge Robin to an archery competition or hear him tell tales of his adventures in Sherwood.

How much will the project cost?

The total cost of the scheme is £64million. £50m from BIG, the other £14m from partner organisations and corporate sponsorship.

If you win when will building work start and finish?

Well, fingers crossed construction work will begin in Spring 2009 and we’ll open the Tree to visitors in March 2011.

How do I vote?

ITV will run a series of short programmes featuring the shortlisted projects in December 2007. This will be followed by a public TV vote - a bit like Restoration. The best thing to do is register your support on this website and we’ll contact you to let you know exactly how and when to vote.

This sounds great - but is there a plan B just in case you don’t win?

There is a plan B - we hope we won’t need it. We’d hope to provide something for visitors to Sherwood Forest somewhere nearby - but it won’t be on such a grand scale as the Tree and we won’t be able to deliver most of the walking, cycling and horse riding routes, or the forest expansion or community projects. So let’s focus on plan A!