Sherwood Forest & the Dukeries

Sherwood Forest is arguably the most famous historic landscape in the world, immortalized through storytelling, mythology, romantic books, and ultimately by Hollywood. This is the setting for Robin Hood, Little John and the rest of the ''Merry Men''. Yet behind the glamorous legends are equally fascinating places, people and histories. An important and vast medieval ''Forest'' and extensive heath, the area was farmed and settled before that time. After the break-up of the Royal Hunting Forest came the famous establishment of great halls, houses and parks of the aristocracy, the so-called ''Dukeries'', and then industry, with deep coal mining, wartime military training, and twentieth-century forestry. From the nineteenth century onwards, the region was a notable tourism and leisure destination, and the sites of famous oak trees such as the Major Oak were places one could visit to touch the past. Tourism continues today as visitors from around the world come to experience the forest''s n