Discovering the wonder of Sherwood Forest both above and below the surface

Robin’s Hood’s horse would need to mind its step if it rode into town this week, as some exciting site investigation work will be getting underway at Sherwood Forest Country Park. The RSPB will be digging up to 15 trenches to investigate ground condition and carry out archaeology checks.  Work will start from Monday 28 November and will take place during daylight hours. The wildlife charity is waiting for a decision on planning permission to build a new visitor centre on the site. Ahead of the decision, site managers would like to know about the soil structure and what sort of ground they would be dealing with if the permission is granted. The work will be carried out in Naish’s field and at Forest Corner where the proposed Visitor Centre will be built. It is estimated that work will take two weeks and it will cause minimal disruption to visitors and residents. As with any work at this site, every effort will be made not to disturb any wildlife, flora or fauna. Ross Frazer, the RSPB’s Sherwood Forest Project Manager, says: “You may notice machinery starting to appear and digging getting underway this week and we wanted to let everyone know that this work is simply investigative. “Should anyone have any questions about the work then please do contact myself at ross.frazer@rspb.org.uk.” An RSPB-led consortium successfully won a bid in August last year as part of a procurement process organised by Nottinghamshire County Council to design and build the new centre and manage Sherwood Forest Country Park and National Nature Reserve from early 2018. The consortium has submitted the planning application to Newark and Sherwood District Council for the new visitor centre.