5 things that caught my eye while visiting Nottingham Castle for the very first time

You’d be hard-pressed to find a more recognisable Nottingham landmark than the city’s famous castle. While the original Norman castle was built in the 11th century, the building we see today is, in relative terms, far more modern,

The current ‘castle’ was actually built in the 1870s to house an art gallery and museum.

These days, the castle is visited by hundreds of thousands of people each year; each one keen to learn about several centuries of fascinating history.

As a non-Nottingham native, and despite becoming well-versed on the castle’s history through my role at Nottingham World, I’d never actually been inside.

So, at the ripe old age of 24, I decided to do something that most locals do by the age of five and visit Nottingham Castle for the very first time.

You only visit somewhere for the first time once, so I thought I’d pick out five things which caught my eye while wondering around the castle site.

1. Steps to the top

I should’ve really seen this one coming, to be fair.

Having recently had a small operation on my foot, the walk up Friar Lane, then to the visitor centre, then up the hill and then up the steps to the castle certainly took it out of me.

But in all seriousness, this really gave me a sense of why the sandstone of Castle Rock was a great place to build, well, a castle.

Imagine being a knight in shining armour trying to attack the castle. You’d need a breather by the time you’d reached the top!

2. Views from the top

Once I eventually reached the top of the steps, the views were absolutely breath-taking.

From the City Ground to Broad Marsh, I could see just about every city centre landmark.

I even spotted Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station in the distance, which stands some eight miles south-west of Nottingham.

3. Faces past and present

I didn’t realise quite how much artwork was kept in the castle.

You could easily spend a couple of hours in the packed gallery alone, never mind looking at the other exhibits.

One section in particular which caught my eye was the ‘Faces’ collection.

Showing portraits both in painting and photograph form, the collection made for an interesting look.

4. The big pink room

After visiting the main art gallery I wandered into a room painted completely pink.

After some initial confusion, I then discovered that this was a temporary exhibition called ‘Kaleidoscopic Realms’.

The colourful room contains artwork in many forms by eight contemporary artists.

It will be open until Sunday, November 3.

5. How big was the original castle?

Despite being primarily aimed at children, I thought I’d give the castle’s Robin Hood Experience a look before leaving.

After stepping out of the lift on the ground floor, I noticed a large model of Nottingham Castle as it would have been in 1500 AD, during the reign of Henry VII.

As it turns out, this was how the castle looked during its golden era as one of the most important royal strongholds in England.

I was struck by quite how impressive the original castle was and struggled to imagine how it stood on the site of the current, much smaller structure.