Secrets of Sherwood Forest: Outlaws to the Major Oak.

By Biswajit Sengupta - June 29, 2026

SHERWOOD

Introduction: A Lifelong Dream of Robin Hood

There are certain niceties I cherish, which remain firmly fixed in memory. Particularly, some fleeting moments in the city where I grew up. In the early sixties, when TV and smartphones were unheard of, we developed a fondness for books. What I could recall was an attractive, hardcover, tabletop-sized book on Robin Hood, peeking out from a showcase at Universal Book Depot in Hazratgunj, Lucknow. As much as I could remember, my parents gifted me that book on my birthday. Then, after almost thirty years, Bryan Adams mesmerised me with his song ‘Everything I do, I do it for you’. The song was from Oscar-nominated Kevin Costner’s blockbuster movie ‘Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves’. After another three decades, on a bright sunny morning in November 2025, I landed at the legendary outlaw's den, which, till that day, had remained in my mind as the enigmatic Sherwood Forest.

🌳History: The Forest in Nottinghamshire

The protected forest area today covers roughly 1,000 acres, but historically, as recorded during the thirteenth century, it was over a hundred times larger and extended up to the wall of the medieval Nottingham Castle located close to Nottingham city centre. Robin Hood’s outlaw activities took place here when the Sheriff of Nottingham made it his stronghold, while King Richard the Lionheart was away on the Third Crusade. The original castle was built by William the Conqueror over a thousand years ago. The present building, which stands there, was built by William Cavendish, the Duke of Newcastle, in the mid-seventeenth century, after demolishing the medieval castle.

🚌How to Get to Sherwood Forest from Nottingham

There is only one bus, the Sherwood Arrow bus, which operates at an interval of around one hour from Victoria Bus Station, adjoining the Victoria Centre at Nottingham. I, along with my travel companion (my wife), opted for the morning bus so that we could spend the entire day at Sherwood Forest. An hour bus ride to Sherwood Forest Visitor Centre was a pleasant one – after leaving the highway, our bus hurtled down a narrower road almost void of any traffic through pristine English countryside.

The immediate space in the vicinity of the bus stop is indescribably pretty. Edwinstowe Village Forest Corner features a beautiful semi-open-air village square exhibiting souvenirs and a bustling café at the centre. At the entrance gate to the Visitor Centre, we were greeted by a man personating Friar Tuck. The basic layout of the Visitor Centre comprises a souvenir shop at the ground level and a café right below. A cute café, where we had breakfast.

🍂Encountering the Ancient Major Oak

The café opens out to the forest. There are several trails in the woodland dominated by native oaks. After strolling through the forest glades, we came across the most popular trail leading to the historical Major Oak. It is about 3 km from the Visitor Centre. The forest is rich in ground flora, and a major part is dominated by veteran oaks, of which the oldest one living is Parliament Oak, slated to be about 1100 years old. In India, the old trees are mostly banyan trees. We don’t remember coming across any oak trees in our country. So, seeing oak trees was something new, which held us awed, particularly the Major Oak, which had a trunk with a massive girth. My educated guess was that it could house about four standard rooms, each 100 square feet. The canopy was almost three times the circumference of the trunk. It is believed to be around 1000 years old, where the legendary Robin Hood and his merry men used to hide inside the hollow trunk from the Sheriff of Nottingham. Because of its massive canopy, the tree is cordoned off by the forest authorities, and sturdy structural props have been used to support the ancient, heavy branches. There were patches of common spotted orchids around the major oak. The entire view was inexplicably stunning. The forest habitats are home to a bewildering variety of birds, including woodpeckers; smaller mammals such as red squirrels and hedgehogs; larger mammals such as badgers, foxes and fallow deer; and beetles, spiders and common reptiles such as lizards. All quite harmless inhabitants, thereby eliminating the fear of accidentally trundling on a venomous reptile, an apprehension while walking into forest glades. But since our visit was during the fall, we trampled the copper leaves that had carpeted the trails.

Wandering to the fabled Sherwood Forest, the Major Oak that served as a hideout for Robin Hood, England's most captivating folklore hero, and the nearby romantic Edwinstowe village cast a captivating spell on me.

Photo and video credit: Arundhati Sengupta