A foggy day in London town...: Because, unlike some other Robin Hoods, I can speak with an English accent.

Robin Hood: I lost. I lost? Wait a second, I'm not supposed to lose. Let me see the script

On Tuesday 30th I braved the streets of Nottingham, home of England's beloved Robin Hood. The town is quite large and separated into a number of zones: Castle, Royal, Victoria, Lace Market and Broadmarsh.

The Castle Zone is obviously the area where the Nottingham Castle lies. A wooden fortification was built in 1068 by William the Conqueror and upgraded a number of times. Like a number of other castles in the country it was built by William the Conqueror in the first few years of his reign. It was destroyed during the Civil War of 1651 and was left a ruin for ten years. It became a ducal mansion but was destroyed again in 1831. It sat in derelict for 40 years until it was restored into the Nottingham Castle Museum and became the first municipal museum and art gallery outside of London.

Like the rest of the town, it rides on its claim to fame through Robin Hood and had established a Robin Hood: The Movie experience in the grounds to take you through some highlights from Mel Gibson's film. Underneath the castle is a large number of caves that have been dug into the sandstone cliffs. As Nottingham was the poorest area in England at one point many people built their homes into the walls of the cliffs and dug out their rooms as a cheaper alternative to accommodation.

Around the back of the Castle it the Trip To Jerusalem Inn established in 1189AD and possibly the oldest inn in the country.

The Royal Zone houses the Theatre Royal built in 1865 and currently showing Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat: the version that ran the 'Any Dream Will Do' reality show on TV to find Joseph.

The Lace Market Zone relates to Nottingham's once thriving lace manufacturing industry. Most of the 130 factories from the 18th century are now specialist shops and designer restaurants. Also in the area is the Galleries of Justice Museum which is on the old sight of the Sheriff of Nottingham's courthouse. It was a place for public hangings, a courtroom, a dungeon and prison. Underneath the courtroom is a series of cells. Under the cells is a series of caves. Under the caves is a series of pits where people were thrown and forgotten about. They have oubliettes down there which are pits shaped like a bottle: a small hole at the top that drops a long way to a wide base at the bottom. If the fall didn't kill you then it was a miserable death. They believe Robin Hood was actually in one of the cells at one time (but it is all folk law!).

Interestingly, you had to pay to go to jail. 2 shillings a week got you a cell. 7 shillings a week for your food, women and drink. A lot of people were sent to Australia from Nottingham. The jail was shut down at one stage because it was the cruelest in England and not suitable for detention.

There are plenty more stories from the Gallery (obviously the highlight of my trip to Nottingham) but no one would find them interesting. I still have to return one day because I have paid for a ticket into the caves underneath the town...and I only have 12 months to use it!!

The Galleries of Justice was a really interesting place and given that I was the only person booked into the tour that afternoon I got to have real conversations with the guides...lots of fun!

I didn't venture into Sherwood forest - although there is a several day hiking tour that takes you around the forest in "the footsteps of Robin and his Merry Men". Perhaps another time...