How to spend 24hrs in Nottingham

Over the past few years, my children and I have developed a love for tabletop role-playing games, model-building and boardgames. Initially, it started with a few Pokemon cards and Airfix models and has since developed into my kitchen table being taken over with Warhammer miniatures, Citadel paints and Codex books (play manuals). Like all parents, I try to support my children's interests and hobbies as much as possible, which recently lead us to Nottingham, not only the home of Robin Hood but also Warhammer World.

That's the thing with these types of games, one leads to another and as we started learning more about the RPG community in the UK and quickly we put a visit to Warhammer World in Nottingham on our bucket list and decided to head up there for my son's birthday, in what felt like our first RPG pilgrimage. Of course, like all our travels, we wanted to get the most out of our time in Nottingham and see as much of the city as possible, so here is what we got up to in our 24hrs in Nottingham, on a budget of course.

We had debated driving up but managed to find cheap tickets from Chepstow to Nottingham, with an extra discount using our family travel rail card, as well as there being free park and ride. Our train ride up from Chepstow was fairly stress-free, although not as comfortable as hoped as Cross Country Rial uses very old stock on this line, with minimal leg room and take a portable battery charger as there are no plugs, but other than that the 3hr journey was seamless. 

Standing next to the Robin Hood Statue

Our feet hit the ground running as soon as we arrived into Nottingham and leaving the train station we headed straight to the Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem, one of the oldest pubs in the UK and built into the side of stone caves with a fascinating and rather wonky interior. This unique public house deserved a quick stop for cold refreshments after our train trip. The pub is conveniently located at the bottom of Castle Rd and while sadly Nottingham Castle is currently closed it's still worth walking up to the castle to not only take in some lovely views but also to pay a visit to Robin Hood and Friar Tuck and Little John's statues.

After a brief walk up to the castle & statues we headed to the Kitty Cafe which we had rebooked and was our first visit to a "cat cafe" and something both the kids and I were very excited about. Sadly the food wasn't much to write home about although who really goes to a Cat cafe for food? We really enjoyed the experience though of being surrounded by such lovely cats, all of which are available to be rehomed. As the cafe is a charity and rescue centre you need to pay a welfare charge for your booking on top of food purchases, it came to £17 for the 3 of us and that secures a 1hr slot but it is a unique experience.

 

After our time with all the gorgeous cats was over we headed to the Old Market Square for a quick stroll before heading to our hotel. The square is actually the largest public space after London's Trafalgar Square and has some cool fountains and statues. 

We booked a family room for 1 night at Premier Inn Goldsmith Street for just under £50 which was a great deal, especially as the hotel is within easy walking distance of the city and well connected with a tram line right outside the hotel. Once checked in we finally had some downtime after what was a busy start to the day, in the early evening we decided to head back out into town and grab a bite to eat for supper before having an early evening as we had another action-packed day ahead. 

We always sleep well in a Premier Inn and after a very filling breakfast (who doesn't love a Premier Inn Breakfast) and checking out, we walked over to Nottingham Arboretum, a beautiful Victorian park with a pond, rose garden and Chinese bell tower only a 2 min walk from the hotel and a nice place to run off the excess energy before heading to the piste de resistance that was Warhammer World. Once we had filled our lungs with fresh air we jumped onto the Toton Lane Tram and headed straight to Warhammer, jumping off at Gregory Street station only a few mins walk from WW. 

Nottingham Arboretum

The majority of Warhammer World is completely free to enter and explore, it's only the special exhibition floors that you need a ticket for, but I highly recommend it, especially as you can revisit the exhibition as much as you want in one day and the prices are very reasonable with children under 11 free, 12-17yrs £5 and adults £7.5

As I said though there is plenty on show that is completely free of charge and right from the start excitement was high as the kids posed with the huge Ultramarine Rhino vehicles at the entrance of Warhammer World. As soon as you step inside you are faced with the Giant Nurgling and Lurtz Statue before heading upstairs to the huge Warhammer stores and workshop spaces where you can paint a free miniature. Of course you also need to stop by Bugman's Bar for some middle earth inspired food and see the Witch-King sword hanging up.

As we are not sure when we will get the chance to visit again, we, of course, visited the ticketed exhibition space and it did not disappoint, with thousands of miniatures and impressive worlds created and on display, it's a feast for the eyes.

I would say you need at least 3hrs in Warhammer World, if not more, to really appreciate everything on offer and the staff are always on hand to help answer any questions. It's also very family-friendly and children are welcomed and encouraged to ask questions and paint their own miniature to take away.

We spent around 4hrs here and had planned to spend another 2 but while sitting down and eating I thought I would double check our train times, only to see that the train we had reservations on had been cancelled and so after another quick browse in the shop and picking up one or two things to add to our Warhammer collection at home, we had to race back to the tram and head to the train station to try and find another way back home. 3 trains later and we finally managed to get back to Chepstow, had I not checked our times we would have been stranded, so grateful that we still packed everything we wanted to into the day.