ROBIN US OF OUR MEMORIES

In 2005, I met Don and we went on our first date.

He took me to Sherwood Forest Visitor Centre in Edwinstowe. As someone who has always being fascinated by the legend of Robin Hood, I was thrilled. It was a wonderful place. A huge restaurant called the Forest Table, with posters along the walls from loads of different Robin Hood movies (except Prince of Thieves as it was too new and they couldn't get a poster for it) and a museum about the legend of Robin Hood, a gorgeous walk through the forest and in summer a chance to be like Robin Hood and try your hand at shooting arrows yourself (my aim is terrible).

It was a cute place. Even the shop was beautiful, because instead of loud rowdy music, which tends to put me off, it had bird song instead, in keeping with the theme of 'The Forest'. I have lots of souvenirs from here.

This was our first date where we are clearly doing the Robin Hood and Maid Marion thing...!

We were so enamoured with this place which was so welcoming and had such beauty that we decided to get married here, it was amazing. The sad thing being that our friend Bill was in Syria at the time, so he was unable to see this place and now we can never show him. This was our special place and we wish he could have seen it.

Of course, because we tied the knot there, that only made this place even more special in our hearts. We adored it.

So when we went to find it on Thursday last and saw that the whole thing had been demolished, we were, not surprisingly, devastated.

They have built a new one. but it is really ugly! And next to the funfair (yuck!). There is absolutely no mention of the legend of Robin Hood, It looks like this. Just your generic square building. No charm, no beauty, nothing.

Whereas the place we got married in was adorable.  

The reasons this was done are unfathomable, not to mention stupid. The area has been designated a Special Area of Conservation under the Habitats Directive from the European Union. It would appear that this meant that the old Visitor Centre had to be moved out of the area so it could be returned to nature.Which has made me have second thoughts about being a remainer quite honestly.  Management of the area has been taken over by the RSPB.

The RSPB said, "We want a modern gateway to the forest". We don't want a modern gateway! We want our old style buildings, museum and restaurant that told the story of Robin, Marion and the merry men.

And what is the point of returning the site to nature if no-one can enjoy it? It originally looked like this:

Small, quaint, delightful, friendly and full of beautiful memories. The best memories of course are of our wedding. It was wonderful. We were a bit late and it rained. But we didn't care. We were very happy. Whoever signed off on this stupid project wants firing on the spot. This has been destroyed taking our hearts with it. And the 5 million that was wasted on the monstrosity that replaced it could have been spent renovating this! 

This has made us desperately sad. And we refuse to visit the new one on principle. Goodbye Sherwood and thank you for giving us the best memories.