Nottingham Castle: Your Comments

Illustration: Raph Achache

We asked you lot for your thoughts with five questions in our quick survey:
1. Have you been to Nottingham Castle?
2. If not, why not?
3. If yes, what was the best thing about it?
4. What was the worst thing about it?
5. Given £24m to spend, what would you do to make the Castle a better place to visit?

Gareth Morgan
1. Sure have, plenty o' times.
2. See above.
3. The touring exhibitions like Jeremy Deller earlier this year or the one a few years ago with the Marc Quinn sculpture. The Rosetti painting is wonderful too.
4. The fact the history gallery goes no further than the Georgians after they got rid of all the Victorian stuff in favour of a new Robin Hood exhibit. Nottingham's Victorian history is fascinating. And the fact it costs people to get in.
5. Making it free to access for people and engaging with more schools and young people.

Simon Waldram
1. No.
2. I heard it was full of giant carnivorous spiders.
3. I haven't been so I don't know. Probably not the spiders.
4. I haven't been, but I'm guessing… the giant carnivorous spiders.
5. Some kind of high-tech machine to catch all the giant carnivorous spiders.

Nathan Miller
1. Yes, I sure have. It's lovely!
2. Did I fucking stutter?
3. The art. Particularly the temporary exhibitions of contemporary and recent stuff, but the long gallery is pretty nice too.
3a. No dogs allowed anywhere, apparently. NICE.
3b. Some good public outdoor events happening there and it can be a great venue for that - beer Festival, WEYA etc.
4. Paying to get in.
5. Big raise for all staff. Make entry free for everyone. Spend the rest on expanding and improving the exhibitions programme.

Kelly Crocker Vero
This site is rich in legend not architecture, bring back the depth to our old Nottingham landmarks generally, because I think we've lost the narrative of our history. I want to know about Mortimer's Hole and the 17/21st Lancers when I visit, but I want to know about it from a visceral perspective. Get back to basics and for God's sake, gi'it some welleh.

Fiona Brett
When I was a little kid, I used to keep asking my dad where the castle was... I couldn't see it when he showed it me, it was just a house on a rock! I was very disappointed.

Michael Power
Have a section there that you walk through, interactive, medieval style. Think London dungeons. I know they had the place just down the road that closed down (Tales of Robin Hood, was it?) but have something in the Castle grounds that's better than that. Use part of the caves as part of it. Actually make it interesting for tourists, maybe? There's just no imagination currently.

Alan Fisher
1. Yes, but not for absolutely years except for t'beer festival, if that counts.
2. 'spensive and never really seen/heard of owt going on there to lure me. The Citycard scam pisses me off nearly as much as the tram from things-that-Nottingham-City-Council do.
3. Used to love just wandering about the gardens and admiring the views over the South of the city.
4. All the best bits, ie, the caves are closed off. I don't want to look at dusty paintings in a Manor House - I want to explore and adventure in the caves.
5. Open up the caves - you could set up laser tag/zombie attack type stuff up there. Open negotiations with Disney to build a massive fuck off castle up there. Install the big wheel up there instead of the Square. Pay someone competent to finish off phase 2 of the tram to give the good folk of Beeston and Clifton some respite.

Guy Roberts
1. Used to go there all the time, felt it was our place
2. Rarely go now because of the cost of getting the family in.
3. We live two miles away, in Bridgford, but last time I checked I had to pay way more than city people. (£15 for county family on a weekday compared to £5 for five city residents - not fair!)

Beccy Spur
1. Yes.
3. The gardens are beautiful and enviable views of the city.
4. Well it's not a feckin castle, is it? It's a house on a hill at best, a pound shop Wollaton Hall.
5. Build a proper massive castle, Minecraft stylee! Dragons, there will be dragons and a massive feck-off moat filled with piranhas. Robot archer-bots firing laser-guided arrows at the mouth breathers below. Finally The People's Wine Cellar stuffed to the rafters with the finest wines known to humanity and served to the local populace by the Sheriff of Nottingham.

Sharon Amanda Everest
1. Yes, loads of times, but…
2. …not for ages since they started charging to get in.
3. The gardens in summer, the cave tour, visiting exhibitions, the children's gallery used to be a favourite place for child-friendly respite on a trip to town when my son was small.
4. The cost to get in, the knackered and boring play equipment for kids (although they may have updated it since I last went?)
5. Scrap, or at least reduce, the entrance charges. Have a decent play area for children. Make more of the caves and the Robin Hood connection. Have more events, both inside and outdoors. Get rid of the dusty, boring military exhibits - nobody is interested in them, and instead provide a more child-friendly and engaging experience. Have more sculpture in the grounds like at Rufford. Celebrate local makers and artists more in the shop, which used to be a fantastic place but is now full of tat.

Illustration: Ethan Wilson-Davis

Billy Walker
1. Yes.
3. The Beer Festival.
4. Warm Beer.
5. Turn it into Jurassic Park.

Katherine Nickoll
1. Yes.
3. Gardens, view and location.
4. It's a massive disappointment - it's not the Nottingham Castle of the imagination.
5. Spend the money going into partnership with someone like the Taussauds group who run Warwick castle, knock it down and build a decent castle/Robin Hood experience/huge tourist pleaser.

John Dragun
1. Nottingham has not got a castle, been to the site of it though.
2. See above
3. The gatehouse, nice grounds.
4. Poor taste joke. Especially seeing the disappointed visitors.
5. Demolish the Victorian mansion and replace it with a proper castle.

Mik Underwood
Amazing views. Too expensive. Make it free.

Sonja Bredgaard
Make it dog friendly. I wanted to walk my doggies around the grounds but they aren't allowed

Karen Hudson
1. Yes.
3. Gardens, views, grandson liked the adventure playground bit (he was bored silly by the displays inside)
4. Far too expensive to visit, especially if you don't live in the city. Other towns manage free entry to far more exciting museums so goodness only knows why Nottingham charges so much. Displays inside are tired, need changing more often, as do the paintings - apparently an awful lot of art is stored and has never seen the light of day. Slow service in cafe, and prices are a bit high too. Needs a complete overhaul everywhere.
5. I quite like Beccy Spurr's ideas.

James Hill
1. Yes.
3. Nice gardens, views of the city.
4. The 'castle' itself is boring, once you've been inside it once there is no inclination to go again.
5. Maybe have more events, maybe open air concerts?

Bridie Squires
1. Yes.
3. Dressing up in old-school gear back in the day and pretending you're Maid Mazza.
4. Bit quiet.
5. The creation of a Robin Hood zombie using genetic modification, so he could teach us how to shoot arrers

Nicholas Chuter
1. Yes.
3. The views on a clear day are really good. The gatehouse is quite impressive too. 
4. For a city with so much history, the ‘castle’ is a disappointment. It's a not particularly exciting stately home, with some art in it. Not what you'd expect for a castle, especially for one associated with a legend as famous as that of Robin Hood. 
5. I don't think £24m would go that far, if the new Broadmarsh plans are £150m. I'd say to update the interiors to something more interactive and with a focus on historical content.

Karen Westie
How about making it a castle instead of a manor house? Nottingham 'Castle' is shocking!

Kerry Edwards-Kelsall
In Nottingham, there used to be a castle but it was destroyed after the Civil War and now there's a ducal palace that doesn't look quite as it did because we burned it down a bit - doesn't have quite the same ring to it, does it?

Paul Edwards
£24m - beer festival becomes permanent.

David Newton
1. Yeah.
3. The beer festival.
4. The entrance fees and the telescope takes your 20p but doesn't work.
5. I love the castle and I'd spend the money on free access and regular and free cave tours - they are fascinating. And free live music in the band stand.

Beverley Makin
Love it but hate paying as a city resident.

Peter Mann
1. Yes.
3. Best things are the live events - Robin Hood pageant, beer festival.
4. Not all caves are accessible or open all of the time, the actual castle itself is a let-down. The displays are old and boring with nothing good to offer. Bring medieval England back to Nottingham to make most of the Robin Hood theme.

Claire Goodey
1. Yes.
3. Grounds and views.
4. Too expensive. Should you have gotten your Citycard when you lived in Gedling but had since moved into the City boundary and had a driving licence to show the new address, this apparently does not count and full price is due - not very welcoming.
5. I learned about some of Nottingham's history on the Nooks and Crannies tour on Light Night last week. I feel I should be able to learn about this history in the 'castle' but I don't recall it ever standing out. The inside doesn't seem to be cohesive. Robin Hood is known all around the world, he needs to be made more of a big deal of! All the caves need to be open.
5a. There will be a joint sketch crawl tomorrow encompassing Birmingham and Manchester groups as well as some of Nottingham so I shall see what they think about our 'main attraction'!

Pippa Criddle
1. Yes.
3. The views and the temporary art exhibitions.
4. Entrance fees are too high (Citycard holders get in for free on weekdays - when most of us are at work) and most of the displays are very outdated - I'd prefer quality, not quantity. 
5. Make entrance free or at least cheaper, and work on easier access to the caves.

Punnk Rasta
1. Yes.
3. The views, gardens, walls, caves, gatehouse.
4. Not really a castle when you think about it.
5. I’m guessing even a modest actual castle costs more than £24m, but how about reconstructing a turret? There must be some spurious archaeological/history/architectural/planning students who could have a bash? Or open up the caves properly maybe?

Nottingham Castle on NCC's website