Retford Christmases St.George’s Day Retford Big Market Days Bassetlaw Museum Out-and-About Local History
First off - welcome to one of Britain’s best kept secrets - North Nottinghamshire! Do check out our home page for up-to-date coming events and then pages shown above for some other links to local events and places.
◄Bigger view here!
Retford’s Heritage Open Day (part of the national programme) took place on Saturday, 14th September, 2024. Watch this space for details!
Retford has lots more going on throughout 2024 - get a bit of an overview ►
For a large, town-centre, map of Retford with key tourist locations clearly marked, click here...
Clarborough and Welham lie a couple of miles north of the market town of Retford in North Nottinghamshire which is just off the A1 trunk road and also on the main East Coast rail line just 90mins from London Kings Cross. Within easy reach are not only Sheffield, Nottingham and Lincoln but also Doncaster’s Robin Hood airport (currently in a process of reopening!).
In North Notts website reveals much more about our area including things to do and places to go.
Then there’s Robin Hood; we are only a short hop from Sherwood Forest. And we also have the Mayflower Pilgrims; with the 400th anniversary of their sailing for the Americas in 1620, the international Illuminate 400 celebrations kicked off in Retford on 26th November 2015 culminating with a service and performance based on the original events. It is generally lost down the centuries that the core of the original Pilgrims all originated within about 30 miles of Retford with Edward Southworth from Clarborough itself!
Take a look in Cannon Square (just off the Market Place) - so called because it has a Sebastopol Cannon captured in the Crimean War and brought to Retford in 1858. Read much more here...
Then we have Retford, notorious and also pivotal in the history of ‘votes-for-all’. East Retford was one of the early Rotten Boroughs and figures centrally in the run up to the Great Reform Act of 1832 that began the expansion of voting rights - a first step towards democracy anywhere in the world.
With such open spaces as Clumber Park nearby and the Chesterfield canal running through our community we are an ideal centre for exploring our wide open spaces, whether by road, rail or on foot - we have a wide range of footpaths through our area. Follow the Out-and-About link at the top of this page for much more on local footpaths.
And then, just a short (10 miles) west, is Worksop with its gem of a Priory. Worksop promotes itself as Gateway to the Dukeries. For much more on The Dukeries - and also coal mining in Nottinghamshire, see Wikipedia here...
◄ A huge range of Nottinghamshire-wide visiting opportunities!
This page links you with a number of other pages on our website that provide you with useful links to explore our area more thoroughly - welcome!
Local History - our page has links to 11 sub-pages exploring a host of local opportunities.
Local Map
Bassetlaw Museum voted Bassetlaw’s top local attraction for 2015.
Bassetlaw Action Centre’s Minibus trips
Chesterfield Canal changed the nature and importance of the area from 1777 and offers a haven for wildlife.
Idle Valley Nature Reserve just a mile north of Retford for wonderful walks, refreshments and exhibitions.
Worksop Priory dating from the 12th century - well worth your time.
Austerfield Reserve & Study Centre
Local Groups for everything going on in our Village Hall
Clarborough Village Ventures for Pantomime and Clarborough Festival
Local Primary and Secondary schools
Clarborough Primary School history - Log Book transcripts (1871-1922)
Clarborough & Welham Newsletter - for an insider view!
Need a local GP - or need to register with one?
For what’s going on in North Notts, click here...
...and for a flavour of previous years’ events, see below...
Retford’s 2023 Heritage Open Day took place on Saturday 9th September and Christmas Lights Switch-on on Sunday, 26th November.
Also, check out our Shopping page for Retford Markets and Retford Theatres and Local History pages for much more too. Our new Retford Rotary Club page also has some forthcoming events.
Also, see Babworth Church’s Arts Festivals here...
For local tourist information plus lots, lots, more, click here to go to Retford Arts Hub.
Covid-19 shut down most of our local events but 2021 rebounded in style. After a stunning Heritage Day run-up-to-Christmas events included :
Click on posters for bigger and fuller views... and on links below for reports on the successes of these events...
RBF Christmas Market 2021 post-event press release.
Can-dles of Hope Thanksgiving/Illuminate 2021 post-event press release.
A programme of Sunday-on-the-Square events in Retford’s historic Market Square took place in summer 2019. The first of these was a traditional English Fair on 26th May - click here for details. Below are a few of the performers taking part:
[Above, left to right] Doncaster Waites at Worksop Priory, City of Lincoln Waites, Doncaster Waites.
[Left] The Leeds Waites
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