Tuesday 9 April 2013

H = Home Sweet Home



My home town is Nottingham in the East Midlands, UK where I was born and always lived, up until recently that is when I moved to California.



Where I lived in Nottingham, we were about a 5 minute drive from the town centre and 10 minutes from the beautiful English countryside. Nottingham is a diverse City with lots of shopping, pubs, restaurants and nightclubs. I have lived in Nottingham for so long that I was getting a little fed up with the place and I jumped at the chance to move to a new part of the world. However, it will always be my home town and I have fond memories of growing up there. I still have my little house, good friends and wonderful family to return to one day maybe, who knows.

Here are my three favourite things about Nottingham:

Sherwood Forest is a lovely place to visit for a day out and walk in the woods. It is home to the famous Major Oak, an oak tree that is supposed to be over 1000 years old. We often went for a relaxing weekend break to a holiday village called Center Parcs which is set in Sherwood Forest. In popular culture, Robin Hood and his band of "merry men" are usually portrayed as living in Sherwood Forest. The film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) starred Kevin Costner as Robin Hood.



Nottingham Ice Centre is where I spent much of my childhood, ice skating about 5 days a week and watching ice hockey matches, played by the Nottingham Panthers. The club was founded in 1946 and they are the reigning Elite League champions.



Nottingham Theatre Royal was built in 1865 and is a beautiful Victorian theatre. I used to be part of a dance school, doing ballet, tap, jazz and drama and we had a show each year at the theatre, which went on for hours. I feel for the parents! I used to love all the costumes and dressing up.



Here is my HOME SWEET HOME doodle of the day:



And some lovely HOME SWEET HOME bits available online to buy from one of my favourite shops 'Not on the High Street':




So, whereabouts in the world is your home town and what are your favourite things about it?

26 comments:

  1. Home is always the sweetest place. And right now I miss my home town like so much.

    And about the most fav thing in my place is the Beach! :)

    Lovely post!

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    1. Ohh sorry to hear you miss home so much, whereabouts is home? I understand why the beach is your favourite place, I love living by the sea.

      I don't miss home really, more friends, family and familiarity.

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  2. I've never been to the UK - My son was in London and some other place I can't remember when he was in the Navy. Portsmouth? Yeah I think that is it. Anyway he loved London and taking the train in. I was so jealous.

    But he got bit by some spider while in London and had a allergic reaction. Scary.

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    1. London is cool, for a few days anyway. Everyone is in such a rush in London and so crowded. It's a good place to visit, so much touristy things to do, the tube is good fun, working out which one to get on. I hate spiders, we do get some nasty house spiders in the UK.

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  3. I love your doodle! I'm imagining it all done up in beads and wire, it would be pretty.

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    1. Sounds great cat, you should make it! Let me see the finished design.

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  4. I'd love to go to Nottingham! I'm a huge hockey fan, so I'd definitely have to check out the Ice Centre. I like how it's spelled "centre". It makes hockey that much more sophisticated. ;)

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    1. It is a nice place, just boring when you have lived there for so long. That's probably the same with anywhere. If you get to go to the UK one day, it's worth travelling all over.

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  5. It`s always so interesting to learn about the rest of the world.
    I have lived in Canada all my life and never traveled outside! I hope to travel one day so people don't think I am SUPER sheltered ;-)

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    1. Ive never been to Canada but hear it is beautiful, so I'm not surprised you haven't travelled outside. You should do though, there is so many wonderful places to see. :)

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  6. I have vistited England a few times, but never Nottingham. Now that I have read this I am putting it on my list to do's. My family is from Dartmouth (south?) and I will be visiting there also. Hope you find you feel at home here too soon :)
    KaTy Did at: Life's Ride As I See It

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    1. Me too KT....I'm not sure if I've been to Dartmouth, I know it's in Devon which is a beautiful part of the UK. Not sure how long you will be in the UK for but if its not long then I wouldn't waste time going to nottingham, there are so many more beautiful places to see (bath, Stratford upon Avon, York, Oxford, Windermere).

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  7. Home ... I could tell you where I was born (Germany), but it had never felt like home, yet I miss many things about it. I moved to the US in 1986 and have lived in many places. None really felt like home. I have never been back to Germany and never will (health reasons). I guess Chicago is my home now--simply because of the person I am with now!

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    1. That's great that you have lived in so many places, I envy you. Really sweet your reason why Chicago is your home now too, just lovely.

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    2. I've lived all over the world too. So when people ask me where I'm from, I just say the place where I'm now living :-)

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  8. I always liked Nottingham the few times I was there, seemed to have a bad crime problem tho. Mind you now I live in America that's all relative.

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    1. yes it is! crimewise i think they try to make nottingham seem worse than it is. i never saw any trouble in the years i was there.

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  9. Your hometown sounds beautiful! Mine is So Cali, where you currently live. I currently live in Apple Valley, which is the high desert. It's about equidistant from L.A. and San Diego (where I lived for about 10 years and plan to go back), and about an extra hour drive to Las Vegas. There's almost no pollution because of high winds, so with the high elevation, you can see all the stars at night. We get all four seasons, so we get to have snow in the winter, brown leaves in the fall, beautiful chirping birds and blossoms in the spring, and a broiling hot summer. :)

    #atozchallenge, Kristen's blog: kristenhead.blogspot.com

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    1. Hi Kristen, nottingham is a nice place but I wouldn't say beautiful...not compared to where you are living! It's nice to be able to get all the seasons and having no pollution sounds fab.

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  10. What a lovely home with a wealth of history!

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    1. Hi Amy, yes nottingham does have a lot of history, there was a lot more I could have out on the blog about it but then it would have been too long to read...I'm going for short and sweet. I love all the old photos of nottingham.

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  11. In Germany I am from a really small rural village and we are located in a sort of national park, we have beautiful landscape and that's what I love the most there.

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    1. Sounds lovely, I've never been to Germany, other than driving through on a coach to get to Austria and Switzerland. I'd love to live in a small rural village!

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  12. I live in a small village in SE Michigan. I hated it as a kid, but appreciate the small town community more now that I've grown and had kids. I've lived other places, but most of my life has been here. I hope to move to Ann Arbor soon, if just for the conveniences.

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    1. I think living in a small community would be lovely. I know people who lived in little English villages who always wanted to live in a big city, now they do, they want to move back to the countryside. The grass is always greener as they say.

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  13. Your country is beautiful and I have always wanted to visit. It is the place of fairy tales and all the literature I read as a small child. Irvine is very different but each location has its own charm and adventures. That is probably why I find traveling so much fun. I am going to Tennessee next month and it is going to be a grand adventure. Maybe someday I will get all the way to Sherwood Forest. Always had a thing about Robin Hood.

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