Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire is a largely low-lying English County in the East Midlands region.

Nottinghamshire borders with Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Leicestershire and Derbyshire. Sherwood Forest lies entirely within this county and is famous for its links with the legends of Robin Hood. The River Trent flows through the county from south to north.

Principal towns and cities include Nottingham, Newark, Mansfield, Worksop, Retford, Sutton-in-Ashfield, Eastwood and Hucknall.

The geology of the county is bunter sandstone lying over coal deposits. Many of the older villages in the county have characteristic walls and cottages constructed out of this reddish local stone with pan-tile rooves.

The East of the County around Newark and Southwell is characterised by largely flat agricultural land around the Trent floodplain, where as towards the west, around Hucknall and Mansfield, there are hills and sandstone outcrops, notably at Nottingham Castle. The county lies immediately to the east of the Pennine Hills in Derbyshire, and as such receives relatively low rainfall compared to much of England.

Principal industries are agriculture and commerce. The west of the county was once a prolific coal mining area but this industry has been in steady decline since the 1980s.