Knit Nottingham on Nottingham (Part 1!)

We talk a lot about yarn, knitting, crocheting and making on these blogs, so that's the first half of our name sorted. But, we never really talk about Nottingham itself. I'm not sure why, but now is as good a time as ever to do so.

I asked Eleanor what her favourite things about Nottingham were and she listed about 30 bajillion things, so we're going to have to split this into two. Today we're going to talk about our favourite places in Nottingham proper, and later in the week we'll focus on the county. Sound good? Lets go!

Eleanor and I first thought about Nottinghamshire Pride, which is incidentally this weekend on Saturday the 30th of July! With a march from Listergate to Broad Street and an afternoon of performances from wonderful Nottingham people, there's a lot of fun to be had here. The main point, of course, is that LGBTQ+ people deserve to be proud of who they are and have the accessible spaces they need to live as they are, and as a queer person I'd also say that Nottingham is pretty good on that point, too. 

There will be a lot of stalls for Pride open in Hockley this weekend, but Hockley itself at any time of year is probably my favourite area of Nottingham. I love the independent shops, especially Void and IceNine - perfect for the alternative among us and both staples of Nottingham alt culture. Braderie Vintage are a wonderful vintage and reworked fashion shop just between Hockley and Old Market Square, and the handful of times I've popped in I've not left empty handed. Sneinton Market, just down from Hockley, has a wonderful selection of independent businesses to support, too. Once you're done shopping, fancy a drink in Six Barrel? Just up from the Sainsburys on the corner of Carlton St, Six Barrel is a cute little bar that is super dog friendly, with a few regular canine companions who are always up for a snuggle. 

Nottingham City Centre really does have a massive selection of businesses to support, and we always wax lyrical about Handmade Nottingham which is on Kings Walk, the street that runs parallel to our own Trinity Walk. A wonderful store that exclusively works with UK independent creators to offer a wide selection of handmade goods, and may I just say they always have the brightest storefront ever - it's gorgeous! There's the Bead Shop on Market St, where we often send customers who come in looking for specifics in the craft-o-sphere that we just don't happen to stock. Eleanor's also great at beading, and gets a lot of her supplies from them.

courtesy of visit-nottinghamshire.co.uk

Five Leaves Bookshop is also a favourite of both mine and Eleanor's - specialising in independent publishers with a stunning selection of books on every topic imaginable, you could spend a long time in Five Leaves and completely forget about everything else you can do in Nottingham.

Of course, a bit closer to home on our very own walk, we adore the Little London Herbal Shop; our best small business friends with a lot to offer outside of the mainstream of medicine. Honestly, you walk into the herbal shop with any ailment and either Kerry or Josh have the exact thing you need for it, 99.9999% of the time. If not, it's probably just out of stock! 

here's Eleanor helping out the Herbal Shop!

A little bit more further afield and outside of the confines of shopping, Nottingham has some lush green spaces to offer us. Firstly is the Arboretum, which is really just absolutely lovely to wander around with its over 800 trees of 65 different species. It's also got a pond with ducks, an aviary, and is actually Nottingham's oldest park. It's just off of the High School tram stop, and so is another green space, the Forest Rec in Hyson Green. This is more of an open-field kind of green space but its so relaxing to walk around, and at the top is a bit of a hidden gem with Church Rock Cemetery. We also don't have a river AND a canal for nothing! 

this photo is mine!

 We've also got green spaces further out into Nottingham, like Highfields right next to the University Park, Wollaton Park (and its fantastic hall and natural history museum), and even the University campuses themselves are lovely to walk around if you've got some spare time.

So, there you go! A long list of everything we love in Nottingham proper, just in case you happen to be visiting. I know a lovely yarn shop you should pop into, as well... (wink wink, nudge nudge).