Go on Robin Hood's trail in Nottingham

I had never planned to bring together the Sheriff of Nottingham and Robin Hood - largely because only one of them is a real person. But when I try to set up separate meetings, they each choose the same time.

That's how I find myself in the foyer of Nottingham Council House, waiting for my appointment with an elected official, accompanied by a swordsman wearing a bycocket hat, battered leather trousers, boots, tights, a hunting horn and a hood.

A council worker greets us on the stairs.

"Do you want to see some ID?" asks Robin Hood.

"I think you're wearing it," she replies.

Labour Party councillor Nicola Heaton is Nottingham's fourth consecutive female sheriff (the previous two were black women). Her office is decorated with a small Robin Hood statue; the shield of the Sheriff of New York City; and, curiously, a certificate acknowledging Nottingham's participation in an international exhibition of public trash receptacles.

These days, the sheriff's job is to support tourism and promote the East Midlands city as a destination for short breaks. Robin Hood - aka Ade Andrews - plays a similar role, albeit self-appointed. He runs guided tours of Nottingham town and nearby Sherwood Forest.

Disappointingly, Andrews and the sheriff chat amicably together while I encourage her to arrest him.

"I think I lost all my powers about 150 years ago," says the sheriff.

The sheriff is one of Nottingham's many reminders of the legendary days of Robin Hood. The bell in the belfry of the imposing neo-Baroque council chambers at Loxley House is nicknamed "Little John". A travel pass for use on the city's excellent public transport system is a Robin Hood day ticket (good value at £5.70). The unlovely main road that thunders past the Robin Hood Statue, Nottingham Castle and the exquisite Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem pub is Maid Marian Way.

Andrews says US tourists are often surprised to find that Nottingham is a real place, but the true history of Nottingham far predates Robin Hood. Nottingham rests on a malleable sandstone ridge that was first settled in about AD600. It became known to the Celts as the Place of Caves, as the rock was soft enough to allow the early medieval pioneers to dig out homes for themselves with simple hand tools.

There remain more than 800 man-made caves around the city, a labyrinth of tunnels and caverns, unseen and often unknown, inside and under pubs, shops, streets, a graveyard and the castle. Over the centuries, they have been used as dwellings, warehouses, mines, cellars, mushroom farms, drinking dens, chapels, toilets and aristocrats' follies, but their main application has been the brewing and storage of beer at an ideal constant temperature of 14 degrees centigrade.

Two hundred forgotten caves have been rediscovered since 2016. One day, they could become as much of a draw for the city as Robin Hood - and considerably more than the sparse legacy of King Snot, the Saxon chieftain who ruled the area when it was called (and I'm not kidding) Snottingham.

After the Norman Conquest of 1066 the French built a castle on the Great Rock that dominates the city, atop cave-riddled cliffs up to 40 metres high. Then came Robin Hood - or, rather, Robin Hoods.

"There wasn't one Robin Hood," says Andrews, "there were many. He was a composite hero.

"Who was Robin Hood?" the man dressed as Robin Hood asks himself. "We'll never know. All the tales of the real outlaws of the day, all the gossip in the marketplaces, all the drunken talk in the alehouses of the audacious escapades of the real outlaws, were woven together over time and manifested in ballads between the 12th and 15th centuries. But the legend evolved, after the medieval period, in the hands of playwrights and novelists."

It's fun to watch the local reaction to Robin Hood as Andrews weaves through the town. Strangers greet him like a friend, and his parting words to everyone are: "Watch out for the sheriff." He takes me past the recently opened arts centre, Nottingham Contemporary, whose exhibition halls are sunk into the sandstone cliffs. Next to the gallery is the entrance to City of Caves, the largest publicly accessible stretch of caves in Nottingham, where visitors can explore dugouts that once were slum basements and air-raid shelters and the UK's only underground tannery.

City of Caves is part of Nottingham's National Justice Museum, a repurposed 18th-century police station, courthouse and jail, with courtrooms that date back to the 1300s when the site was the Shire Hall, the seat of power for the Sheriff of Nottingham. In the Victorian era, gallows were erected outside the building and prisoners were executed for the entertainment and intimidation of the local people.

Across the street from the museum is the Church of St Mary the Virgin (also known as St Mary's in the Lace Market) which is mentioned in both the Domesday Book of 1086 and the 15th-century ballad Robin Hood and the Monk.

Outside the bronze church doors, Andrews recites a snatch of the song, which has Robin Hood praying to the Virgin at St Mary's when he is spotted by a monk he had once robbed. The monk reports the sighting to the Sheriff of Nottingham, who leads his men to capture Robin Hood. The outlaw kills 12 of the sheriff's posse with his two-handed sword, then flees to the church. Robin Hood is arrested and imprisoned in the Shire Hall over the road, before he is freed by Little John.

Andrews also conducts tours of Sherwood Forest, now a 375-hectare natural reserve about 30 kilometres north of the city. He says that many visitors expect the forest to be much closer to Nottingham - as it was before the woodlands were depleted. By tradition, Robin Hood hides out in Sherwood Forest's 1000-year-old Major Oak ("That's where I live!" claims Andrews, unconvincingly). My dad took me to see the Major Oak when I was little. I still remember the wonder of standing beside a relic of Robin Hood.

Andrews tells me that he came to Nottingham with long hair, a sword and a degree in history, looking for work on the medieval scene, and eventually took a job as a ranger in the forest, helping to resurrect old customs such as the May Day celebrations and the harvest fairs.

Every year in July, a Robin Hood Festival is held in Sherwood Forest, with attractions including jousting, sword-fighting and archery displays. The event is attended by troupes of other Robin Hoods and their merry men and maids, but Andrews bristles at the mention of his rivals.

"I'm the real one," he insists. "I've been doing this 30 - sorry! - 830 years."

He shows me to Nottingham Castle and the Robin Hood Statue in the sculpture garden on Robin Hood's Lawn. The castle is closed for renovation, but the only significant medieval remnants - the gatehouse and parts of the walls - can be seen from the street.

The castle was once the fourth largest in England, but it was pulled down by the Parliamentary Army after the English Civil War. When the monarchy was restored, an Italian Renaissance-style ducal palace was built in place of the fortress - to the troubling of tourists ever since. "People come here, and they want a Kevin Costner-style castle with battlements, towers and turrets reaching into the sky," says Andrews.

The yawning caves in Castle Rock, with mouths like open cowls, were brewhouses for the earlier castle.

At the foot of the hill is Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem, one of three medieval inns that each claim to be the oldest pub in Nottingham.

The Bell Inn in Old Market Square became an alehouse in 1539. Ye Olde Salutation Inn is built on the site of a 13th-century alehouse which rejoiced in the glorious name "The Archangel Gabriel Salutes the Virgin Mary". The caves beneath the Salutation stretch four storeys underground, and the staff will show you around if they are in a good mood (which some of them are not). If they are not cosplaying at being big, tough bikers, they might take you down steps cut into the rock to a cave that was once a Saxon farmstead, and chambers that acted as a brewhouse and a cellar in the days when barrels of beer were hauled up chimney-style vertical passageways to carts waiting overhead.

While the welcome in the Salutation can differ according to whether or not you arrive with Robin Hood, Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem is always friendly - as befits one of the finest pubs in England.

The Trip, which claims to have been established in the 12th century, is a national treasure, honeycombed with cosy bars - some of them caves - which are each themed around a different aspect of the pub's story. Medieval arms are mounted on the walls - and what could possibly be better than a pub with a suit of armour in the corner?

Landlord Karl Gibson says he sees a fair number of Australians. "When the Test Match is at Trent Bridge, this is one of the first ports of call," he says. "And when Harry and Meghan got married, Channel Nine News did a feature here. It was a bit surreal. They'd be talking about the weather in Adelaide then they'd cut back to Robin Hood doing sword action at the front."

It would have been great to have a pint of Olde Trip ale with Robin Hood, but both Andrews and I are a bit the worse for wear (Andrews had spent the previous afternoon in the Trip) so we just sit and chat before Andrews courteously escorts me to the bus station where we shake hands and say goodbye.

"Watch out for the sheriff," warns Robin Hood.

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Getting there: Nottingham is about an hour and 45 minutes from London St Pancras by direct train. Prices for a one-way ticket range from $45-$160. The writer took the much cheaper FlixBus coach service from Nottingham back to London Victoria. The seats were adequately comfortable and the scenery was generally absorbing. One-way tickets start at about $20 but the journey takes closer to three hours.

Staying there: The writer stayed at the very friendly Hart's Hotel and Kitchen, built on the old ramparts of Nottingham Castle. Rooms are spacious and comfortable with a warm, homely feel, and the hotel has sweeping views across Nottinghamshire. Double rooms start at about $220 a night. See hartsnottingham.co.uk.

Touring there: Ade Andrews is a truly excellent tour guide to a genuinely fascinating town. Both as Robin Hood and his alternative alias, Ezekial Bone, Andrews offers a variety of highly recommended tours of Nottingham and the surrounding area. See ezekialbone.com.

Explore more: visit-nottinghamshire.co.uk

Mark Dapin visited Nottingham courtesy of Marketing Nottingham and Hart's Hotel and Kitchen.