Hometown glory: my guide to Worksop

Worksop, Nottinghamshire. You might not have heard of it (you probably haven’t) and you might not have visited (you definitely haven’t) but it’s where I grew up. So here is a bit of love for my home town: what to do in Worksop, things worth seeing near Worksop and more information on Worksop generally – the fourth largest town in Nottinghamshire.

This entry marks a small but significant milestone for the blog: my 100^th post! So first-off, I would like to thank anyone who has supported, contributed to, tweeted, shared or simply read any of the first 99 posts – it means a lot.

Since I left Worksop at the age of 18, I’ve lived in a fair few places (Manchester, Yaroslavl, St. Petersburg, Leipzig, Manchester again, Düsseldorf and now Cologne) but much like Jenny from the block, no matter where I go, I know where I came from. So here it is: my guide to Worksop.

Where is Worksop?

First things first: Worksop is located in North Nottinghamshire, but have much closer links to Sheffield than Nottingham: Sheffield is by far the closest city, the town has both Sheffield postcodes and telephone numbers and the town is only five miles from the Yorkshire border. The town is also close to Lincoln and Doncaster.

Have I heard of Worksop?

No. Or at least not for particularly good reasons. Worksop has a fairly questionable list of ‘claims to fame’, including (but not limited to) the following:

• The Sun named Worksop the UK’s obesity capital as the region (Bassetlaw) has the highest number of obesity-related hospital admissions per 1,000 people in the country
• Worksop is home to Wilko’s national depot
• The country’s supply of oxo cubes are produced in Worksop
• Lee Westward (the pro golfer) is from Worksop and he lived there until very recently
• Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden was born there
• Worksop was once mentioned on QI for the headline “Worksop man dies of natural causes” printed in the Sheffield Star

Is Worksop worth visiting?

Actually – yeah, it is. While the town centre isn’t too exciting (apart from the huge Matalan and the new cinema), there are some quite big draws not far from town.

Things to see near Worksop: The Dukeries

View of the Hall

Worksop is often called ‘Gateway to the Dukeries’ – a title referring to the four ducal residences that used to exist south of the town: Thoresby Hall, Clumber House, Welbeck Abbey and Worksop Manor.

Today, Welbeck Abbey is owned by the ministry of defence and used as an army base and Worksop Manor is used as a stud farm – unsurprisingly, neither are open to the public.

Situated in the village of Perlethorpe, Thoresby Hall is now a luxury hotel but its grounds remain open to the public and it has a few artisan craft shops. The grounds are popular for walks, particularly on Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.

Click here for more pictures of Thoresby Hall in the snow.

Though Clumber House was knocked down, Clumber Park is now owned by the National Trust. Interestingly, during the 2018 extreme heat wave in the UK, almost the entire floor plan of the former manor house was visible – even the placement of a sundial. About half the town regularly flocks to Clumber whenever there is a bit of sunshine for a stroll around the lake and a 99 ice cream.According to legend, it’s also quite popular with doggers.

Things to see near Worksop: Creswell Crags

Entrance to one of the caves, Creswell Crags

Creswell Crags is one of those places that you only truly appreciate when you get older. The site is famous for being a staple of school trips (during which it always seemed to be raining), but it is actually the site of the oldest discovered cave drawings in Northern Europe. The network of limestone caves was inhabited during the ice age and engravings, cave art and tools have been discovered over the years, some dating back 13,000 years ago.

The area is hoping to become a UNESCO World Heritage site. Today, you can take a tour of the caves.

Places to visit near Worksop

Sherwood Forest is actually located far closer to Worksop than Nottingham. The ‘forest’ is quite small and fairly underwhelming, but the Major Oak is still standing (thanks to a LOT of supporting girders).

Rufford Park and Sherwood Pines are both within driving distance and worth a visit, too. The former is also homes to the ruins of an abbey and is a fantastic place for taking the dog for a walk. Sherwood Pines is a popular place for cycling (both BMXs and more leisurely cycling) and in summer it plays host to a few good gigs.

The grounds of Thoresby Hall, near Worksop (courtesy of pilk_f)

How to get to Worksop

For a fairly shit small town, Worksop is actually pretty well connected: the train station has links to Sheffield, Lincoln and Nottingham (and Cleethorpes on a Saturday) and Robin Hood Doncaster/Sheffield airport is only a stone’s throw away, with year-round flights to Poland, Romania and Lithuania (courtesy of WizzAir) and Belfast (Links Air).

How do I really feel about Worksop?

Like plenty of other people, I have a bit of a complicated relationship with my home town.

Jokes and whimsical blog posts aside, I do have a genuine fondness for my home town: I grew up there, I made friends for life there and like it or not, it made me who I am today. Nevertheless, it was a particularly grim place to grow up as an awkward gay teenager and a lot of people were not very nice for quite a number of years.

That said, I still have a lot of friends in Worksop and do now really enjoy going back to visit – and not just for a pilgrimage to Matalan.

Creswell Crags again