PrimeCarers
Nottingham Castle, Nottingham city centre

Companionship careNottingham

Days out in Nottingham for an older parent

Eight places in Nottingham that make a good day out for an older parent, from Nottingham Castle to Woodthorpe Grange Park. For each one: what its own access information confirms, what it costs, how long to allow, and the carers nearby who drive and could take them.

Researched by PrimeCarers from each place’s own website and access information  ·  Updated October 2026

Nottingham Castle. Photo: SkywalkerPL, CC BY 3.0

Eight days out across seven towns

The best places to take an older parent in Nottingham

Six of them are free to visit or to walk around. The access information for three confirm an accessible toilet. Where a place does not publish its access, we say so.

Nottingham Castle, Nottingham city centre

Photo: SkywalkerPL, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Castle · Nottingham city centre

Nottingham Castle

Nottingham Castle stands on a sandstone rock above the city, with a 17th-century ducal mansion now housing the museum and art gallery and galleries on Robin Hood and the city's history. The grounds give wide views across Nottingham, and there is a visitor centre with a café.

The museum has lift access to every floor, accessible toilets in the museum and visitor centre, a Changing Places toilet and wheelchairs to use on site, though the grounds have uneven historic surfaces.

Time to allow
Half a day
Cost
Paid entry

What their access information confirms

  • Partly step-free
  • Accessible toilet
  • Wheelchairs to borrow
  • Café

Their websiteAccess information

Carers who drive, based near Nottingham city centre

Wollaton Hall and Deer Park, Wollaton

Photo: arrannffc from Nottingham, UK, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Historic house · Wollaton

Wollaton Hall and Deer Park

Wollaton Hall is an Elizabethan mansion in 500 acres of deer park on the west side of Nottingham, housing the city's natural history museum. Red and fallow deer roam the park, and there is a café and gift shop in the stable courtyard.

Platform and internal lifts reach all the museum galleries on the ground and first floors, and accessible toilets are in the courtyard and beside the café.

Time to allow
Half a day
Cost
Free entry, parking charged

What their access information confirms

  • Partly step-free
  • Accessible toilet
  • Café

Their websiteAccess information

Carers who drive, based near Wollaton

National Justice Museum, Lace Market

Photo: It's No Game, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Museum · Lace Market

National Justice Museum

The National Justice Museum is in Nottingham's old Shire Hall and County Gaol on High Pavement, with Victorian courtrooms, cells and exhibitions on crime and punishment. Costumed guides bring trials and prison life to life, and there is a café.

Most areas have step-free level access, there are two adapted toilets and Blue Badge bays in the street, but the dungeons and dark cells are reached only by steps.

Time to allow
An hour or two
Cost
Paid entry

What their access information confirms

  • Partly step-free
  • Accessible toilet
  • Blue Badge parking
  • Café

Their websiteAccess information

Carers who drive, based near Lace Market

Nottingham Contemporary, Lace Market

Photo: Bryn Holmes, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Gallery · Lace Market

Nottingham Contemporary

Nottingham Contemporary is a large free art gallery in the Lace Market, with changing exhibitions of modern and contemporary art in its four main galleries. The building has a café and a shop, and its outer walls are patterned with Nottingham lace.

Entry is free and the galleries are in one modern building, so the carer can plan a short visit around the café and ask staff about lifts on arrival.

Time to allow
An hour or two
Cost
Free

Access

Their website does not set out its access in detail, so ring ahead about parking, paths and toilets.

Their website

Carers who drive, based near Lace Market

Highfields Park, Highfields

Photo: Photograph by Clem Rutter, Rochester, Kent. (www.clemrutter.net)., CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Park · Highfields

Highfields Park

Highfields Park is a 21-hectare park next to the University of Nottingham, laid out around a boating lake with fine trees, exotic planting and water features. There is a pavilion café open every day.

Parking for park users is next to Lakeside Arts, so the carer can combine a short lakeside stroll with the café and the gallery in one visit.

Time to allow
An hour or two
Cost
Free

Access

Their website does not set out its access in detail, so ring ahead about parking, paths and toilets.

Their website

Carers who drive, based near Highfields

Nottingham Arboretum, Arboretum

Photo: Alan Murray-Rust, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Park · Arboretum

Nottingham Arboretum

The Arboretum, opened in 1852, is Nottingham's oldest public park and the closest to the city centre, with over 800 trees including some from the original Victorian planting. It has a bandstand, a lake and a Chinese bell pagoda.

The tram stops close to the entrance on Waverley Street, which saves a walk, and the park is small enough for an unhurried loop with stops.

Time to allow
An hour or two
Cost
Free

Access

Their website does not set out its access in detail, so ring ahead about parking, paths and toilets.

Their website

Carers who drive, based near Arboretum

Colwick Country Park

Nature reserve · Colwick

Colwick Country Park

Colwick Country Park lies about four kilometres east of the city centre beside the River Trent, with lakes, woodland and meadows. It is known for butterflies, dragonflies and large numbers of wintering wildfowl on the water.

There is a free car park at the end of Racecourse Road, so the carer can park close to the water and walk a short stretch of the lakeside.

Time to allow
An hour or two
Cost
Free, one car park charges £2

Access

Their website does not set out its access in detail, so ring ahead about parking, paths and toilets.

Their website

Carers who drive, based near Colwick

Woodthorpe Grange Park, Sherwood

Photo: David Hallam-Jones, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Park · Sherwood

Woodthorpe Grange Park

Woodthorpe Grange Park on the northern edge of the city surrounds The Grange, a 19th-century listed manor house, with formal gardens, greenhouses and a sunken garden with a water feature. The Tropical House holds warm-climate plants to see in any weather.

The Tropical House and formal gardens give an indoor and outdoor choice close together, so the carer can keep the walking short.

Time to allow
An hour or two
Cost
Free

Access

Their website does not set out its access in detail, so ring ahead about parking, paths and toilets.

Their website

Carers who drive, based near Sherwood

Regular groups and events in Nottingham

Something to go back to every week or every year, from our research into what older people enjoy doing in Nottingham.

  • Cooking & Baking · SouthwellBramley Apple Festival, SouthwellAn annual October festival in the town where the Bramley apple originated, with baking, food and drink stalls and apple-themed cooking. A carer could take someone for a short late-morning visit, buy Bramleys and bake a pie or crumble together afterwards at home.Details
  • Music · NottinghamNottingham Classics concert seasonA long-running season of orchestral concerts at the city's concert hall, with visiting orchestras through the year. A carer can book seats that suit, handle the travel and parking, and choose a shorter afternoon or early evening programme.Details
  • Dancing · NottinghamAfternoon tea dances in NottinghamRegular social tea dance sessions listed for the Nottingham area, with ballroom and sequence dancing and a break for refreshments. A carer can ring ahead to check the date, sort the transport and sit with someone who wants to watch as much as dance.Details
  • Photography · NottinghamNottingham and Notts Photographic SocietyA long-standing camera club with a regular programme of talks, competitions and print evenings. A carer can provide the lift and stay for the evening, so someone who has stopped driving at night can keep going to meetings.Details
  • Painting · NottinghamNottingham Society of ArtistsAn artists' society founded in the 1880s, running studio sessions, exhibitions and membership for local painters. A carer can help with getting materials there and back and with sitting through a session at a comfortable pace.Details
  • Sports · NottinghamWalking football sessionsNottingham Forest Community Trust runs free walking football sessions for older players, played at walking pace with no contact. A carer can handle the booking and transport and stay for the tea and chat afterwards.Details

Hobbies and carers who share them in Nottingham

At a glance

The eight places side by side

What each place’s own access information confirms. “Ask” means it does not say, not that it is missing.

PlaceTimeCostStep-freeToiletCafé
Nottingham CastleNottingham city centrehalf a dayPaid entryPartlyYesYes
Wollaton Hall and Deer ParkWollatonhalf a dayFreePartlyYesYes
National Justice MuseumLace Marketan hour or twoPaid entryPartlyYesYes
Nottingham ContemporaryLace Marketan hour or twoFreeAskAskAsk
Highfields ParkHighfieldsan hour or twoFreeAskAskAsk
Nottingham ArboretumArboretuman hour or twoFreeAskAskAsk
Colwick Country ParkColwickan hour or twoFreeAskAskAsk
Woodthorpe Grange ParkSherwoodan hour or twoFreeAskAskAsk

Where the places are in Nottingham

The county’s boundary, numbered as on this page, with the main towns for reference.

12345678
  1. 1Nottingham Castle, Nottingham city centre
  2. 2Wollaton Hall and Deer Park, Wollaton
  3. 3National Justice Museum, Lace Market
  4. 4Nottingham Contemporary, Lace Market
  5. 5Highfields Park, Highfields
  6. 6Nottingham Arboretum, Arboretum
  7. 7Colwick Country Park, Colwick
  8. 8Woodthorpe Grange Park, Sherwood

What it costs

What a day out with a carer costs in Nottingham

Carers in Nottingham charge £19 to £21 an hour through PrimeCarers, typically £20, with our fee included. A four-hour outing is about £80 for the carer’s time. Entry, food and parking are extra, and travel costs are only payable if you agree them with the carer in advance, in writing. The cost of home care in Nottingham has the full figures.

Photographs on this page are from Wikimedia Commons, credited under each one.

Questions

Questions families ask about days out in Nottingham

Nottingham Castle in Nottingham city centre, Wollaton Hall and Deer Park in Wollaton, National Justice Museum in Lace Market, Nottingham Contemporary in Lace Market, Highfields Park in Highfields, Nottingham Arboretum in Arboretum, Colwick Country Park in Colwick and Woodthorpe Grange Park in Sherwood. Each has its own section on this page with what its access information confirms, the cost and how long to allow.

Nottingham Castle, Wollaton Hall and Deer Park and National Justice Museum have an accessible toilet. Nottingham Castle lends wheelchairs. Access changes, so ring ahead about anything your parent depends on.

Wollaton Hall and Deer Park, Nottingham Contemporary, Highfields Park, Nottingham Arboretum, Colwick Country Park and Woodthorpe Grange Park. Parking is often charged even where entry is free.

Yes. A companion carer can drive your parent there, walk at their pace, help with the toilet and meals, and bring them home. 31 of the carers with a rate near Nottingham drive. Visits are booked by the hour, typically £20 an hour here with our fee included. Companionship care in Nottingham shows who is available.

Often. Many attractions let a carer or companion in free, or at a reduced price, with a disabled visitor, and some ask for proof such as a letter or a benefit award. It varies, so check each place’s access or prices page before you go.

Where the nearest carers live

From the profiles of the carers based within about 45 minutes of Nottingham

Where the nearest carers live. A carer close to home can manage a longer day out.

Companionship care in the counties around Nottingham

Days out in the areas around Nottingham

Find a carer who could take them out in Nottingham

See carers near Nottingham who drive, with their photos, interests, rates and reviews. Talking to them is free and nothing is booked until you say so.

Search carers in NottinghamCall 0203 369 3624
Free to searchNo obligationVetted & insuredYou choose the carer