We organised a visit to Wollaton Hall, a splendid Elizabethan house, designed by Robert Smythson. Built in 1588 it was home of the Willoughby family until purchased by Nottingham Council in 1925.

Dominating the lower floors is the original Elizabethan great hall, three storeys high with a stone screen at one end. The hall’s gallery contains Nottinghamshire’s oldest pipe organ, probably dating from the 17th century.  Part of the Hall also houses a natural history museum with a collection of over 750,000 objects, the second largest in the country after London’s Natural History Museum.