Hollinwell Heath

Kirkby-in-Ashfield is a former mining town that has settled into a comfortable, unpretentious rhythm — a high street with independent cafés, bakers and a couple of decent pubs, plus the larger shops and leisure facilities of Mansfield and Sutton-in-Ashfield only a short drive away. Green space is genuinely good here: Portland Park Nature Reserve, a reclaimed limestone quarry on the town's doorstep, is a favourite for dog walks, while King's Mill Reservoir, Silverhill Wood and the old railway walking and cycling trails around Teversal open up miles of easy countryside. Sherwood Forest and Newstead Abbey, Lord Byron's ancestral home, are both within an easy outing. Road links are a real strength, with the M1 close by and the A38 and A60 feeding into Mansfield, Nottingham and Derby. The Hollinwell name is borrowed from the championship heathland golf course just south of the town, a reminder that this corner of Nottinghamshire is sandier, heathier and more wooded than most people expect.