Nottinghamshire’s best dog walks centre on Clumber Park and the various Sherwood sites — which turn out to be several genuinely different places easily lumped together — plus a patchwork of district-level rules worth knowing before you set off.
Clumber Park — the county’s flagship
This National Trust estate welcomes dogs across most of the park, on lead in busier areas (the Pleasure Grounds, walled kitchen garden, main visitor facilities, and Lake Brew at Hardwick village) and off-lead elsewhere if your dog has good recall and stays in sight — signage indicates where. Around sheep, a lead is essential; unusually, near cattle the Trust’s own guidance says to let your dog off lead if cattle approach, then recall once safe. The Cow Pastures area has a free, no-booking secure off-lead “Dog Paddock.” Dogs aren’t allowed inside the Turning Yard café, but the on-site Central Bark café is dog-friendly with its own dog shower and hosts regular organised dog walks.
Sherwood Pines and Sherwood Forest: two different places
These are genuinely separate sites, often confused. Sherwood Pines Forest Park, near Kings Clipstone, is a Forestry England-managed pine forest of around 3,300 acres; we couldn’t find a site-specific published dog policy page for it, so treat any specific lead rule you see elsewhere with caution. Sherwood Forest, the nature reserve at Edwinstowe that’s home to the Major Oak, has its own published guidance: dogs should be kept in sight and under control (ideally on lead) in the cattle-grazed enclosures, and are legally required to be on a lead inside the fenced Budby South Forest enclosure to protect nightjars and other vulnerable species — no exact calendar dates are given for this, so check on-site signage.
Country parks — another two-different-places case
Rushcliffe Country Park requires a lead in the car park, around the lakeside, and in play areas, and has its own free fenced dog agility area; professional dog walkers are asked to cap at 4 dogs. Bestwood Country Park and Gedling Country Park are two separate sites, not the same park under different names — we found no published lead rule for Bestwood, while Gedling runs a zoned system (on-lead near car parks, play areas and the visitor centre; off-lead but under control in the wider green zones; dogs excluded entirely from the grazing grasslands). We found no published dog policy at all for Holme Pierrepont Country Park/the National Water Sports Centre — a genuine gap, so check on-site signage or call ahead.
Wollaton Park’s deer, and the PSPO patchwork
Wollaton Park’s resident deer herd is well known, but we couldn’t confirm a specific deer-related lead rule from an official source in this pass — a gap worth checking with Nottingham City Council or on-site signage rather than assuming. Nottingham City Council does run its own “Dogs on Leads by Direction” PSPO, though we couldn’t extract the full rule text. Among the districts, Ashfield stands out with a confirmed numeric cap — a maximum of 6 dogs per person district-wide (except on Forestry Commission land) — alongside lead-on-direction rules and exclusions from enclosed play areas and sports facilities. Bassetlaw‘s 2024 order names specific lead-required churchyards and cemeteries (Askham, Blyth, Harworth, Retford, Worksop) and exclusion zones concentrated in Worksop, Retford, Shireoaks and Tuxford. Mansfield‘s order requires a lead on an officer’s direction and excludes dogs from children’s play areas and fenced sports facilities.
Wildlife Trust reserves
Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust requires a lead no longer than 2 metres on Open Access land from 1 March to 31 July to protect ground-nesting birds, plus a lead near sheep and near mowing meadows when notices are posted. At Attenborough Nature Reserve and Idle Valley Nature Reserve, dogs must be on a lead throughout, though both allow well-behaved dogs in their visitor centres. We found no Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust reserve with an outright dogs ban.
Between two differently-named Sherwoods and two differently-named country parks, Nottinghamshire takes a bit of checking before you head out. A calming bite can help take the edge off a walk somewhere busy and unfamiliar. If your dog struggles to settle regardless of where you walk, that’s worth a conversation with your vet or a qualified trainer.
For everything else dog-related in Nottinghamshire, see our Nottinghamshire dog services hub — and if you’re staying over, here’s our guide to dog-friendly accommodation in the county.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are Sherwood Pines and Sherwood Forest the same place?
No — Sherwood Pines Forest Park, near Kings Clipstone, and Sherwood Forest, home to the Major Oak at Edwinstowe, are two genuinely different sites with different managers and different rules.
Are Bestwood Country Park and Gedling Country Park the same place?
No — they’re two separate country parks with different dog rules; Gedling runs a zoned on/off-lead system, while we found no published lead rule for Bestwood.
Is there a dog limit in Nottinghamshire?
Ashfield district has a confirmed cap of 6 dogs per person. We didn’t find a numeric limit stated by the other Nottinghamshire districts.
Written by Georgiana & Figo, who treats every country park signpost as a personal challenge to read before the humans do.
