大象传媒

In the division of Sherwood Forest known as Lyndhurst you'll find an old medieval hermitage. It was inhabited by a monk who looked after this sacred space.

You'll also find Friar Tuck's Well in Lyndhurst. It's marked on present day Ordnance Survey maps.

The spot itself has a deep heritage going back beyond the medieval era into the Dark Ages.

Raiding Danes at the time of Alfred the Great are said to have despoiled the Saxon shrine here and the treasure was lost, having been buried by a monk who was killed by the invaders.

The Danes thought the treasure had been thrown into the water - the moat here is said to have been cursed by the Danes upon leaving for not finding the treasure in it, 'filling with water only every seven years'.

The old Robin Hood ballad The Curtal Friar takes place here - with a Friar Tuck very different from the one we know today. It is the only time Robin Hood ever wore armour before expecting a fight.

Sir Walter Scott wrote part of his novel Ivanhoe here - an adventure featuring Robin Hood as 'Locksley' - and it is said that Washington Irving was inspired enough by his visit here to write The Legend of Spooky Hollow on his return home to America.

Blacke Dickon's tour of Robin Hood's county

Robin Hood expert, Richard Rutherford-Moore in the guise of one of the Sherwood Foresters takes us around Bestwood Lodge and Country Park.

Blacke Dickon: "Robin Hood hears about a brave fighter who's been living in Sherwood Forest, beating allcomers in combat. Robin cannot allow a person like that to live in his forest..."