The Robin Hood Festival is returning to Sherwood Forest this summer with an exciting new feature — daily tournaments packed with jousting, archery and live action.

This year’s festival runs from Monday, 5th August until Sunday 11th, from the new visitor centre in Forest Corner, from 11am until 4pm daily.

Hosted by the RSPB and its partners, working together with Nottinghamshire County Council, the week-long festival will be a celebration of Robin Hood, filled with medieval-themed entertainment, activities and a host of costumed characters and entertainers.

This year the festival welcomes equestrian stunt team, Cavalry of Heroes, for the first time, who have designed a Robin Hood show especially for the event and will be performing in a Grand Tournament three times a day throughout the week.

The show will feature Robin Hood, Maid Marian and the most trusty of Merry Men, battling to win out against the evil Sheriff of Nottingham, with sword fights, archery, horse-back stunts and jousting all part of the action.

There will be a further four stages set around the forest, filled with the usual mix of merriment, music and story-telling.

There will also be an Activity Zone, with lots for visitors to do. Nottinghamshire’s Inspire: Culture, Learning and Libraries team will be keeping visitors busy by offering a host of medieval games and children’s craft activities.

Sherwood consortium partners, The Sherwood Forest Trust, will have a medieval ‘Outlaw Chillout Camp’ based around a full-on multi-sensory experience of the forest that has never been seen at the Festival before.

Entry is free, with a £6 parking fee for a full day. Programmes will be available to buy each day. To find out more about the timetable of activities go to www.visitsherwood.co.uk

Gemma Howarth, RSPB Senior Site Manager for Sherwood Forest National Nature Reserve, said: “We’re really excited about bringing jousting back to the event this year, and introducing Cavalry of Heroes to our festival goers for the first time. They are an amazing group of performers and will add a whole new dimension to the Robin Hood story this year.”

“The new, state of the art, visitor centre offers the perfect welcome to visitors while they take a break, grab some lunch and their Robin Hood gifts, between visiting the many shows and entertainment that take place throughout each day.

“In terms of the site, we’ve introduced a few new features this year, such as having contactless card machines in the car park for festival week, to help ensure we bring traffic on-site quickly and efficiently. We want everyone to have a great experience when they visit Sherwood.”

Nottinghamshire County Councillor John Cottee, Communities and Place Committee Chairman, said: “We are delighted to be supporting the iconic Robin Hood Festival at Sherwood Forest once again, especially as visitors will have the opportunity to see the award-winning visitor centre. If you’ve never visited the festival and experienced the legend of Robin Hood I’d urge you to pay a visit, it’s a fantastic day out for all ages!”