With less than a month to go before the biggest ever free-to-attend sporting event comes to Nottinghamshire, people are gearing up to make the fields and roads along the route as eye-catching as possible.
The Tour of Britain on September 6 is a fantastic opportunity to show the millions of people watching on television the very best that our wonderful county has to offer - from the spectacular scenery to the historical landmarks – we are proud of our heritage and we want to showcase it to the rest of world.
We’re encouraging people to get involved by creating eye-catching land art or setting up unusual displays along the 165 kilometres of the county’s roads.
Ideas are already coming in from people about how they will be turning fields, hills, market squares and even car parks into unusual art displays that celebrate their local community and tell the story of Nottinghamshire.
The key to the displays is to keep them simple, something as straightforward as using hay bales to spell out ‘Welcome to Notts’ will look impressive when viewed from the sky.
I was delighted as well that we had more than 750 entries from young people to design the starting flag and winner’s trophy for the Nottinghamshire stage, a competition that really captured the imagination of youngsters from every corner of the county.
The race starts off in Mansfield and the full route will take in more than 45 towns and villages including Worksop, Newstead, Scooby and Retford before finishing in Newark.
It’s been really heart-warming to hear that children’s holiday clubs, cycling clubs, local Women’s Institutes, housebuilders and shops are getting into the spirit of the race by making bunting, balloons, flags and decorating bikes – so it’ll be a truly warm welcome from everyone along the route.
So let’s all fly the flag for Nottinghamshire on September 6 and pull out all the stops to give the watching world some sights and scenes to remember.
The race will depart from Mansfield’s Market Square via Leeming Street at 11am and is expected to finish on Victoria Street alongside Devon and Sconce Park in Newark at around 3.20pm.
For more information and to get full details of the route please visit www.nottscc.gov.uk/tourofbritain
ENDS
Councillor Kay Cutts, Leader of Nottinghamshire County Council