Maid Marion, hide your eyes!
Robin Hood’s former hideout is now a haven for nude hikers.
A group of “naked ramblers” have taken to roaming Sherwood Forest in the nude, infuriating locals who have started a petition to have the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) which runs the park to “stop promoting nudity”.
Robert Robinson, who organized the petition, claims he recently saw a group of 12 naked men frolicking in the forest near Robin Hood’s main hideout, the 1,000 year-old Major Oak tree.
“My wife used to regularly jog around the forest, but stopped when she came across this group of men,” Robinson told the BBC.
“Every day, in good weather, nudists can be seen. The police state it is an offense if we find it offensive, which we do.”
Robinson added that with the nicer weather in England, the nudists have been coming out more regularly and “need to be discouraged”.
The RSPB told the BBC “naturists have walked in quieter areas of the forest for decades and it was legal providing they follow the rules” which include “wear(ing) clothes when leaving and returning to their cars”.
“I’ve walked this area for 18 years, since June 2020 there are so many naked men walking around, it’s intimidating and alarming,” wrote another petition signer, Lynne Manjengwa. “When we challenged a guy, not sticking to the rules and not covering himself, he suggested we read the welcome to naturists sign from RSPB, which states, if we don’t want to see naked people, to go elsewhere.”
Peter Wright, from British Naturism, told the BBC, the petition “discriminates against a minority” and its author has shown “disrespect” in publishing it. “We have the freedom to do what we want to do and we don’t want to be in people’s faces, go into high streets or in urban areas,” he said.
“Naturism is about being in nature and being naked is quite natural and quite normal.”
Meanwhile, the RSPB said it asked for “considerate behavior from everyone… Small numbers of naturists have enjoyed walking in quieter areas for decades, long before we began managing the reserve and their presence is tolerated – and indeed legal – provided they adhere to certain behaviors.”
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