Nottinghamshire mixes Sherwood Forest and the Dukeries — genuinely good grazing land in the north of the county — with former coalfield areas further south and east that, much like County Durham, have quietly reclaimed themselves into practical smallholding and pony-keeping country. It is a central, well-connected county without an especially glamorous or expensive horse culture.
That practicality is an advantage for a family: prices tend to be reasonable, sellers are usually straightforward, and the county's central position means widening a search into Derbyshire, Lincolnshire or Leicestershire is easy. Ask about grazing quality specifically, since it varies noticeably between the Dukeries' better land around Ollerton and the reclaimed ground further south toward Nottingham itself, and do not assume every smallholding advert means a well-schooled pony rather than a genuine project.