It's Easter in three days, the clocks are about to go forward and *fingers crossed* spring is surely just around the corner, which all means that the cricket season can't be far behind. With all our serviced apartments within walking distance of Trent Bridge Cricket Ground and both local football clubs, Notts County and Nottingham Forest, we often have guests staying with us who are into their sport.

As well as what's happening in West Bridgford, it's a really exciting year for sport with Euro16 and the Olympics and Paralympics, so we thought it would be useful to put a sporting calendar together.

So here is our handy guide to the sporting highlights of 2016:

Cricket
Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club, West Bridgford, NG2 6AJ
Starting with a 2-day friendly against local rivals, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire's first XI have got an exciting season up until September, so too have the second XI and Academy teams. Here's the full fixtures list for 2016 for real cricket fans.

If you prefer the shorter form (like me), here are Notts County's upcoming T20 matches at home (which are perfect to take clients to or just for a really fun day out):

May 20th: Notts Outlaws vs. Birmingham Bears
June 4th: Notts Outlaws vs. Lancashire
July 1st: Notts Outlaws vs. Durham Jets
July 9th: Notts Outlaws vs. Worcestershire Rapids
July 15th: Notts Outlaws vs. Yorkshire Vikings
July 29th: Notts Outlaws vs. Leicestershire Foxes

You can book tickets for all of their matches here.

Football
Nottingham Forest FC, The City Ground, Nottingham, NG2 5FJ
Kicking off (thanks) on April 2nd, Nottingham Forest are playing Brentford in the Sky Bet Championship. Their last home game is on April 30th against Wolves, and their last of the season is on May 7th against Milton Keynes.

Here's their fixtures list for the whole season and you can buy your tickets here.

Notts County FC, Meadow Lane, Nottingham, NG2 3HJ
Notts County's next game is on March 28th at home against Wycombe in the Sky Bet League 2, and their final match of the season, on May 7th, is at home against Carlisle.

Here is their season's fixtures list and you can get your tickets on their tickets page.

There are some other pretty big sporting events happening this year, which are worth a mention...

• Grand National: April 9th – Aintree
• London Marathon: April 24th
• Tour de Yorkshire: April 29th - May 1st
• Invictus Games: May 8th - 12th – Orlando, Florida
• FA Cup Final: May 21st
• Euro 2016: June 10th - July 10th – France
• Wimbledon : June 27th - July 10th
• Tour de France: July 2nd - 10th
• British Grand Prix: July 10th – Silverstone
• Olympics: August 5th - 21st – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• Paralympics: August 7th - 18th – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

It looks set to be a fantastic year of sport! I'm most excited about watching the Olympics/Paralympics and I'm hoping to get along to at least one T20 match this year, they're so much fun. What are you looking forward to watching/attending? Let me know below.

And if you'll be visiting Nottingham to see any of the local action and would like to stay in luxury, fully-serviced accommodation while you're here please get in touch.

With Queens Medical Centre, the British Geological Survey, Boots HQ, Experian, Capital One, Nottingham Trent University, the University of Nottingham and a host of other big employers just down the road, we often welcome guests from all over the world who are either relocating to the area or spending a few months here for work.

Recently we welcomed Matt and Sally who travelled about 10,500 miles to our lovely corner of Nottinghamshire all the way from Melbourne. Sally and Matt are both doctors and Matt was here to undertake a 5-month Fellowship to train at the world renowned QMC, and obviously not wanting to miss out on everything that West Bridgford has to offer, his wife and small baby came along for the ride.

The couple found out about us online and knew that they wanted to stay in a serviced apartment rather than a hotel so that they could live like the locals and experience England to the full – and that they did.

They loved the apartment we put them in with its little garden, and Sally and the baby quickly met other mums and tots in the area and became part of the community very quickly, which made the move much easier. Despite what is said about the British (often by the Australians!) we're actually a pretty friendly bunch, definitely in West Bridgford where despite being on the edge of a major city, we have a friendly, welcoming community.

When two other doctors from Melbourne turned up to work in England with their teenage daughter who had won a scholarship to Nottingham Tennis Academy from Australia, I mentioned the families to each other and of course they all knew each other from back home! So when the other family arrived they had a readymade network to join through Matt and Sally.

More than just somewhere to stay

Unlike a soulless hotel, we pride ourselves on providing more than just somewhere for people to stay. Having done a lot of business travel myself over the years I know that it can be lonely and isolating so I've shaped what I offer by thinking back to those trips and what would have made a difference to me when I was away from home.

"Katie was a fantastic hostess"

Our apartments are really well equipped so that our guests can settle in, be comfortable straightaway and make it feel like home for a few weeks or months.

But more than that we like to help people settle into the area so we provide Relocation Services (which are free) to help guests find everything they'll need while they're here, including schools, places to go out, a guide to the local sights, and if we think they'll get on (and are happy for us to) we introduce them to other guests so they've got a social life and support as soon as they arrive.

When they got back to Oz Matt and Sally wrote to say how much they'd enjoyed their time in West Bridgford and how it was the small things, like introducing them to other people, that had made all the difference to their stay (and they said that wherever they go with their careers they'll also stay in short-term lets rather than hotels after their experience over here).

What are the little touches you love when you're away from home?

If you've got any questions about our properties or you'd like to make an enquiry please get in touch.