round Robin Hood's barn

around Robin Hood's barn

On a long, indirect route. A: "What took you guys so long to get here?" B: "Well, rather than just going through town, our esteemed driver took us all around Robin Hood's barn instead!"
See also: around, barn, robin
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

round Robin Hood's barn

by a circuitous route.
Robin Hood is the semi-legendary English medieval outlaw reputed to have robbed the rich and helped the poor. In this expression, Robin Hood's barn represents an out-of-the-way place of a kind that might be used by an outlaw or fugitive such as Robin Hood. Recorded from the mid 19th century, the phrase seems to have originated in the dialect speech of the English Midlands, the area in which Robin Hood is said to have operated.
See also: barn, robin, round
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • all around Robin Hood's barn
  • around Robin Hood's barn
  • hood
  • robin
  • go around Robin Hood's barn
  • for (so) long
  • for long
  • will go a long way
  • gritch
  • long since
References in periodicals archive
The expression 'going round Robin Hood's barn' has a meaning much the same as 'being sent on a wild goose chase'.
MYTHS of the midlands; back in time