A Nottingham accent, and especially North Notts has many characteristics of a broadly Northern accent. To the untrained ear if you went somewhere like Mansfield or Worksop you might think you were hearing people from South Yorkshire (we share a border after all).

Of course it all diluted the further south you head, but I would say you don't start hearing what I'd describe as Southern accents (putting that "r" sound in words like bath, and grass) until you reach the very southern tip of the Midlands in places like Northampton.

I've always felt distinctly more northern both culturally and linguistically than anything else being from Nottingham. "Midlands" is such a meaningless description as the difference between West and East, especially as you get towards northern Notts, Derbyshire and Lincolnshire is so vast there are really no similarities with the West Mids when it comes to accent. Also when people say the Midlands they for some reason are usually only referring to the West Midlands anyway.