Once one of the most significant towns in the country, these days it’s left mostly for the townsfolk
What’s going for it? So dominated are the Midlands by the great sprawl of Birmingham, you can easily forget what they were like before the industrial revolution. Places such as Warwick were once the metaphorical, as well as the literal heart of the country – as English as oak trees, John Bull and roast beef. Middle England. Middle Earth. Tolkien got married here. Shakespeare would namecheck the town as some kind of epitome of the English spirit. Today, people come with seven-year-olds in plastic chainmail and swords for the humungous castle, equal parts astonishing relic and ye olde theme parke; but the town behind, once one of the most significant in the country, is these days mostly left for the townsfolk. Lucky them. It’s beautiful, high on its bluff above the Avon and scattered with everything you’d expect in an ancient town, as English as, well, you get the picture. Georgian townhouses, Queen Anne mansions, tottering half-timbered Tudor and tea shops with a nice line in toasted teacakes. It’s somehow both utterly ordinary and utterly exceptional at the same time.
The case against… Yes, it’s a tad provincial. But what lies on your doorstep – from the theatre at Stratford, the universities in Coventry and the bright lights of Brum – more than makes up for it.
Continue reading...from Home And Garden | The Guardian http://bit.ly/2RuOG1B
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