isabel

I'm planning a trip to Leamington Spa in November. My daughter is going to grad school at the University of Warwick. Looking for suggestions of things to do in the area. I'm willing to do day trips (or even over night) - up to about 2-3 hours by train. I will be spending some time in London at both ends of the trip, and have been to London several times. I've already been to Warwick Castle, Stratford-upon-Avon, Oxford, Cambridge, and several of the Cotswold towns. So - any ideas?

Cholmondley_Warner

Kenilworth? Nice old town, castle etc. Robert Plant lives there....

telechick

My brother is in grad school at Warwick too. I enjoyed my time in Coventry going to the cathedral and the art museum and the transportation museum - but you may have already done all of this. I haven't been to Kenilworth, but my brother and his family rave about it, so I'd definitely suggest that. I know that there are some interesting things to do in Birmingham, despite its reputation - I think there's a good museum there.

You could always head north to York and that area. I think it's about 3 hrs by train. It's a great town with lots to see.

For travel to London make sure you check out the SuperBus - it leaves from behind the Tesco and you can get fares as low as 1 GBP. It drops you off at Victoria Station in London and isn't that bad of a trip.

bellini

My husband works at Warwick Uni. Your daughter will have a great time there. Leamington Spa is worth checking out for its regency architecture. There are often guided walking tours (start Jephson Gardens at the bottom end of the Parade).
Birmingham has an excellent Art Gallery with a great collection of Pre-Raphaelite paintings. The Symphony Hall hosts great concerts.
York is definitely a recommendation- direct trains from Leamington. Liverpool is also on a direct train route from Leamington and has Tate gallery, Walker Art Gallery, Beatles Museum, wonderful shopping and great Victorian architecture.

isabel

Thanks for the replies. Kenilworth looks interesting. I hadn't thought of Liverpool but I see it's a UNESCO site so that's always promising. I've been to York. I was thinking about Chester - and maybe even Conwy Wales - I guess that would require an overnight or two.

The superBus sounds like a great idea.

I'll check into all these.

Cholmondley_Warner

I was so bored in Leamington Spa that I went to see The Importance of Being Ernest.

I cannot explain how bad a thing this is.

isabel

Cholmondley -Can you explain why Leamington Spa is so boring? I didn't think it was someplace I would be enthralled with for weeks - hence the purpose of this post, to find out what else there might be in the area. I'm only staying there because my daughter will be living there. Ideally I'd like to find things I could do as day trips so I'd be able to spend evenings with her, also not have to check in and out of a bunch of places. But as I said, one or two overnights is possible. I'm thinking of about five or six nights total in the area, with additional nights in London at both ends.

It looks like it takes about two and a half hours by train from Leamington Spa to either Chester or Liverpool, and about 45 minutes between them. If not too crazy I'd also like to see Conwy Wales. Given the short hours of daylight in November, does it seem possible to see those three places in three days/two nights given the travel time?

Cholmondley_Warner

It's just a small provincial town without much going on.

It's inoffensive, but dull.

Warwick University has a lively Arts Centre. That's about it.

annhig

Leamington spa - boring? oh, CW, go and wash your mouth out! it was the mecca of my childhood, the place where my beloved grandparents took me for frolics in the park, treats at the warwickshire equivalent of Harrods, and finally, chocolate boxes from the Leamington Fancy Bakery.

places within an hour or so are legion - Kenilworth, Warwick, Stratford, Coventry [my home town and despite what others may say, well worth being sent to] Charlcote, Compton Verney, Ryton Organic Gardens, and loads of lovely warwickshire villages.

within 2 hours - Worcester, Evesham, the cotswolds, Henley in Arden, Coughton court [went there for the first time last week - home of the Throckmortons - fascinating].

within 3 hours - Malvern, the Wye valley, slimbridge, gloucester, the Peak District, Norfolk - i have friends who live in west Warks whose favourite day out is a day trip to wells next the sea!.

in short, you CAN go to york, Chester, Cambridge, etc, but there is loads to do much closer to what will be your temporary home.

have a great stay,

regards, ann

Cholmondley_Warner

It's dull.

flanneruk

If you're relying on trains, Oxford's a great deal closer (35 mins away) than almost anywhere mentioned so far.

Liverpool's no longer on a direct train, but the same-platform change at Wolverhampton or Stafford makes the journey painless. There IS, though, a direct, generally lowcost, train to Telford (for the Ironbridge complex) and Shrewsbury which goes on to Wrexham (www.wrexhamandshropshire.co.uk): though arguably the crappiest place in Britain, Wrexham's got good, regular, direct trains to Chester and Conway (which, in a dismal outbreak of PC, the railway booking engines insist of recognising only as Conwy, which ISN'T the town's English name) and is plugged into Liverpool's suburban railway system.

As a basic first principle of life, two days spent in Liverpool is an infinitely better use of anyone's time than frittering it away in the English Midlands. Many of the exhibitions connected with its Biennial contemporary arts festival will still be on in November, or you might coincide with the city's November raceday at the world's most daunting steeplechase course (www.aintree.co.uk). Liverpool doesn't just have great Victorian architecture: it's got more buildings subject to conservation orders than anywhere in Britain apart from London (so stop giving yourselves airs, Oxford and Edinburgh). Even its recent city-centre shopping mall is just about the most (well: to be honest, the only) handsome British urban development for the past 50 years.

I'd give Liverpool at least a day and a half (as long as you don't waste time on the Beatles junk). Chester's scarcely worth half a day (even its partly Romanesque cathedral, though excellent, is a bit mimsy compared to Liverpool's two rather newer ones), though since Conway's only an hour away, there's little to it apart from the castle and you can train back after it gets dark (a bit after 5, depending whether it's early or late Nov, as you'll be quite west of Greenwich) you could pop over to Conway around lunchtime and still be back in Leamington for supper.

Cholmondley_Warner

Wolverhampton or Stafford

Wrexham

Telford

Liverpool>>>

Christ on a bike.

flanneruk

"Christ on a bike."

Trouble with these Southerners: don't even know about Ironbridge.

Come to think of it, though, there's an hourly direct train from Leamington to Winchester too (though it's of infinitely less interest than Liverpool). So that'll shut him up.

Cholmondley_Warner

Won't.

julia_t

Consider Shropshire - Ludlow is easy albeit with a change at Birmingham New Street. It's a lovely town, part medieval, part Georgian. Shrewsbury would make a nice day trip too.

Oxford is a great idea.

Also, a random thought/suggestion - if you get a train to Cheltenham (one change at B'ham New Street) I'll meet you and drive you someplace like Winchcombe - a pretty little Cotswold town with the fabulous Sudeley Castle. Oh dear, I just looked at their website and they are closed for the winter from 31st October.

Oh well, Winchcombe is still nice for lunch, and there's Broadway not far away. I see Snowshill Manor is also closed in November - but I suspect many places will be closed at that time of year which is a shame.

Worcester is also a nice town to visit, and Gloucester isn't that bad!

Seriously, if you'd like company one day - I don't know how long you are over here for - then I'd be happy to meet you somewhere. You can email me at [email protected]

I've met more than a few Fodorites over the years, and it's always been a pleasure. I hope if any of my youngsters spend time in the USA and I were to visit them, a fellow Fodorite would help me out!

PS, off topic, but I've just looked at your Croatia photos and they are wonderful, they've taken me back in my memories to lovely days spent there.

isabel

Thanks for all the suggestions. I am checking them all out. Unfortunately, except for the places I have already been (Oxford, Stratford, Warwick, etc) everything looks to be over two hours by train. I've been at the National Rail site, is a there a better one?

Flanner - are you suggesting that I go to Liverpool for a day, spend the night and then stop in Chester on the way to Conwy, returning that night to Leamington Spa? If you are - so if that's a reasonable scenario - that's sounds like a good idea. All the guidebooks seem to like Chester quite a bit, maybe even more than Liverpool, but you live there so perhaps you know better. At least one guide book says to allow "1 hour" at Conwy castle, so maybe it doesn't take that long to see.

annhig - glad to hear you like Leamington Spa. I am assuming it's nice enough to spend at least a day or so there, not doing any day trips.

Julia - thanks so much for your offer. I will probably take you up on it. It sounds lovely to have a local to show me around. If I do go (the trip is not 100% definite yet, have to convince work they can live without me) it will be the week of Nov 8th. I will be emailing you. Plus we can talk about Croatia - your trip reports were very helpful to me as I planned that trip.

flanneruk

"I've been at the National Rail site, is a there a better one?"

All British railway sites use the same database, though some foreign ones (like bahn.de) have only a selection of trains. For reasons I don't quite understand, the National Rail site often doesn't provide timetables for the Wrexham & Shropshire Railway company. Direct trains to Shrewsbury and Winchester are a bit under 2 hrs, BTW


"like Chester quite a bit, maybe even more than Liverpool, but you live there so perhaps you know better."

I no longer live there, which is why I believe myself to be objective: Liverpool's a city which over the past 200 years has revolutionised world transport and trade (not only did the world's first proper railway and the world's first international steamship service start there, but it was a more important port than New York for most of the 19th century), demographic shift (its boosters claim about 40% of all European migrants to the New World passed through it), and geopolitics (many of us argue that the Battle of the Atlantic, fought from Liverpool, was at least as important as Midway or Stalingrad in determining the outcome of WW2).

Because its economy collapsed in the 1930s and hardly recovered till around 2000, it's preserved more of what was built during its heyday (which, sadly, predates the Industrial Revolution since its merchants made a fortune from the slave trade, so includes a fair amount of pre-Victorian buildings) than almost any other British city, and has an almost unparalleled infrastructure of museums charting all the above and more - a unique monument to Britain over the past 300 years (www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk.)

Chester, to be honest, is just another pretty British town. Marred, IMHO, by the fact that - unlike, say, the Cotswolds - it got rich during the 19th century, so much of its heritage was "restored". Its Rows, for example, are touted as being medieval: they're actually just a Victorian recreation of what art historians thought they ought to have been like.

I'd train up from Leamington, give Liverpool the rest of that day and all the following, get the train over to Chester at the end of the day so you can sleep inside the walls, sightsee Chester in the morning, train to Conway, then start the journey back as it starts getting dark.

Apart from the approach into Conway station and some surprisingly pretty cow/undulating fields/early canal vistas between Crewe and Runcorn, the scenery on the train's not much to write home about.

annhig

annhig - glad to hear you like Leamington Spa. I am assuming it's nice enough to spend at least a day or so there, not doing any day trips.>>

mmmm - if the sun shines, perhaps half a day and lunch; if it doesn't, give up, jump on the train/bus, and try somewhere else!

Cholmondley_Warner

There's always The Importance of Being Ernest. I'm sure it's still playing. It's that kind of place.

khunwilko

Off the top of my head -

L/Spa once had an article in a national music paper claiming the highest number of musicians per capita in the UK.
THere is/was an extraordinary number of quite famous-ish people who either come from that area or chose to live there.- Specials, Selector, Nick Drake, Steve Miller, Dangerman, Eastenders, Germaine Greer, EP Thompson, John Lennon, Napoleon III, Frank Whittle, Aleister Crowley, the British Nazi Party all have connections with Leamington...as well as a mention by Oscar Wilde and Carry-on Cruising.......

The Assembly is the premier place for live music and other gigs i the area
http://www.leamingtonassembly.com - you'd be surprised at who plays there.

THe architecture is NOT Regency, it's mostly Victorian.....or vandalised by successive insensitive councils.
Warwick university is actually not in Warwickshire, it's in the West Midlands o0n the edge of Coventry. .....most people connected to the place choose to live in Leamington. Warwick the county town joins on to L/Spa but entertainment-wise has much less on offer especially with night-life.
I would recommend a car for sight-seeing - Chesterton Windmill - (only one in Europe)burton Dasset Saxon Church) hills and Edge Hill (civil War Battle). Coventry was UK's "Mo-Town" so if you're into classic cars there are various museums and famous car sites still to be seen.
The Fosse road was built by the Romans - hence the name) it is still in full use - if there are road works stop and take a look, you may well find pieces of Roman pottery. Canals are a big thing around that area - good for holidays in a narrowboat or just a nice meal in a canal-side pub.
Charles Voysey the Arts and Crafts architect has left a few examples of his work dotted around Warwickshire - try Bishop's Itchington - it's a private house you may need to make an appointment.
Rugby - home of the game is about 10 miles away.
Warwickshire historically is interesting as it lies on the dividing line between the Danes and the Saxons and this is reflected in the east/west differences in place names.
someone already mentioned Kenilworth (castle) Warwick (Castle and antiques)......other nearby towns include Banbury (ride a cock-horse) Rugby (football) and Leicester (Rag trade, Doc Martens, Rugger and Soccer) , Stratford on Avon (Shakespeare) Birmingham (2nd Biggest City in UK), Coventry (cars, Cathedrals and 2 Universities).
Oddly enough you will find people from all these places come to Leamington for a night out.