DESTINATION:
Warwickshire
The historic county of Warwickshire is home to one of the world’s most famous wordsmiths, William Shakespeare, and has at its centre the county town of Warwick. Its location close to the city of Birmingham lends itself well to a configuration of visits spanning Warwickshire and the West Midlands. See Mercia entry for further details.
Recommended duration - either 3 nights/4 days or 4 nights/5 days
KEY VISITS (Recommended)
- COMPTON VERNEY – a Grade I listed mansion designed by Robert Adam housing a new art gallery and home to a growing collection of fine and decorative arts. The collection includes works of Italian paintings from Naples, German paintings and sculpture, bronzes and pottery from China, British portraits, British folk Art and the Marx-Lamberts collection of popular art.
- BADDESLEY CLINTON – a moated manor house dating from the 15th century which has changed little since the death of Squire Henry Ferrers in 1633. The interior reflects the heyday of the Elizabethan era, when it was a place of refuge for persecuted Catholics who hid themselves in priest-holes! There is a walled garden and a lakeside nature walk.
- STONELEIGH ABBEY – founded during the reign of Henry II the estate then passed to the Leigh family who lived here for more than 400 years but it is now managed by a charitable trust. Visitors can enjoy the magnificent state rooms, original pieces of furniture, a medieval gatehouse and regency stables.
- UPTON HOUSE – built at the end of the 17th century and later remodelled in the 1920’s for the second Viscount Bearsted, a great collector of the arts. The house contains an outstanding collection of English and continental Old Masters, tapestries, French porcelain, Chelsea figures and 18th century furniture. There is also a lovely garden comprising herbaceous borders, kitchen garden, ornamental pools and a 1930s water garden.
- RAGLEY HALL AND GARDENS – the seat of the Seymour family, Marquesses of Hertford. The Hall is a fine Jacobean country house set in spacious landscaped gardens. Designed and built in 1680 by Robert Hook, it was not fully completed until the following century by James Gibbs, who decorated the ornate Great Hall in fine baroque style. The property was open to the public in the late 1950s and the Staterooms have now been restored to their former glory.
- ALSCOT PARK – a Grade I Rococo gothic-style house sitting in 4,000 acres of beautiful Warwickshire countryside some 3 miles from Stratford on Avon. In 1747, James West MP, Joint Secretary to the Exchequer, purchased Alscot Park to provide a beautiful country house in which to display his fine art collection, and today Emma Holman-West is the ninth generation of the West family to call Alscot Park home. She presides over the property and is responsible for transforming the estate into a successful commercial enterprise. The house itself is open only by private arrangement.
- HONINGTON HALL – constructed for London lawyer, Henry Parker in the late 1600s, it was sold to Joseph Townsend in 1737 who set about embellishing the property over the next two decades to create the magnificent interiors we see today. Of particular note is the flamboyant, rococo hall, which is a confection of yellow walls and white plaster ornamentation.