Wanderings in the English Midlands

For some reason, when I have to pick my next destination for a trip within England, it’s either the seaside, or the discovery of a new corner of London, or farther lands like the Lake District (about which I already wrote here), the Peak District or Wales that pops into my mind. It’s at a relatively late point when I realise that there are nice places in the middle, too, not too far from Oxford. I’ve collected the 5 main ones here – not in order of preference, maybe only in the case of the last one.

1. Warwick
   Probably the most surprising town from all was Warwick. I had known that there’s a big castle there, but that the streets, the old, cosy tea rooms, the unique, independent, family run pubs and restaurants, the houses with wooden beams can create such a magical atmosphere, I had no idea. I visited this place with a like-minded Hungarian girl, who has the same explorer spirit as I do. We hadn’t planned anything ahead, just set off. It’s around a 50-60-minute drive from Oxford. Our first destination was the castle, as it was the only certain place we knew about in the city. The castle was built by William the Conqueror in 1068, during the conquest of the Normans. Surely it’s a massive, monumental building – from the outside at least. Unfortunately, it wasn’t smart not to plan a bit ahead, as the tickets on the spot turned out quite pricey, around 20-30 pounds, which is expensive even for England. We could have bought the tickets for a much cheaper price online, in advance. So if anyone would visit, it’s highly recommended to book in advance. We then didn’t go in, but set off to explore the city.
   The city has been dwelt since ancient times; however, the houses are from the late 17th and early 18th century, because the great fire of 1694 destroyed most of the medieval buildings. Whitewashed houses are typical with wooden beams decorating their facades, flying us back in time as walking in the streets. In the centre, the St Mary Church towers, which was dressed in red poppies inside, commemorating for the victims of WWI. From here, whichever way we look or go, we find loads of restaurants, pubs and tea rooms, but all in their own unique ways. You wouldn’t find two the same. As it was a particularly cold day, this worked for us, and we spotted a tea room which seemed rather old, and turned out to be the famous Thomas Oken Tea Room, waiting for its customers in a 500-year-old house with a wide selection of teas.
   
   So do you make the right choice! And not only with the tea rooms, but also with the trip destinations: Warwick is a real gem!
2. Stratford-upon-Avon
   Why is this place interesting and important? I only need to say that it’s Shakespeare’s town: his birthplace is here, so is the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, which both attract a lot of visitors.

   

   Similarly to Warwick, this city on the river Avon lets us wander on streets with independent shops. I’ve been here twice, both times only for short. First, the theatre was the main program, where we saw Don Quixote with some other people from Oxford. The theatre was really interesting inside: round, and the stage ran into the audience, it was on the same level with them, and we were standing on the balcony, as just like in the times of Shakespeare, there are also standing places. In the city, we walked around before the theatre play, we saw Shakespeare’s birthplace from outside, and walked on the bank of the Avon.
   
   This was similar the second time, too, only that the walk got in a bit bigger circle around the town, with a bit of look around the Sunday market which was about to close, no theatre that time, but absolutely freezing cold. If you would ever visit Stratford and fancy theatre, it’s very much worth planning to see a play. And if you would like to take a piece of Shakespeare home with you, there is not a souvenir, an everyday object, a book, etc., that couldn’t be found in the Shakespeare shop next to his birthplace.

3. Royal Leamington Spa
   Leamington, which was voted for the UK’s happiest place in 2017, is a spa city similarly to Bath, even though not as well-known today.

   

   Mineral water flows under it, which though was discovered long ago, they hadn’t started to capitalise on it until about 230 years ago, when they started to build spas. By the 1800s, it became a blooming European spa destination, and in 1838, the city got the “Royal” status from Queen Victoria. So comes the name: Royal Leamington Spa.

   

   The Old and the New Town is separated by the river Leam, along which we can find the Royal Pump Rooms (today it’s a gallery, not a bath anymore), and the Jephson Garden with a lake with two fountains shooting towards the sky and lots of birds. The original spring of mineral water was next to the gothic All Saints’ Church, which stands in the city centre. The church is one of England’s biggest parish churches today.

   

   The Old Town can be walked around in about an hour, and if someone would like to gain some information about the city, about the buildings, and likes self-guided explorations, then I recommend this little guide, downloadable from the Internet, with some interesting sights and a short description about them.

   
   This is really like a treasure hunt!

4. National Space Centre, Leicester
   One of the biggest coincidences is that I discovered this place, that it actually exists, and it was such a great experience, that I recommend it from all my heart for adults as well as children.

   

   This is a huge exhibition where you can find out everything about the planets, the space, the astronauts, the space missions from the beginning until today. You can learn lots of fascinating stuff, that are not necessarily taught in school. We can watch videos about spaceship launches back in time, we can see spacesuits of real astronauts, and videos about how to cut hair, how to eat, “shower” or sleep in zero gravity.

   
   Moreover, there is exhibited a real Soyuz spacecraft, two space rockets, a full-size mock of the Columbus module of the International Space Station, many interesting objects and oddities from space or related to space travel, such as a picture of a golf ball and a javelin which landed on the surface of the Moon during the Apollo 14 mission, or a signed Snoopy mascot, which became important part of the Apollo missions after the tragic ending of Apollo 1. Apart from these, we can sit in a 30-40-minute long lecture in the Sir Patrick Moore Planetarium, which presents and brings the stars, the faraway planets, and even the universe closer, with a brief visit on the International Space Station, too, with astonishing technological solutions.

            
   If you plan a visit here, you can buy a ticket online in advance (for the same price, 15 pounds, as on the spot), and should count with ca. 4 hours to be able to see everything. It’s also ideal for children because of the lots of interactive bits, what’s more, there are even costumes ready to put on to increase the fun.

5. Birmingham
   I don’t like influencing people by my opinion, but I have to tell that Birmingham was one of the biggest disappointments in my life. Neither did I find any beauty in it, nor did walking in the streets fill me up with good feelings. This is likely because of its industrial character; a lot of development and innovations came from here during the Industrial Revolution. For example, Watt’s steam engine was also invented here. Funny thing, that the people of Birmingham are also called “Brummies” from the city’s nickname, Brum, which is coming from its old name, Brummagem. They also have their own Birmingham accent and dialect: the brummie.

   

   

   You can of course roam around and find a few imposing buildings. From a certain aspect, it’s a very colourful city: it’s the melting pot of various nationalities; I couldn’t have necessarily told that I’m in England if I hadn’t known it. This actually brought an interesting coincidence in my visit: in the hostel where I stayed, one of the receptionists, the night one, was Hungarian, so we were chatting a lot.  However, if this is the only thing I could call as the highlight of my visit, I think there is no need to continue to explain, that I cannot recommend this city for an outing, maybe for a big shopping trip.

I hope that the above examples proved that England’s Midlands is a pretty interesting place. There might not be any sandy beaches, or lakes or peaks here, but it definitely hides some amazing historical sites, some real gems.

A magyar verzióért kattints ide!