March 10, 2016tinyexpats

Charmed by Warwick

We continue to explore our new surroundings and last weekend we dedicated to Warwick (UK) – our next door neighbour. While Royal Leamington Spa (it’s usually referred to as Leamington, but you can’t blame me for using a fancier name – it’s official as well!) proudly showcases Victorian architecture, Warwick is more of a medieval affair.

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Warwick started as a castle in the 11th century. Even though Warwick Castle is almost a thousand years old, it’s so beautifully preserved that visiting it is a real treat! I’ll write about taking our kids to Warwick Castle later – there’s just too much to squeeze in to just one post!

2016-03-10 19.36.12Not sure what it’s like for you, but getting everyone ready on a Saturday morning requires lots of effort and expertise in our family. When we finally got to Warwick it was already lunch time, so we started with some proper pub food in the Tilted Wig. (Review about Tilted Wig coming up shortly in my Family Friendly Pubs section).

Full and ready for anything we started our walk around the old town. Our first stop was the Collegiate church of St Mary. It’s amazing! It looks more like a cathedral, grand and beautifully designed, but is still called a ‘church’ (something to do with it not being a seat of a bishop).

As we walked into the St. Mary’s, we were warned that we shouldn’t take too long to walk around and there was a wedding planned for that afternoon. Our walk was brisk, mouths agape, eyes wide open – we were determined to take in as much as possible.

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Old flags (one of them was actually in the Crimean war), old graves (several Dukes of Warwick were laid to rest there) , intricate paintings and multicoloured windows – if you visit Warwick, St. Mary’s church is a must see! We also happened to hear music rehearsals before the wedding. Church acoustics is something special indeed.

Church cemetery is also quite interesting. We could see writing on the gravestones dating back to the 19th century, but there were some much older ones there, completely polished by the passing time. No wonder – St. Mary’s dates back to the 12th century.

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The rest of the afternoon we spent walking around Warwick old streets. We saw some amazing examples of medieval architecture (I’m not even talking about new developments of 18th century or so). Totally feels like you somehow time travelled (apart from all the cars and modern shops around – but you can close your eyes on such small details, can’t you?).

Oh and we found an old phone booth, just like the ones you see on posters. Nowadays, they make them plastic, but that one was wooden, just like it’s supposed to be. Of course, we had to have a photo taken :)

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39 comments

    • Glad you liked it :) These phone booths are definitely special – can’t find many of them around. I’m also lucky to have seen the old double decker busses, hop on hop off ones. New versions are smart, but the old ones were more fun :)

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  6. We are just back from a week-end road trip in England and while we missed Warwick (we stopped a little bit further north) we also fell for the charm of that part of the country. I was worried my kids might not love the medieval towns but exactly like yours, they found phone boxes and tall towers that made their day :-)

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  13. I do love it when you come across an old-fashioned telephone box! I have a very elderly aunt who lives in Leamington, but I don’t know it well at all. It looks like a prety place, with lots to recommend it. #citytripping

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  14. Having grown up in a new town, I do get unreasonably excited about towns with really good old buildings in them. Warwick looks like an excellent place to have within spitting distance. Love a good wanderable urban location.

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  16. It’s such a long time since I’ve been to Warwick for any reason apart from the castle (and as you say, you can easily spend the whole day there), I’d forgotten how lovely the rest was – gorgeous photos, it’s making me want to go back again. #citytripping

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  17. Warwick really is a beautiful city and very historical. I must confess I have never been there – nor the castle – I really need to make the trip, don’t I? The church is gorgeous. You took some brilliant photos. Thanks for linking to #citytripping

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