A walk around Warwick

Monday 2nd January 2023

While staying near Stratford-upon-Avon I thought I’d visit Warwick, which is a town that on my walk the previous Saturday, two days before, I had originally planned to include but worsening weather had convinced me to stay in Leamington Spa, so I was keen to explore the medieval county town of Warwickshire. I left the Stratford-upon-Avon Youth Hostel early in the morning and as the sun began to rise over the Cotswolds I walked into Stratford and caught a bus to Warwick taking advantage of the new bus fare cap of £2. In Warwick I got off the bus beside the entrance to the castle and walked past St Nicholas’ Park to Castle Bridge where I had tremendous views down the river and towards Warwick Castle. I was going to use a guidebook for walking around Warwick that I had gathered from the discoveringbritain.org website which describes this as ‘the finest view in England’, though I would dispute that as there are not enough natural elements for my taste. Nevertheless, I took loads of pictures before eventually continuing down the road and turned right into the narrow medieval road of Bridge End. As the name suggests there used to be a bridge at the end of this road where timber-framed buildings loomed over the street and gives you an idea what a medieval street would have been like. Returning to the bridge I stopped again to take in the view of the castle down the river before moving on past the Castle Gateway and into Mill Street.

This street led me past more medieval timber-framed buildings to the end of the street, on the other side of the old bridge and below the castle walls whose towers soared impressively above me. After returning back along Mill Street I passed through the Castle Gateway and up the grand drive that has been cut through the local sandstone which has given it a haunting and sheltered atmosphere. At the locked gates to the castle I turned up to the main entrance, but I had no intention of going in as that would have swallowed up the whole day and I wanted to do some walking. My guidebook took me onto Castle Lane and then Castle Street following the castle walls round until finally I turned right along Leycester Place to reveal the Westgate and the splendidly medieval Lord Leycester Hospital. It was fascinating seeing the medieval gate with the roadway cut through the natural stone and the old hospital that was actually a home for retired servicemen, which was a grand building, but is currently closed for renovation. My guidebook took me up and down the steep road several times to admire the buildings until finally I passed through the Westgate and after a thwarted attempt to visit the Victorian gardens of Hill Close I made my way back up the hill and to the market place.

I was now in newer parts of Warwick where a great fire in 1694 had destroyed much of the medieval town and had resulted in a many new buildings now built to a much higher standard. Firstly I attempted to enter the Market Hall, now the county museum, but this was also closed, which I was finding for many buildings on this walk, not because it was a bank holiday, but simply because they routinely close on Mondays. The guidebook now took me through wide streets with typical Georgian houses before taking me past a narrower street with typical Victorian townhouses such as you find in many industrial cities throughout England. Of more interest to me was when I was taken into Priory Park that after the dissolution of the monasteries became a Tudor country house only to be finally demolished, taken to America and re-erected in Richmond, Virginia. This has left behind a lovely park of woodland and steep ground that encouraged me to disobey my guidebook and explore the park, down the steep slopes and back up to enjoy walking through the trees. Finally I left the park and passed by St Mary’s Church on my way through the town centre.

The town of Warwick was originally built on top of a hill so I often had to climb up and down hills such as at the Westgate and now as I descended past the Eastgate to the end of the guidebook. This was an entertaining walk even though it was cold which had kept me in hat, scarf and gloves all morning. By lunchtime the sunshine had finally warmed the day so I made my way to St Nicholas’ Park and started to follow the Rivers and Canal Walks leaflet that I had obtained from the visitwarwick.co.uk website and I had intended on doing on the previous Saturday. This took me beside the River Avon and once I left the park on muddy paths past the railway line until eventually I reached the Grand Union Canal where I climbed up to the aqueduct and started to walk beside the canal. This was a pleasant walk in the sunshine around Warwick until eventually on the western edge of the town I climbed away from the canal and crossed the railway line into Diamond Jubilee Wood. The directions didn’t have me linger in the wood, but I changed that by keeping to the edge of the railway before turning south across a racecourse, which fortunately wasn’t in use, but then I entered a golf course. However, the route that I had picked didn’t cross any of the fairways so I was able to safely pass through and back out across the racecourse. On re-entering the town I immediately headed for the bus station but when I got there I discovered that the next bus was not for another hour.

The good weather and interesting town walk made this a very enjoyable day but now I had an hour to fill so I wandered back to the castle entrance where I saw loads of people walking down a lovely tree-lined path so I decided to follow them. This was an interesting walk through the trees so I was disappointed when I eventually reached the end and all I found was a large field full of cars. Where else would people be going but the car park?! Undaunted I retraced my steps along the path, just outside the castle gardens, back to the main entrance and after admiring the sunken driveway again I meandered back through the medieval town of Warwick once again and waited for a bus to take me back to Stratford.