History
Experience Life "below stairs" in the servants' quarters and tour the mansion house and glimpse the private rooms of the present Earl, Photographer Patrick Lichfield at Shugborough.
At Hereford Cathedral you will find the Mappa Mundi and Chained Library Exhibition housing the medieval map of the world and books from the eighth Century.
Experience the tranquility of a 'Capability Brown' landscaped garden at the eighteenth Century Hall Himley Hall & Park, once the residence of the Earl of Dudley. Built in 1084 and burial place of King John Worcester Cathedral perched on the banks of the Severn is a sight to see.
With festivals, jousting, summer concerts, a christmas festival and other special events Warwick Castle is Britain's greatest mediaeval experience.
Stokesay Castle provides a unique example of a fortified manor house from the thirteenth century, whilst Aston Hall in Birmingham is one of the finest Jacobean houses built by Sir Thomas Holte in the seventeenth century and noted for its 111 metre gallery and plasterwork ceilings.
Why not visit the unique Coventry Cathedral site which combines the ruins of the old fourteenth century building destroyed by firebombs during the war, with the new cathedral rising from the ashes.
Warwickshire is host to an interesting collection of National Trust Properties. Charlecote Park. Upton House, Farnborough Hall, Coughton Court, Baddesley Clinton, Packwood House and Packington Hall.
For rich literary and cultural heritage the land that gave birth to William Shakespeare is second to none. Stratford-upon-Avon is home to a number of attractions from this period.
Mary Arden's House was the home of Shakespeare's mother, before she married. You can also visit Shakespeare's birthplace, Anne Hathaway's Cottage and the homes of Shakespeare's daughter and granddaughter, Halls Croft, Nash's House and New Place offering a fascinating insight into life as it was throughout the life of the Heart of England's most famous playwright.
Keeping the connection with Warwickshire both, Mary Anne Evans - George Eliot to you and I - and Rupert Brook were born, grew up and wrote in the region.
Other famous literary figures have their roots in the region, with A E Housemen penning "High the vanes of Shewsbury gleam, Islanded in a Severn Stream" from A Shropshire Lad. JRR Tolkein drew inspiration from the region when writing the epic Lord of the Rings, basing many of his ideas in the book from his childhood memories of the Birmingham area from Sarehole Mill and Moseley Bog to Perrotts Folly and the Victorian Tower at Edgbaston waterworks which inspired the two towers!
Author Arnold Bennett wrote about the 'Five Towns' of the Potteries in Staffordshire, but there are in fact six towns.
If literature is your interest, why not make your way to the Hay on Wye Festival in Herefordshire during May and June.
