Lord Leycester’s Hospital

C&T moved house last year, and my stay is giving me an opportunity to explore Warwickshire, a county I don’t know that well.

So this morning I visited Warwick. The big tourist draw is the Castle, which is huge and now owned by Tussauds, but it all looked a bit “Game of Thrones experience” to me and at £39 for a ticket a bit over the top. So I had a mooch around the adjoining centre instead, which proved a good move. The parish church, St Mary’s, must be one of the finest in the country. And I came across Lord Leycester’s Hospital, the chapel and timber framed buildings to the right in the main image. It’s a fabulous set of medieval buildings, originally a very wealthy Guildhall complex that the Earl of Leicester, Elizabeth I’s great favourite, developed into something unique. Behind the public frontage to the street is a fabulous courtyard, other timber framed buildings, and lovely gardens.

In the afternoon I visited nearby Kenilworth Castle (extra). A fabulous, and huge, ruin with again a lovely garden. It too has strong associations with the Earl of Leicester and Elizabeth, a fascinating exhibition in the (again huge) former gatehouse.