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Midland Air Museum

Stonehouse Estate · 8.1 miles

Aviation enthusiasts can explore a collection of historic aircraft and engines at a museum located just beyond the village of Baginton in Warwickshire, alongside Coventry Airport and close to the Stonehouse Estate settlement. The site incorporates the Sir Frank Whittle Jet Heritage Centre, named for the local pioneer of jet propulsion, and presents its displays inside a spacious hangar. A smaller hangar and a fenced green plot also accommodate additional aircraft displayed outdoors. Among the larger pieces on view are an Avro Vulcan B.2, formerly part of the United Kingdom’s V-bomber fleet, and an Armstrong Whitworth Argosy AW.650 series 101. Near the museum’s car park the Vulcan is accompanied by an Avro Blue Steel missile and a Boulton Paul BP.111A, an experimental delta-winged aircraft from the 1950s. The collection further includes an English Electric Canberra PR.3, two English Electric Lightnings, a pair of Gloster Meteors—one on loan from the Royal Air Force Museum Midlands—a Sea Hawk FGA.6, a Mil Mi-24 helicopter and a range of other types. An engine exhibition highlights Frank Whittle’s contributions and showcases piston units such as the Alvis Leonides and Rolls-Royce Griffon, gas-turbine models including the Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire and Rolls-Royce Avon, and rocket engines like the Bristol Siddeley BS.605. Admission to the museum requires a fee. Visitors reach the venue via the surrounding road network serving Baginton and the adjacent airport, with the nearest town identified as Stonehouse Estate. The layout allows indoor viewing in the main hangar and outdoor appreciation within the fenced area.

Abbey Fields

Abbey Fields · 9.3 miles

A sizeable green space occupies the centre of Kenilworth in Warwickshire, offering both historic remnants and modern leisure facilities. The area was originally farmland attached to St Mary’s Abbey before the abbey’s dissolution in the mid-sixteenth century; today the ruins of a sandstone gatehouse and stonework from the former abbey’s doors and windows can be seen incorporated into the doorway of St Nicholas Church, a building whose origins date from the mid-sixteenth to seventeenth centuries. Within the park’s boundaries the natural lake and Finham Brook, a tributary of the River Sowe, provide water-side scenery alongside the town’s war memorial and a museum housed in an old barn that records the abbey’s history. Management of the site rests with Warwick District Council, which also operates a leisure-centre complex featuring indoor and outdoor swimming pools, five tennis courts and a large children’s play area. Visitors can obtain refreshments at the on-site café, and the volunteer group Friends of Abbey Fields assists with upkeep. The park regularly accommodates community events such as the Lions Club show, the town carnival, bonfire night activities and a Boxing Day charity duck race, and it serves as an orienteering venue for the Midlands club Octavian Droobers. Access is straightforward from the surrounding town, with no admission charge mentioned for the park or its main attractions.

War Memorial Park

Styvechale Grange · 9.9 miles

Spanning roughly 48.5 hectares on the southern edge of Coventry, the park offers a substantial green space that also serves as a memorial to the 2,587 local men who lost their lives in the First World War. Opened in July 1921 after the council bought the former Styvechale common from the Gregory-Hood family, the site was later shaped by landscaped gardens and sporting fields added in the late-1920s and 1930s. A prominent 90-foot Portland-stone monument, erected in 1927 and dedicated by Field Marshal Douglas Haig, houses the Chamber of Silence where the Roll of the Fallen is displayed each Remembrance Sunday. Wartime remnants such as concrete blocks from the Second World War’s anti-aircraft installations remain near the Coat of Arms bridge. The park received a Grade II listing in 2013, the memorial itself holds a Grade II* status, and it has retained Green Flag accreditation since 2013. In July 2014, Prince William formally launched the Centenary Fields programme here. Visitors can make use of football pitches, bowling greens, a modest golf course, tennis courts, a splash-play area, a small aviary and a skateboard zone, while extensive open lawns and tree-lined pathways provide space for casual walks. A perimeter path encircles the whole area, and the venue regularly hosts events such as the Godiva Festival, Donkey Derby, Caribbean Festival, Vaisakhi Mela and weekly parkruns that attract several hundred participants. The site also accommodated Radio 1’s Big Weekend in May 2022. Access is via a large tarmacked car park off Kenilworth Road, served by a park-and-ride service to the city centre, with additional smaller car parks on Coat of Arms Bridge Road and near the northern end of Leamington Road. Admission to the park and its facilities is unrestricted.

Caludon Castle Park

Wyken · 11 miles

The site, now an urban green space managed by Coventry City Council, lies in the Wyken suburb to the east of Coventry’s centre. Within the park the only visible remains of the former fortified house are a substantial fragment of sandstone wall, while a separate moated enclosure about 190 metres to the south is also protected as a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The park is positioned close to the River Sowe, with the historic boundary of the original estate once extending from the bridge at Clifford (formerly Sowe Bridge) in the south-east to the higher ground near Stoke Heath in the north-west. Human activity on the hill has been recorded from at least the 11th century, when a large house pre-dating the Norman Conquest occupied the location. After the conquest the property passed to the Earls of Chester and, in the 13th century, to the Segrave family, being noted as a manor in 1239. Licences to crenellate were granted in 1305 and again in 1354, converting the house into a castle with an oval plan, defensive walls, towers and a moat entered via an eastern gatehouse. Ownership later transferred to Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk; following his banishment in 1398 the castle fell into decline. A mansion was erected around 1580, but the structure was largely destroyed in 1662 and the ruins were reused for a farmhouse in 1800. The estate was fragmented in 1815, and most of the land was acquired by the Coventry Corporation after the First World War for residential development. The park today offers public access to the historic ruins and surrounding open space, with no admission charge and facilities overseen by the city council.

Caludon Castle

Wyken · 11 miles

A fragment of sandstone wall marks the remains of a defensive castle that once dominated the Wyken area east of Coventry city centre. The ruin sits within an urban park managed by Coventry City Council, and a second moated site about 190 metres to the south is also protected as a Scheduled Ancient Monument. Visitors can view the surviving wall, walk around the open grassland and see the medieval moat, which encloses roughly an acre of historic ground. The site has been occupied since at least the 11th century, originally as a large house that pre-dated the Norman Conquest. After the conquest the property passed to the Earls of Chester and was later granted to the Segrave family, who first described it as a manor in 1239. Licences to crenellate were obtained in 1305 and again in 1354, converting the house into a fortified enclosure with a moat, gatehouse and surrounding wall. In the late 14th century the castle came into the hands of Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk, before falling into disrepair after his banishment in 1398. A rebuilding as a mansion occurred around 1580, but the structure was largely destroyed in 1662, later providing stone for a farmhouse erected in 1800. The estate was fragmented in the 19th century, and most of the land was acquired by the city after the First World War for housing development. Today the park offers free public access to the historic ruins and the adjacent moat. As a council-run amenity, it does not charge admission and provides open space for walking and informal recreation, with the castle fragment serving as a tangible reminder of the area's medieval heritage.

Statue of Lady Godiva

Coventry · 11 miles

A bronze equestrian figure of Lady Godiva stands on a Portland-stone plinth in Broadgate, the central commercial area of Coventry. The monument, recorded by Historic England as a listed historic feature, presents the legendary rider in the act that gave the city its name. The plinth bears excerpts from Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s poem “Godiva” together with a dedication from the original patron, William Bassett-Green, to both the lady and the people of Coventry. The work was first commissioned in 1936 by the local businessman William Bassett-Green. By 1940 a scale model had been produced by the sculptor Sir William Reid Dick, who continued to develop the design throughout the Second World War. After hostilities ended, the full-size statue was cast, set on a plinth whose design was influenced by Sir Edwin Lutyens, and unveiled on 22 October 1949 by Peggy Zinsser Douglas, wife of the American ambassador Lewis Williams Douglas. Originally oriented to face south, the figure was turned westward in 1989 when the Cathedral Lanes Shopping Centre was built; a protective canopy added at that time was later removed in 2008. Located on a public thoroughfare, the statue can be approached directly from the surrounding streets of Broadgate. No admission charge applies, and the site forms part of the open urban landscape, allowing visitors to view the sculpture and its inscriptions at any time without the need for specialised facilities.