A Break from Studying: Charlecote Park

Term 3 has well and truly started now – the library is filling up incredibly quickly in the mornings and there’s that constant sense of adrenaline in the air as everyone rushes to meet their deadlines. Most weekdays you’ll find me on campus writing essays (I have just two more assignments to complete now – the end is so close!!) so at the weekend I let myself rest and have a break from it all. Last weekend it was really sunny and lovely for a change so I made the most of it by visiting a local National Trust property, Charlecote Park.

I’ve always loved history and when I was younger my family had a National Trust membership so I used to visit as many of the houses they own as possible, wandering around the rooms and the gardens and picturing the people who used to live there hundreds of years before.

I’d never been to Charlecote Park before but it looked like an interesting place to go and it was also really conveniently located. We drove, but you can easily get there by public transport too: it’s quite near Stratford upon Avon and the X18 bus which runs from Leamington to Stratford has a stop which is only a few minutes walk away.

We chose a perfect day to go as the sun was shining, giving us the opportunity to wander around at our own leisure. There was lots to do as you could go inside the house, walk around the gardens, stop off in the cafe or eat your own picnic on the lawn, visit the church with the family tombs, and also go on a longer walk around the estate. We were told that part of the estate houses a deer sanctuary, but what we didn’t realise is that the deer are allowed to roam completely at will, which meant that we got up close and personal with several of them!

We spent around 4 hours there in total, from about 11-3, and had a great time, so if you’re at all interested in that kind of thing I would definitely recommend it as a well-deserved break from studying!