Roemin abit

 We had to check out of our room. circled above,  by 10 o'clock so we returned home via Alcester which is a Britain in Bloom winner.  We just drove through the small town displaying lots of petunias and geraniums in window boxes, tubs and bowls on poles, without stopping. It certainly had a lot flowers in bloom, must be a nightmare watering them this summer.  The route took us on to Stratford upon Avon which was heaving with visitors and slow moving traffic. We stopped off at Waitrose to cool down in the air conned shop and get some food for our visitors at the weekend.  It was a very hot day, 30 deg forecast, so we were glad to be home early afternoon after an enjoyable Warners short break.

  After a good breakfast we set out to find the historic  Forge Mill needle museum  on northern outskirts  of the nearby town of Redditch . The town dominated the craft of needle making and is believed to have supplied 90% of the worlds needles in Victorian times. Nowadays there is just one manufacture in the town and the trade is dominated by cheap Chinese and Indian products. The Forge Mill is the last remaining water powered scouring mill where needles were cleaned and polished before being packaged. Much of the needle making work was done in dozens of smaller home working 'factories', often by women and children, before finally cleaning and polishing in the then 'state of the art' water powered scouring mill. The old mill building is preserved in its original state and has exhibits and videos showing the whole needle manufacturing process. There are many exhibits from the biggest manufactures of the day including Milward who also made fishing hooks and rods tha...

  We set off late morning for a drive into Warwickshire stopping at the attractive village of Henley in Arden to have lunch on the way. The village has a mile long high street of old buildings, shops, pubs and restaurants. As it is Monday the lunch choice is more limited but we parked in the North car park and walked down to the Black Swan where we were seated outside with some tables of (mainly) ladies who lunch. It was a nice warm sunny start to the week and we enjoyed their 2 course set lunch before taking a stroll down the high street for coffee before the short drive to Studley which is just outside Redditch. The castle is the most recent addition to the Warner Hotels group and has been extensively modernised with 200 rooms, a spa suite and show lounge. The original building houses the reception and some small public rooms for afternoon tea and cosy cocktail bars. There are 20 bedrooms in the old castle and we had one of these on the 1st floor. The castle was built as a st...

We are going to Studley Castle for a last minute, discounted, 2 night break at a Warner hotel tomorrow.