Leamington Spa
Leamington Spa is a lovely town just south of Coventry, in the midlands, and is where I happen to have spent most of my days so far (being born here I suppose may have influenced this just slightly?!). Anyway just in case you didn't notice this is a spa town, and amongst those to visit it was Queen Victoria (she actually made the town Royal Leamington Spa, but people only mention this when they're being snobbish or pedantic?!).
Surrounding Area
Near to Leamington are Warwick, Kenilworth, Stratford, and Coventry
Warwick is the county town, and slightly smaller than Leamington. It's castle is the main attraction, and it has some nice streets, a square, and a market. However, it does not have many shops or facilities, or anything happening at night.
Kenilworth is slightly north of Leamington, about half way to Coventry. It is a nice town with parks and a ruined castle, with a few shops. Like Warwick, it's not very large, and there is little going on there, but it is very nice and peaceful.
Stratford, a fair distance south-west of Leamington. It is the birthplace of Shakespeare, and home of the RSC, having three of their theatres. The river Avon passes through this town, and it is a massive tourist magnet.
Finally, Coventry, (where the university is), just past Kenilworth is a small city, with many more shops than all the above. It also is home of course to Coventry cathedral, which was bombed during world war two. The new cathedral adjoins the old ruin. The city centre, is built out of lovely?!? concrete, but it does have many facilities, and a fair amount going on at night.
Anyway, that's the surrounding towns, now back to Leamington itself.
Floods
I know this was over a year ago, but I felt like mentioning the floods. The floods in Leamington Spa were on Good Friday in 1998. From my house everything looked normal, but just down the road there were the lovely sights of water.
The photograph shown is just down the road, (as apposed to in the main town). I just thought I'd show what it looked like to me, rather than the photos that people may have seen on local news etc.
The floods seemed quite spectacular, but by the next day they'd completely gone. They however left many buildings in the old town (near the river where the flood were worst), soaked through, and it took months for many businesses to get back to normal.
Anyway, enough flooding, what else can I waffle on about!?!
Leamington Diversions
Perhaps a bit of a dodgy way to say, what can you do in Leamington!?!
Anyway, here goes. Leamington has a fairly nice town centre, with a fair amount of shops. At the bottom end of the main shopping street (The Parade), is the Jephson Gardens, which are very nice, and the Royal Pump Rooms. These are just next to the river Leam (Pronounced Lem). The pump rooms are now home to a café, the tourist information centre, a small art gallery, and the library.
Next to the pump rooms, and the Jephson gardens, are two roads. One of these leads towards the Royal Spa Centre, which has various theatrical productions, shows, conferences, and also houses a small one screen cinema. The other one leads to the Apollo cinema, which has four screens, one of which is quite large, and has Dolby Digital, DTS surround sound.
Just past the pump rooms, and over the river are the post office, the Loft theatre, the parish church, two pubs, Michael's Supermarket (complete with bearded women), and several Balti houses.
If you are looking for nightlife, there are several pubs near the main shopping area, and three or four night-clubs, oh and several places that sell kebabs, chips, burgers etc.