COMPTON VERNEY HOUSE, AND HOW TO FIND IT!

STANLEY SPENCER AND THE ENGLISH GARDEN AT COMPTON VERNEY

We were in Warwickshire especially to see the Stanley Spencer and the English Garden exhibition at Compton Verney, which finished on 2 October.

The was a great time to visit because the wonderful late September heat wave gave just the right ambience.  Great green woods, early evening mist, rolling fields, narrow roads almost empty, and we had a nice place to stay as well, at Walton Hall Hotel near Wellesbourne.


NO MAPS, EVERYBODY HAS GPS

We were not sure how to get to Compton Verney by car, since I had no up-to-date map; the one I brought with me was so old it did not even show the M40 or the M25.  I had planned to buy a map of Warwickshire but this was impossible.  The hotel did not have any leaflets showing the locality, there were no shops selling maps in the nearest large village.  Later I found that shops in Shipston-on-Stour did not sell maps either (nor did I find anywhere selling postcards).

However, one of the hotel employees did a print-out from Google of the local road routes.  This made me think that maybe maps are not a viable selling proposition any more!  Maybe everybody relies on  satellites to  find their way around the world - the all powerful GPS and Google Maps.  I prefer my maps, out of date or not.


WHITE HORSE AT ETTINGTON

On our first evening in Warwickshire we got a bit lost, coming from a meal at the White Horse Inn in Ettington, and on our way after several miles on the dead-straight Fosse Way, saw a roundabout which had a direction to Compton Verney.  So I knew where to aim for the next morning.  More about the Stanley Spencer exhibition in the next blog.....

 WARWICKSHIRE, VIEW FROM EDGEHILL