This picturesque garden seems to be right out of a painting, with lush flower plants, shrubs, a royal castle backdrop, ruins of a medieval stone bridge and a serene river flowing alongside, the Mill Garden is Warwick's Pride. It is privately owned and maintained by the family of Julia Measures whose father previously took care of the garden since 1938. The bridge near the garden used to be important as it carried all the traffic from the town to across the River Avon. At present it is in complete ruins but at times is home to swans who nest there. The garden is open to public for a certain part of the year and admission is acquired with a small fee.
This is the ideal park for the entire family, offering a variety of facilities including boating lakes, playgrounds, tennis courts, tropical greenhouses and nature conservation areas. It is also the home of the Midland Arts Centre. A walking/bicycling route winds through the grounds that has recently been extended. The park also plays host to a variety of concerts, performances and the annual Fireworks Fantasia.
The Welcombe Hills is a delightful area. Not far from Stratford-upon-Avon town center, it is best approached on foot from the parking area in Ingon Lane just off the Warwick Road. From here it takes about ten minutes to reach the obelisk (erected in the 1870s in memory of a former owner of the Welcombe estate) where you will be rewarded with panoramic views of the surrounding countryside. The hills cover about 72 acres of land, providing habitat for an abundance of flora and fauna. Picnic tables and a viewing point have been provided for the additional enjoyment of visitors. Although not visible from here, the road that now forms the driveway to the Menzies Welcombe Hotel & Golf Course was once a track used by the Romans for transporting salt across the Welcombe Hills. A further point of local historical interest is that Shakespeare once purchased a share in the local tithes here, and was subsequently involved in a dispute concerning the enclosure of common land.
University of Birmingham's botanic garden, Winterbourne Botanic Garden houses several lovely antiques as well as more than 6000 species of plants from different parts of the world. Some of the arresting antiques inside this botanical garden include an alpine garden, orchid house, Anthemis collection by NCPG, geographic beds, arid house and a Hazel tunnel. Other striking features comrpise of a low-lying rock garden, refurbished wooden pergola and a lean-to beautiful glasshouse which is one of the few structeres to have been erected on a slanting platform. In the year 2011, a pleached walk of lime trees was planted here to restore one which was also found in the orignial botanical garden.
Kiftsgate Court Gardens is the picturesque garden created by three generations of women gardener. It was started by Heather Muir in the 1920s, legacy was continued by Diany Binny from 1950 and now looked after by Anne Chambers and her husband. The garden is famed for its scented Kiftsgate rose and Rosa filipes, Britain's largest rose. Check the website for timings.