City breaks - Coventry city secrets

More often remembered for WWII bombing raids and motor manufacturing, Coventry has some surprising literary associations...

St Mary’s Guildhall
One of the finest medieval buildings in England – all stained glass and deeply glossy oak panelling – was nonetheless probably not the imprisoned Mary Queen of Scot’s first choice of abode. The spirits of William Shakespeare and George Eliot also hover. 

Philip Larkin's Coventry
A literary trail that takes in the places of interest where the great curmudgeon of English poetry spent time.

Stoneleigh Abbey
Is this magnificent country house the model for Darcy’s Pemberley? Jane Austen often came to stay here with her relatives, the Leighs, and the interiors and gardens are recognisable from her novelistic descriptions.