The urban guide to the countryside -

Warwickshire

Well, hello!

I'm Catherine, editor of Muddy Warwickshire, here to bring you the quirky, cool and downright unmissable in the area.

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Gotta Have It

From fashion to flora to fragrant Frida, we've found the Top 10 most gorgeous new coffee table tomes for you.

Making plans? Find your perfect Pub, Inn, Hotel, Café, Restaurant or Bar across the Muddy counties.

REVIEW: A Christmas CarolThis joyous festive smash hit at the RST, Stratford-upon-Avon, gets a reboot and a new cast, including Aden Gillett as Scrooge.
Reader Treats!We think you're super, so we've created a whole section on the site with gorgeous stuff to win. Pull that ribbon!
Last Minute Christmas Gift Guides #4: Tweens to Teens17 super-duper indie Christmas prezzie gift ideas for older kids.
Hilltop Farm: One-stop Christmas shop!This Warwickshire family farm, cafe and Home Barn has Christmas covered from Free Range turkeys to Nordmann Firs, regional artisan gins and gorg gifts. Fancy a mooch?
The Muddy Christmas Show Guide 2018!It's what you've all been waiting for. Oh no it isn't! Oh yes it is! Oh no.... OK, enough! Here's our guide to the best family-friendly shows and children's theatre this season.
Booking your family hols?Don't do anything till you've seen Flight Centre's first Family Adventures brochure - and put yourself in the running for a £20k dream trip!
Muddy Xmas Gift Guide #3: For Him
A FESTIVE SEASON ROUND-UPFrom traditional festive storytelling and carols by candle-light to top festive telly and film, Santa runs, decorated stately homes and snowy fun.
Gift guide for herAunts, mums, grandmas, sisters and your girl posse all covered for Crimbo, plus some spot-on suggestions for gifts to self. Ho ho ho.

What's On

This Weekend

FRI DEC 21 - SUN DEC 23

This Week

MON DEC 17 - SUN DEC 23

This Month

DECEMBER

Little Black Book

The latest handpicked businesses we think you’ll love

Eat Out View more

Christmas drinkies! What are you having?

Usually face-down in a vat of Baileys throughout December? You can do better than that! Here’s our guide to nailing your Christmas drink choices like a pro. Bottoms up!
- On the Waterfront
  
  The Encore overlooking the River Avon in historic Stratford-upon-Avon has just reopened after a swish complete makeover.
- Bye bye gin, we have a new favourite drink!
  
  Yes, it's hard to believe but we've benched the G&Ts for a super-cool exciting new tipple. Wanna know what it is? 'Course you do.
- The Castle at Edgehill
  
  Muddy goes all 'Rapunzel' and checks into an impressive 15th Century folly for the night with panoramic views over a famous Civil War battlefield.
- 2019’s Michelin winners
  
  The best places to eat in Warwickshire and the Midlands from swanky restaurants to country pubs.

School Reviews

Our honest reviews of the UK’s best schools

Read the reviews

Little Black Book

Our curated A-Z of the grooviest local businesses

View the businesses

Travel View more

Winter boltholes

Pack that overnighter and give yourself the break you deserve, with 37 curated cosy breaks across the Muddy counties.
- Girls’ weekend getaways
  
  Try these 30 awesome spas, inns, bars and retreats across the Muddy counties and reconnect with your bezzies in style.
- The loveliest pubs with rooms
  
  Fancy a weekend away in the countryside? The Muddy editors across 19 counties know all the best spots for a relaxed overnighter.

Fashion View more

Our Festive Fashion Top 10

Invitations piling up and nothing to wear? Well, Cinders, you shall go to the ball (or, er, pub). Muddy’s partywear edit incoming!
- Christmas jumper perfection
  
  Got a style conscious teen at home? Muddy has snooped out these fab-tastic sweaters for the young (and older) men in your life
- Savage X Fenty
  
  Rihanna's brought out a new 'Savage' Fenty underwear range - and given it some serious uplift with a very cool, slightly otherworldly vid. Wanna see?

Beauty View more

- 5 hangover hiders
  
  There's nothing Muddy doesn't know about surviving a hangover. So in the interests of not being mistaken for a dug-up corpse this festive season, behold our five favourite morning after skincare saviours.
- Review: HydraFacial, Hampton Clinic
  
  Muddy tries the non-invasive alternative to filler and botox that's adored by the A-listers.

Arts & Culture View more

REVIEW: Wilde Creatures, Warwick Arts Centre

This inventive adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s fairytales by Tall Stories is delightful and quirky Christmas family entertainment.
- SEE THIS! Mimbre’s Fierce Sisters
  
  Five of Shakespeare's most feisty female characters, including a transgender Rosalind, are brought to life in this provocative and witty after-dark acrobatic promenade piece at the Bard's former family home.
- REVIEW: Over The Top
  
  Nick Walker's highly amusing *pun*-packed alternative panto about suffragettes and First World War problems is a sure-fire hit! Catch it at Coventry's Belgrade Theatre in B2 until Sat Dec 29.
- Revealed! Our top 10 books of the year
  
  Attention bookworms! Put this little lot on your Christmas list and you can thank us later. Muddy's books editor Kerry Potter choose her top 10 tomes of 2018. Has your favourite made the cut?
- Review: Sleeping Beauty
  
  Don't touch the spinning wheel, Princess Belle! Oops too late. Read my review of Coventry Belgrade Theatre's festive show starring writer and director Iain Lauchlan in his 24th panto.

Instamuddy

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Home View more

Alternative advent calendars

Counting the days until Christmas? Here, we can help with that! Open the door to the best alternative advent calendars.
- 10 Christmas Wreath Workshops
  
  Deck your door with boughs of holly! These local festive craft classes are hugely popular (wonder if the mulled wine has anything to do with that?) so, quick, book now.
- Doggy Style
  
  Pampered pooches rejoice! Now you can lounge on a your very own mini-sofa that's more stylish than your owners' one. Woof!
Wellbeing
- Meet the author: Frances Trussell
  
  Muddy meets former broadcast journalist turned mindfulness coach, Frances Trussell, whose first book is out this month.
- Divine Bliss!
  
  Muddy's Keya Modessa checks into award-winning spa, Ragdale Hall and finds her zen in the new Rooftop Infinity Pool.

Work View more

Co-working: 5 reasons to do it

Are you tired of working from home? Sick of setting up in coffee shops? Maybe you’re over the rigidity of long-term office leases? Then it’s time to consider co-working.
- Flexible working – a personal view
  
  It's a contentious issue, that's for sure! As a full-time working mum and business owner, Hero Brown can see both sides of that fence. Wanna know what Muddy's founder and editor-in-chief thinks?
- The Parent’s Guide to Surviving Exam Results…
  
  because it's not just the kids who are bricking it on GSCE, AS and A level results days this year, right?!
Kids
- Superflashy School News!
  
  Woo-hoo! King’s High has just been announced as The Sunday Times West Midlands Independent Secondary School of the Year, 2019.
- Gift guide for littlies
  
  Treat the little people! Gorgeous young children's pressies for Christmas, with brands you won't find everywhere else.

People View more

Muddy Meets…a local RSC star

Well hello! Charming former Warwick School pupil Ralph Davis gives us the lowdown on Simon Godwin’s new gender-bending Timon of Athens.
- Muddy makes the glossies!
  
  Our ed-in-chief Hero Brown on being a centre-fold pin-up in Psychologies magazine - alongside Thor star Chris Hemsworth!
- ‘It’s a real action-hero, ‘Marvel’-like play’
  
  Super-stylish rising RSC talent Amber James on Gregory Doran's Mad-Max-style futuristic dystopian Troilus and Cressida.
- An Elizabethan/TOWIE mash-up?
  
  We meet Fiona Laird for a chinwag about her RSC directorial debut, The Merry Wives of Windsor, fame and seeing Daniel Craig naked…
- Muddy meets Clara Amfo
  
  Winning TV quiz Pointless, playing basketball with Justin Bieber, crying over Oprah Winfrey - it's all in a day's work for Radio 1 DJ Clara Amfo. Muddy is enamoured with its new BFF.