The best running trails around Fulbrook CP

Has a community shop with coffee, soft drinks and snacks, a tyre pump and bike rack.

Always ask for the local hookey if it’s on tap!

One of the best known landmarks on the hills is Obelisk or Monument Erected in 1876 by Robert Needham Philips to honour his brother Mark Philips, this obelisk on the hill above the Welcombe Hotel is visible for miles up and down the vale of the Avon. Welcombe was once part of the chief manor of Old Stratford and in Shakespeare’s time the Combes family had a considerable estate here.  In 1845 Mark Philips, son of a northern industrialist purchased Welcombe Manor and in the 1860s rebuilt it as the family seat. Today this forms the Welcombe Hotel. Mark Philips was also notable as Manchester’s first Member of Parliament. About Mark Phlips Mark Philips (4 November 1800 – 23 December 1873) was an English Liberal Party politician, and one of the first pair of Members of Parliament for Manchester after the Great Reform Act. Born in Philips Park, Whitefield, Lancashire, the son of Robert Philips, a prosperous merchant and Anne Needham. He was educated at the Manchester Academy while it was in York and then at the University of Glasgow. The town of Manchester was deprived of its parliamentary representation in 1660 in reprisal for its support of the Parliamentarian faction during the English Civil War. Representation was only restored following the Great Reform Act of 1832. He and Charles Poulett Thomson were the first pair of MPs elected in that year. He represented the city in Parliament until 1847, an active member of the Anti-Corn Law League. A champion of universal education, in 1837 he chaired a meeting that led to the creation of the Lancashire Public Schools’ Association which was instrumental in establishing a system of publicly-funded schooling in the UK. He also played an important role in establishing the UK’s first free public library in 1852 and he was President of his old school Manchester Academy from 1842–1846 and from 1871 until his death in 1873. He was High Sheriff of Warwickshire in 1851. Philips donated money to many causes including £1,000 towards the fund for the provision of open spaces and parks for the City of Manchester. This resulted in many estates being purchased by the city, including Lark Hill in Salford, which became Peel Park, and the Bradford Estate which became Philips Park in east Manchester. He died, aged 73, at Welcombe House, Stratford-upon-Avon.

Called into the deli for hot soup and nice crusty bread on a long winter mountain bike ride. The also have real gelato - perfect for summer!

Great place to stop if you are walking this section of the Monarch’s Way. Good range of food and drinks and if you mention Monarch’s Way you can get a small discount.

Great for dogs and nice views from the obelisk

The war memorial in the village of Barford is set into the wall surrounding the churchyard of St Peter’s church, at the corner of Church Street and Church Lane. Five stone plaques are set into the wall; the three central ones commemorate World War I and two smaller ones either side of this, World War II. This section of the wall is heightened and a stone cross on a triple plinth rises from the top of the wall above the plaques. The dedication on the World War I plaque reads IN MEMORY OF THE MEN OF THIS PARISH WHO DIED FOR KING AND COUNTRY 1914 – 1919 The names of the fallen are listed below this: GEORGE HIRONS JOHN SMITH M.M. REUBEN BARNBROOK ARTHUR HOPKINS H. DENNIS SMITH-RYLAND Capt. HARRY WOODWARD FRANCIS H. FREEMAN Wm HENRY REEVE FRANCIS H. TALBOT ALBERT E. WINSTON L-C FREDERICK PILKINGTON WILLIAM CARTER Cpl FREDERICK BARTLETT C WESLEY HUNT FRANK A. BAKER L-C MARY M. GRAHAM and are followed by the words THEY POSSESS THE REWARD OF THEIR VALOUR WITH GOD IN HEAVEN AND LEAVE TO THE WORLD THE RICH INHERITANCE OF THEIR MEMORY The two World War II memorial plaques have the dates 1939 – 1945 and record names of the fallen. MAURICE S BARKER Major LAURENCE E W BYAM Mid JOHN FINCH RICHARD H HADLEY WILLIAM PUMFREY AUBREY A UPSTONE Hon GUSTAVUS L HAMILTON-RUSSELL Lt The original (World War I) memorial, was first unveiled on Sunday 18th September 1921. By 2003 the old bricks had deteriorated beyond repair and the stone plaques were becoming illegible due to spalling which necessitated significant restoration work. The restored memorial was rededicated prior to the Remembrance Day service on Sunday 9th November 2003.

St Peter’s has almost certainly been a site of Christian worship for over 1000 years. There was a resident priest here in 1085 according to Domesday Book. At the beginning of the 13th century the Saxon church was rebuilt and stood for 600 years. It is possible that the work at Barford may have been carried out by the same masons whom Thomas Beauchamp employed to build the present Warwick Castle and St Mary’s chancel. There are shot marks on the sides of the tower said to have been made by the Parliamentary soldiers before the battle of Edgehill in 1642. The building, except for the tower which remains today, was rebuilt between 1844 and 1845 largely through the generosity of Miss Louisa Ann Ryland. Inside the tower is the ringing gallery from which the peal of six bells is rung. Under the gallery is a 14th century recumbent stone effigy of a woman in a close fitting dress. Nearby is the “Churching Pew” formerly used by women who had recently given birth. By the organ is a 16th century iron-bound chest with two locks which was used to store documents and money. This was distributed to the poor of the village and known as “Parish Relief”. The East window is by Holland of Warwick. In the churchyard, near the line of yews, is the grave of Joseph Arch (1826 – 1919) who started the Union of Agricultural Workers and later became an MP.