Coventry – Godiva Travellers

Coventry War Memorial Park

17th Oct 202017th Oct 2020Posted in Coventry, History, Parkrun, travel, UK, WarwickshireTagged Airborne Services, Arthur Hutt VC, City of Culture 2021, Conroy's Coffee, Coventry, Friends of War Memorial Park, Godiva Festival, Parkrun, Visit Coventry, War Memorial Park, Warwickshire, West MidlandsLeave a comment

Coventry’s War Memorial Park is the city’s most popular leisure facility and one of the country’s most successful local parks. As a living memorial to the fallen of Britain’s 20th century wars, the park is up there amongst the best. The 48 acre park was opened in July 1921, originally, as a tribute to the 2,587 Coventrians who died between 1914 and 1918 fighting in the First World War. Memorials have since been added to commemorate the fallen of other conflicts in the twentieth century. 2021 will be the centenary of the park’s opening.

The park is a triumph of a 100 years of green space just a 15 minute walk from the city centre. Any visitor to Coventry should make the time to visit the park to enjoy its many features.

The park’s principal feature is the towering memorial monument. This imposing monument greets the visitor who enters the park from Kenilworth/Leamington Road entrance. Standing at the top of an avenue of trees, the memorial dominates the landscape by its silent, dignified presence. An eternal flame flickers at the top of the tower as a reminder of that Great War of a hundred years ago.

Alongside the avenue is a moving memorial to Athur Hutt, a Coventry born serviceman who was awarded the Victoria Cross. A few metres further on there is a memorial to the men and women of the WW2 airborne services. Trees throughout the park are dedicated to individual service men and women who died for their country. Plaques at the base of the trees commemorate their deaths. At the north end of the park are the concrete remains of a barrage balloon station. These barage balloons were used to protect the city against enemy air attack. Sadly, they did not prevent the city suffering from severe enemy air attacks in WW2.

The theme of the park is now reconciliation and a beautiful German garden has been constructed as a symbol of that reconciliation. A Japanese garden is in the process of being created and it should be complete by early 2021. The German and Japanese gardens are but two of many stunning gardens that decorate the park. Regardless of the season a walk through the park gives the eyes a spectacle of colour. Then there are trees cleverly spaced around the park adding to the park’s natural beauty. The park really is a nature lover’s delight.

Sport is not forgotten in the park. There are football pitches, tennis courts, a bowling green and a recently developed “Footgolf” course. A cross between football and golf, Footgolf is one of those novel features which makes the park so special. The park has a skate board area, swings, climbing area, an aviary and water play area. This makes it a great place to take the children.

The park has two cafes. One of the cafes is housed in the visitor centre which has a small picture history of the park.

The park is home to one of the country’s best attended Saturday morning 5K parkruns and a friendly welcome is given to all parkrun tourists. The park’s other cafe is a meeting place for these runners. Manageress Kim has a special smile on her face on Saturday mornings when she greets runners who come to her cafe for a post run cup of tea and a bacon batch. A bacon batch is a Coventry speciality and Kim makes one of the best. Sadly, the parkrun is temporarily postponed due to Covid-19.

The park hosts the annual Godiva Music Festival. The festival attracts musicians from around the country and from around the world. As an affordable alternative to Glastonbury, the Godiva Festival is a must for music lovers. See our blog post on the Godiva Festival for more information.

Click on the link below to see a map and a few photos of a walk we did around the park: https://www.relive.cc/view/vE6JmXd8MgO

Coventry’s War Memorial Park has so much to offer and it is so much more than just another city park. The only way you can discover Coventry’s War Memorial park is to visit it. You will be pleased if you do.

We would love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below. Please share with anyone you think may be interested. See you again soon!

Godiva Festival Coventry

1st Jul 20197th Oct 2020Posted in Coventry, Godiva Festival, History, Parkrun, travel, UK, WarwickshireTagged Busted, Coventry, Feeder, Festival, Godiva Festival, Lady Godiva, Leofric, Levellers, Parkrun, Peeping Tom, War Memorial Park5 Comments

If you love family friendly festivals, and are on a budget, then come to Coventry! Feeder will headline the festival in 2019 and crowds of over 40,000 are expected on the Saturday alone. There are many other bands playing during the festival so you can experience different styles of music during the three days of the event. Families with children can enjoy a funfair and lots of other activities dotted around the site. The Godiva Festival is a festival that caters for everyone and we hope you enjoy your visit.

2019 headliners are: Levellers on Friday, Feeder on Saturday and Busted on Sunday.

The Godiva festival has taken place every year for over 20 years. The location is Coventry’s War Memorial Park, just outside the centre of Coventry, on the Kenilworth Road. This year’s event is happening from 5-7 July 2019.

For the first time this year there are charges, but it is only £2 per person, per day – it must be the cheapest festival tickets in the UK? Tickets can be bought at the gate, but to ensure you get in it’s probably best to buy in advance online. Car park charges on-site are £10 per day, however, expect to queue. It might be easier to park in one of the city centre’s many car parks where parking is easier and fees are less. It’s a pleasant 1 km stroll to the park from the city centre. If you come by train then it’s an even shorter stroll to the park. There is no camping available. Tickets available from this site: https://godivatickets.co.uk/

History of Godiva

If you’ve read the “About Us” section on our site you will see that we’ve called our blog “Godiva Travellers”. Lady Godiva is Coventry’s symbol and it why so many local events, such as the Godiva Festival, are named in her honour.

Lady Godiva and her husband Earl Leofric are real historical figures from pre-Norman England of 1030-1060s. Earl of Mercia Leofric was one of the most powerful nobles in the country. The legend says that during a banquet feast Lady Godiva pleaded with her husband to reduce the heavy taxation on the people of Coventry. Maybe having had too much wine, Leofric joked that he would reduce Coventry’s taxes but only if Godiva agreed to ride naked, on horseback, through the city’s streets.

To Leofric’s astonishment, this is what Godiva did. Out of respect, the townsfolk closed the shutters on their windows so no one would see Godiva as she rode by. Only Peeping Tom opened his shutters to gaze on the naked Lady Godiva and for this, God is said to have blinded him. Leofric kept his promise and reduced the town’s taxes.

Leofric’s family lost power after the Norman conquest of 1066. There is another legend that says Lady Godiva and Earl Leofric were the parents of Hereward the Wake, the leader of the last English resistance to the Normans. The historical evidence for this legend has not been verified. It is a good story though so we believe it!

If you go into the city centre you will see a statue of Lady Godiva and the Peeping Tom Clock.

Running at the War Memorial Park

This is the place where the Coventry Parkrun takes place every Saturday at 9.00 am. It’s a free 5k run around the park. It’s one of the largest parkruns in the UK attracting hundreds of runners of all abilities every week.

There is no parkrun while the festival takes place, but it is ran on all the other Saturdays in the year (weather permitting).

Martin became the runner to run the 1 millionth kilometre at the Coventry parkrun in June 2019!

We would love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below. Please share with anyone you think may be interested. See you again soon!

The Knife Angel

11th Jun 20197th Oct 2020Posted in Coventry, Sculpture, travel, UKTagged Coventry, Coventry Cathedral, Knife Angel, Knives, Sculpture1 Comment

The Knife Angel is a 26 foot tall sculpture made from knives, Samarai swords and martial arts weapons. It is dedicated to victims of knife crime. Some of the knives are inscribed with the names of people lost to knife crime. It was very moving reading the comments written about the people who had been affected by this sad violence. People came from far and wide to view the beautiful and powerful sculpture.

Behind the statue to the left, on the wall of Coventry’s new cathedral you will see the equally powerful statue of St Michael defeating the devil. It was an evocative backdrop for the knife angel and symbolic of good defeating evil.

The knife angel was made in the British Ironwork Centre, in Shropshire and took over 2 years to make. Thousands of people visited the sculpture when it was in its temporary location outside of Coventry Cathedral. It has now moved from Coventry and is touring the UK. It’s definitely worth going to see if you get the chance.

We would love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below. Please follow and share with anyone you think may be interested. See you again soon!