The county town of Warwickshire, Warwick, is home to over 25,000 people and sits on the banks of the river Avon. One of its most famous landmarks is the medieval Warwick Castle, originally built by William the Conqueror. It remained as the main defence of the town until the seventeenth century, when it was converted into a country house by Sir Fulke Greville and remained in his family's hands until 1978. Since that date, it has become a major tourist attraction in England. The castle features a working siege engine, capable of hurling up to 330 pounds of ammunition a distance of almost a thousand feet. This giant catapult is operated daily, so you can witness the spectacle of this ancient war machine yourself when you visit. Warwick Castle is reputedly haunted and there are regular ghost hunts in its grounds.

During the year, Warwick is home to a number of different festivals. These include the annual Folk Festival, which takes place in July each year and attracts a mixture of singers and street musicians and also features Morris dancers. Earlier in the year is the Warwick International Festival and in the autumn you can witness the Warwick Words literary festival. More recently, the town has become home to a Student Arts festival, featuring hundreds of performers from the town's university. Some of the acts have gone on to perform at the Edinburgh Festival.

The famous author J R R Tolkein was married in the town and several of his novels have a connection with the area. It is thought that both Edoras and Minas Tirith have their original models in the town. More recently, the town has several connections to modern musicians as well as being the birthplace of the Nobel Prize winner, Sir John Hicks.