Wellesbourne Airfield Café

Wellesbourne Airfield Café

If you fancy having breakfast in an unusual location, try the Touchdown Café at Wellesbourne Airfield on Loxley Lane.

Located just outside Wellesbourne, going towards Stratford, the café offers a good value breakfast with thick slices of bacon, cooked to order, and served on a decked terrace beside the airfield’s runway where you can enjoy your breakfast while watching the small civil aircraft take-off and land. Helicopters hover at the far end of the field and at the other is a Vulcan bomber. 

The café has a distinct aviation theme with flight maps under the glass tops of the tables and models planes suspended from the ceiling. Alongside a framed collection of cigarette cards depicting planes from the past, the noticeboard advertises headsets for sale and opportunities to ‘share an aircraft’ or organise a flight to Egypt.

If the breakfast is not your cup of tea, the rest of the menu is also good value and tea and coffee are reasonably priced. 

It is great to be able to watch the small planes up close but it does get busy. It is popular with bikers and families who come to see the planes, as well as the occasional pilot or passenger who has just flown in.

7 days in Kenilworth

A busy start to July

There was plenty going on during the first week of July in Kenilworth. On Sunday the 1^st there was the Olympic Torch going from Stratford on Avon, Warwick, Leamington Spa and Kenilworth before heading off to Coventry.

In Kenilworth, a steel band was playing in the town during the day and sporting activities were put on across the Abbey Fields. By late afternoon, crowds were lining the route through Kenilworth town centre and a great cheer and sounding of horns greeted the convoy of support vehicles and the bearer as he made his way past the clock tower and around to the Castle where another bearer took the torch on between the cottages on Castle Hill and down High Street, accompanied by the church bells, and followed by a mass of youngsters. 

The following Saturday saw Kenilworth’s 80^th Carnival which, despite the on-off showers, was great to watch, as always.  I had watched several of the floats making their way to the Castle for the start, zipping along at a brisk pace through the morning traffic with everyone onboard already in full swing.  It was quite a sight to see members of the Royal Family dancing on the back of one lorry as it headed along the same part of town that I had seen the Olympic torch travel only six days before. Weather forecasts were not optimistic but it did not deter those that gathered along the route, armed with umbrellas and picnic chairs, to see the brightly decorated floats, excited youngsters, comical costumes and marching bands - what fun. 

From Thursday, the annual fair was in the fields next to the car park, to coincide with the carnival, along with stalls and displays around the tennis courts on the Saturday.  St Nicholas church put on tea and homemade cakes and then at dusk there was a firework display to complete the celebration. 

What a busy week.