I moved here from Hatfield in 2006. What a difference! The two towns of Warwick and Leamington Spa have to be just about one of the nicest places to live in England. Located in the West Midlands, it's very close to Birmingham with excellent railway and motorway routes nearby. If you want to live in an English town as it should be, look no further. Trouble is, everyone else does, so it's a bit on the expensive side!

Unlike Stratford-Upon-Avon (Shakespeare's town), these two towns are not flooded with tourists. By the way, I really really don't like the totally over-rated Shakespeare anyway!

The two towns are very different indeed, Warwick being founded in 914 A.D. and Leamington Spa around the late 1700s but being a small village until the 1800s. Warwick has the medieval narrow streets with the old Tudor-style buildings and little cottages by the riverside. It has, of course, Warwick Castle. A very popular tourist attraction. Warwick is great to live in with many little restaurants, shops and traditional pubs. People are very friendly here as well. It does have a substantial student population as well being close to Warwick University. It has a great park next to the River Avon.

Leamington Spa is just a couple of miles down the road. Incidentally, I live between the two but the two towns generally merge together. This much younger town has a wide spacious Regency feel to it with grand white terraced buildings and wide rectangular city blocks. The beautiful Jephson Gardens lies next to the River Leam. Leamington Spa has a greater range of shops but everything (including the high-street chains) looks like it belongs to a Regency-style town. It has a great selection of restaurants, great bars and pubs with a surprisingly good nightlife and has retained its local cinema right in the middle of town. No suburban cinema multiplexes here that I'm aware of. Hope it stays that way!

Great towns. All the charm with all the facilities!