The parks are visited for their magnificent floral displays but there are other attractions for residents and visitors alike. In Bedworth the Miners’ Welfare Park contains the winding wheel from the Newdigate colliery, which closed in 1982. There is also Stella Carr’s public art, The Bedworth Miner, installed in 2000. There is a paddling pool and enclosed children’s play area.
For sports enthusiasts there are cricket and football pitches, tennis courts, a bowling green and a pitch and putt golf course. Also in the park is the Leisure Centre with swimming pool, squash courts and skating rink with a cafe for light refreshments.
Riversley Park in Nuneaton houses the Museum, Art Gallery, Registry Office and tea room. It links with the George Eliot Memorial Gardens into the town centre. It also follows the River Anker and leads into The Pingles where there is a high quality sports and athletics stadium, tennis courts, swimming pool, leisure facilities, pitch and putt and a cafe.
On the edge of The Pingles visitors are quickly into Chilvers Coton, with its George Eliot associations, and the delightful Attleborough village with its quaint buildings and wide selection of eating venues. At Coton there is a Craft Centre where individual artists produce and sell art and craft from their units. A cafe is part of the complex. Adjacent to it is the old Chilvers Coton Free School, dating from the 1730s, and now a heritage centre where children can take part in a Victorian classroom.
See also Parks and Open Spaces and Play Areas for details of actual locations.
