Birdingbury

Birdingbury Hall is a 17th-century country house situated at Birdingbury, near Rugby, Warwickshire. It is a Grade II listed building and now serves as the head office of a commercial organisation.

Birdingbury railway station was a railway station serving Birdingbury in the English county of Warwickshire on the Rugby to Leamington line. Among the many schemes to build a line between Rugby and Leamington was one by the Rugby, Leamington and Warwick Railway Company. This later became known as the Rugby and Leamington Railway and received Royal assent on 13 August 1846. It was sold to the London and North Western Railway almost immediately on 17 November 1846. It was not, however, until 1 March 1851 that the line opened with stations at Birdingbury and Marton, that at Dunchurch opening in 1871. Originally it was a single line, but was doubled in the 1880s, and the driveway leading to its level crossing was private property used by arrangement with the owners. The station building was of plain but substantial brick-built design and, on the opposite down platform, there was a waiting room with an awning (not present on the main platform). On the up side was a short double head shunt, with a siding leading to a loading stage. Unusually, on each platform was a small lever frame which could be used when the signal box was closed.At grouping in 1923 it became part of the London Midland and Scottish Railway. The goods yard closed in August 1953 and its track was lifted almost immediately. The station closed to passengers on 15 June 1959 when the Rugby and Leamington local service ended the track was lifted from Southam and is now a cycleway. The station buildings are now a private dwelling.

Bourton and Draycote is a civil parish in the Rugby borough of Warwickshire, England which consists of the villages of Bourton-on-Dunsmore and Draycote. Of these, Bourton is the larger. In the 2001 Census the parish had a population of 231, increasing to 275 at the 2011 Census.

Leamington Hastings is a small village and larger civil parish in Warwickshire, England. The civil parish covers Leamington Hastings itself, plus the nearby hamlets of Broadwell, Hill and Kites Hardwick. Its population in the 2011 census was 440, increasing slightly to 466 at the 2021 census.

Bourton-on-Dunsmore is a small village in Warwickshire, England. It is within the civil parish of Bourton and Draycote, along with the nearby hamlet of Draycote. Bourton is part of the borough of Rugby and is located around 5 miles (8.0 km) south-west of the town of Rugby, just south of the B4453 road. Bourton is located upon a ridge of high ground overlooking the Draycote Water reservoir. A short distance to the east, downhill of Bourton is the hamlet of Draycote, and a short distance west is the village of Frankton. Bourton-on-Dunsmore was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. The village church of St Peter dates to the 13th century, but was mostly rebuilt in the 19th century, it is now grade II listed.In the village is the grade II listed Bourton Hall; a large stone mansion house which dates from 1791, with later additions. It once had gardens designed by Harold Peto, but had fallen into dereliction by the early-1980s. It was restored, and for many years was the headquarters of the development charity Practical Action (formerly known as Intermediate Technology). In 2019 the hall was bought by a company who sought to convert it into a luxury wedding venue. In 2021 the company was fined for carrying out renovation work to the hall without planning permission.

Draycote is a small hamlet in Warwickshire, England. It forms part of the civil parish of Bourton and Draycote along with nearby Bourton-on-Dunsmore, which is located around half a mile to the west, uphill from Draycote. Draycote is located in a valley just to the west of Draycote Water reservoir, which is named after the hamlet and is home to Draycote Water Sailing Club. Draycote is quite remote, with only one narrow lane accessing the village from the B4453 road, which then loops back towards Bourton-on-Dunsmore. The remains of the former Rugby to Leamington Spa railway line run west of Draycote. Part of the former line between Draycote and Birdingbury has recently been converted into a cycleway as part of the National Cycle Network. Near the village is the Draycote Meadows nature reserve.

Draycote Water is a 240-hectare (590-acre) reservoir and country park near the village of Dunchurch, 3.75 miles (6 km) south of Rugby in Warwickshire, England, owned and operated by Severn Trent Water. It draws its water from the River Leam, and supplies drinking water to Rugby and Coventry. It is named after the nearby hamlet of Draycote. The reservoir was created in the 1960s and was opened in 1970, with a new pipe and pump installed in 2012. It has a capacity of up to 5 billion gallons (23 million m³) and a maximum depth of 70 feet (21 m). It is a site for birdwatching and has a bird hide, with a feeding station sponsored by the West Midland Bird Club. Severn-Trent manage an adjacent 20 acres (8 ha) country park. Draycote is used by cyclists, runners, windsurfers, fly fishers and for boating. Fishing is for brown trout and rainbow trout from the banks or from boats. A farm to the north east of the site has a herd of alpacas.

Frankton is a village and civil parish in the Rugby borough of Warwickshire in England. In the 2001 Census it had a population of 344, increasing to 351 at the 2011 Census.

Hill is a hamlet in the civil parish of Leamington Hastings and the borough of Rugby, in Warwickshire, England. The hamlet is between Leamington Hastings and the A426 road from Rugby to Southam.

Draycote Meadows SSSI (grid reference SP451708) is a 10 acres (4.0 ha) Site of Special Scientific Interest, notified in 1973. The site is 4 miles (6.4 km) southwest of Rugby immediately to the north of Draycote village. It is accessed from the B4453, close to the A45's London Road interchange. The site is managed by the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust and is well known for its flower rich hay meadows and variety of butterflies.

Broadwell is a village in Warwickshire, England in the civil parish of Leamington Hastings roughly midway between Dunchurch and Southam on the A426 road.

Marton railway station was a railway station serving Marton in the English county of Warwickshire on the Rugby to Leamington line. Among the many schemes to build a line between Rugby and Leamington was one by the Rugby, Leamington and Warwick Railway Company. This later became known as the Rugby and Leamington Railway and received royal assent on 13 August 1846. The undertaking was sold to the London and North Western Railway on 17 November 1846 and the line opened on 1 March 1851. Marton station was situated half-a-mile south of the village it served on the road to Long Itchington (now the A423). The brick-built station buildings were on the Down (Leamington-bound) side of the line. Marton station closed to passenger traffic on 15 June 1959 and closed to freight in July 1961. The rail bridge over the A423 was demolished in August 2022, removing the access to the former station permanently.