Broadway Tower
Broadway Tower Country Park Warwickshire WR12 7LB
This 'Saxon' folly near the north Cotswold town of Broadway has it all: battlements, gargoyles, red deer, astonishingly wide open vistas and even a nuclear bunker. At around a thousand feet high, it’s the second highest point in the Cotswolds (Cleeve Hill just outside Cheltenham is the highest), and on a clear day it’s said you can see 16 counties. Even if the weather isn’t clear it's still a great place to visit. Broadway Tower was built in the late-eighteenth century by Capability Brown, who really went to town with the romantic balconies and ornate embellishments that enticed the pre-Raphaelites to come here for their holidays and William Morris to campaign for its preservation. Later it was used to spot enemy planes during World War 2 and as a nuclear-proof bunker during the Cold War. There are displays on the history of the tower on three floors as well as a viewing platform on the roof for county-counting. Outdoor types might like to sign up for one of their ‘deer encounter’ days in the surrounding countryside, which is a designated 'country park'.
