National Memorial Arboretum

Although we're staying in Warwick, we travelled about 45 minutes to the National Memorial Arboretum this morning.  It's somewhere we've been wanting to visit for sometime, not least because the boyfriend spent 26 years in the Marines so has seen a fair bit of active service (Falklands, Northern Ireland, Gulf, Bosnia, etc).

This area is probably the most moving - the Shot At Dawn memorial, in memory of all those who were shot as deserters.  This was the youngest person I could find, but there were some in their 30s.  Mostly shot because they were scared, I should imagine, but there is really no excuse for whatever reason they deserted.  We should be ashamed.

The site as a whole is really impressive, with some surprising memorial areas (the one for showmen who died in various conflicts was quite bizarre - a merry-go-round horse!) and some quite stunning ones.  

We headed back to Warwick afterwards and had a look round the town.  Not too much there, but it's nice enough, and we had a lovely lunch at the Roebuck!