Astley BookFarm

Astley Book Farm occupies a converted range of Victorian farm buildings at Soar End Farm, on the Arbury Estate near Bedworth, close to the birthplace of the novelist Mary Ann Evans, better known as George Eliot. Owner Vivienne Mills opened the shop in 2004 and has built it into one of the largest secondhand bookshops in the Midlands, holding more than 75,000 books across 4,000 square feet of barns and outbuildings. Stock ranges from antiquarian and rare first editions to general fiction, Folio Society editions, science fiction and fantasy, with a separate Ten Bob Barn where paperbacks are sold unsorted at 50p each. A coffee shop attached to the bookshop serves sandwiches, soup and cakes, with a dog-friendly garden for browsing between shelves. The site is signposted from the A444 and draws visitors from across Warwickshire for its scale and setting. It opens Tuesday to Sunday and bank holiday Mondays, closing only on Mondays.