Stratford-upon-Avon

Sorry, I’ve been terrible about blogging since the holidays!  A lot has been going on with work for both David and me, and we have been spending our weekends checking things off our London site-seeing to-do list.  I’ll blog more about those things later, but this weekend, Katie came to visit!

Katie had to be in London and Prague for two weeks for work, and decided to fly into England a couple of days early to spend the weekend with us.  Because she did her college internship in London and has visited us before, she asked if we could do something a bit different this past weekend and go outside the city to see part of the country.

So on Saturday after she flew in, we ate at the Churchill Arms in Kensington, a historic pub known for its beautiful flowers and delicious Thai food.  We had a late lunch of pad thai and curry in the butterfly conservatory section of the pub before walking around Notting Hill to Portobello Market.  Katie had never been to that area of the city before, so she enjoyed browsing through the antique stalls and picking out some goodies to bring back home to Texas with her.

On Sunday, we rented a Zipcar for the day and drove 90 minutes northwest to Stratford-upon-Avon, the home of William Shakespeare.

David turned into his alter-ego, Nigel the chauffeur, 

to drive us around all day.

We started our tour at the home where Shakespeare was born and raised.  We learned about the history of the house, where his father ran his glove-making business, and then the expansion into an inn, and finally a museum.  There were even costumed actors reciting the famous playwright’s verses to keep us entertained. 

From there, we had lunch at Fourteas, a 1940’s tea room.  The walls are covered in posters from that time period, and the waiters and waitresses also dress the part.  The menus are printed as ration books and the to-go box we received for all of the sweets we couldn’t finish was a brown cardboard box with string.  We suspect rations were distributed the same way seventy years ago.

Katie and I had afternoon tea with sandwiches, scones, and a variety of desserts,

while David had a bowl of soup and the largest club sandwich I've ever seen in England!

From there, we walked along the river Avon to Holy Trinity Church, where Shakespeare was baptized, married, and buried with his family.

The rain has been relentless this winter, and though it’s not as much of a problem in the city, the countryside is going through terrible flooding.  The Avon was completely swollen and overflowing into parks and fields.  We couldn’t walk along the riverbank because it was underwater, with the water nearly reaching the road.  But nonetheless, we enjoyed the views and walk through the town, admiring the old (and some new) buildings.

View of the Swan Theatre, home to the Royal Shakespeare Company, from the Avon

From Holy Trinity Church, we walked to Hall’s Croft, the home of Shakespeare’s daughter, Susanna, and her wealthy husband, Dr. John Hall.  The house is enormous, even by today’s standards, and the gardens are supposedly beautiful in the summer.  As it was a cold, wintery day that threatened more rain, our guide advised us to come back in a few months to admire the roses and other flowers. 

Hall’s Croft was built in 1614 and is celebrating its 400 anniversary this year.  It consists of large bedrooms upstairs, grand fireplaces on the first floor, and an original glass window.  Glass windows were a privilege only the rich could afford in the 17th century, and they often took the windows with them when moving house.

Katie and I had never been to that part of the country before, and David hadn't been since he was a kid, so it was fun to explore the small village together and see something new.