Sunny Stratford

After our lovely day in Buckinghamshire yesterday we decided to spend a few hours in Stratford upon Avon before catching our flight home. It was another sunny, cold day, and I was very excited about my first ever visit to Stratford. We got parked near the centre without any problems; I think that we benefited from the fact that it was off season. There were still plenty of people out and about in the sunshine and I thought that the town was very pretty, with lots of half-timbered Elizabethan houses, and ducks and swans on the river Avon. 

We visited Shakespeare's birthplace which was a remarkably spacious house in the centre of town; I hadn't realised that Shakespeare's father was a well heeled businessman. We also visited the nearby Hall's Croft, another good sized house where his daughter Susanna lived with her doctor husband. Both houses were staffed by enthusiastic guides who told us all sorts of interesting things about the buildings and life in those days, it was fascinating. For example the expensive timbers at the front of the houses were placed much closer together than at the back, just to show off the owner's affluence. And proper beds were a great luxury so the best bed (for guests) was put in pride of place downstairs where visitors could see it. 

Finally we visited the church where Shakespeare was baptised, and he was buried there 52 years later. Fifty-two. Younger than I am now. I really liked Stratford and hope to go to a play there some day.