Monday was a stunning winter day - bright blue sky, sunny and freezing cold. After another fantastic breakfast, we drove north to Stratford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare. We arrived in Stratford just before 11am, so we were just in time to do a walking tour around the town centre. As it turned out, we the only two people on the walking tour that day!
Our tour guide, John, was very informative and passionate about his home town. We were shown lovely buildings from the 15th, 17th and 18th centuries, including dozens of the famous half-timber buildings that line the streets of Stratford. We also had a history lesson about the floods, fires and plagues that have helped to shape modern-day Stratford.
The highlights of the walking tour were three of the Shakespeare Properties (Shakespeare's birthplace, Nash House and Hall's Croft), the Old Thatch Tavern (which is rumoured to be haunted following a brutal murder at the hotel many years ago), Holy Trinity Church where Shakespeare is buried, the "Dirty Duck" pub, the Royal Shakespeare Theatre which is currently being restored, the adjacent Swan Theatre and the temporary Shakespeare theatre being used until the real deal is open again in 2010.
The Holy Trinity Church dates from the mid 13th century and it is a beautiful church. In the chancel we saw photocopies of the baptism and burial records of William Shakespeare. He was baptised in the church on 26 April 1564, which leads the experts to believe that he was born no more than three days prior to that, although there is no official evidence of his date of birth. He died in Stratford on 23 April 1616 and is buried beneath the chancel of the church. Sometime before 1623, a monument was erected in his memory on the wall of the chancel, with a half-effigy of him in the act of writing. A stone slab covering his grave is inscribed with a curse against moving his bones.
After the walking tour, we had lunch at Bensons cafe - toasted BLT and hot chocolate - and then we explored some of the lovely gift shops Stratford has to offer. Megan bought some Christmas tree decorations with a Shakespearean theme from The Nutcracker Christmas Shop, a magnificent huge store full of quality Christmas decorations.
Directly across the road from the Christmas shop is Shakespeare's Birthplace. We wandered through the adjacent Shakespeare Centre, which is a kind of mini museum, before taking the tour through the birthplace. The site was actually four houses/cottages, all owned by William's father, John Shakespeare, a wealthy seller of leather goods, who also held the important positions of town bailiff and treasurer at various times. Two of the cottages were used by John as his business premises and the other two were houses for his family.
Despite being amongst the wealthiest families of Stratford at the time, the cottages were tiny and they would have been freezing in winter - stone floors, holes in the walls for windows, with wooden shutters covering them and straw rooves. They would also have smelled rather bad, as there were open sewers running down the street. But Will was brought into the world in the upstairs bedroom of one of these tiny cold cottages, most likely on the floor so as not to ruin the bed!
After the obligatory look through the gift shop tacked on the end of the Shakespeare Birthplace and with a couple of shiny new postcards in our hot little hands, we returned to Bensons cafe for a hot drink and a piece of carrot cake. It was already starting to get dark by the time we left Bensons, but we managed to find our way back to the famous Black Swan pub, more commonly known as the Dirty Duck pub. The pub has attracted hundreds of theatre actors down the years and the walls are covered with signed photos and other memorabilia from the actors. We had a drink beside the log fire before leaving Stratford and making the trip back to the B&B.
We decided to go back to the Fox Inn for dinner rather than try somewhere different. We were not disappointed, as the food was again superb and the pub was a lot quieter this time. Rather oddly, we ran over a rat on our way to the Fox Inn. Tim was driving and didn't even see it, but Megan spotted it run on to the road from the left and stop right in front of us and get squished under the wheel. The world is a slightly better place with one less rat in it.
Tuesday
On Tuesday morning we left the Lower Farmhouse and drove to the nearby village of Little Compton. If truth be told there is not a lot to see in Little Compton, but we wanted a photo of Megan standing beside the road sign! From there we returned to Witney to have another crack at finding a park. It was very busy again and it took us a while to find a park, but we eventually got that sorted and set off for the blanket shop. Megan got a great deal on a woollen blanket for around £14!
After lunch in Witney, we headed for Blenheim Palace, near Oxford. Blenheim Palace is one of the largest palaces in Europe. It was gifted to John Churchill, the first Duke of Marlborough, from Queen Anne and Parliament as a reward for his role in defeating Louis XIV. The massive palace features the room where Winston Churchill was born and you can also visit the chapel and the 800 hectares of parkland and garden. Sadly for us, the palace was closed on Tuesday. We will have to make another trip!
So we dropped the rental car back in Oxford earlier than expected and made our way back to London town on the train. We had a fantastic few days in the Cotswolds and Stratford and we can't wait to go back to explore the region some more! Oh and check out the Beatles Russian dolls in the photo below!
Half-
timber
buildings
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