Stratford-Upon-Avon, Day 2, Thurs 29th August

On our second day in Stratford-Upon-Avon we completed our tours of the four remaining Shakespeare houses, the first for the day being Nash's House.  Nash's house is the site of William Shakespeare's final home...

 Nash's house has beautiful gardens...

 The next Shakespeare house we visited was Hall's Croft, where one of Shakespeare's daughters, Susanna, lived with her husband Dr John Hall.

 Emily is completing a quiz on Hall's croft, using her new quill...

 An exquisite 16th century carved wooden baby's high chair:

 In the gardens of Hall's croft..

 Next we visited Holy Trinity church in Stratford-Upon-Avon, to pay our respects at William Shakespeare's grave.  We didn't realise until speaking with a guide, that Emily's birthday of 23rd April is also the date of both Shakespeare's birth and death.

 This memorial to Shakespeare was erected by Shakespeare's friends soon after his death in 1616.

 After leaving Holy Trinity Church we travelled to Mary Arden's farm. This is where Shakespeare's mother Mary grew up.  There were displays of tudor farming and implements, as well as a falconry demonstration.  Here are some of the birds we saw at Mary Arden's farm:

 The falconer works with Izzy the barn owl.

 Emily makes a lavender bag...

 Emily poses with Widget the kestrel.

 The final house tour of the day was Anne Hathaway's cottage.  This is where the young William Shakespeare courted his future wife Anne Hathaway.

 Cool sculpture in the gardens of Anne Hathaway's cottage...

 The talking poetry tree.  Emily was the only one to get it to talk, until Dad realised he needed to moisten his hands with water, to make the connection better with his hands.

 We finished off our second day in Stratford at Wildwood restaurant - very delicious!

Stratford-Upon-Avon - Wed 28th August

After leaving York, we journeyed to Stratford-Upon-Avon, birthplace of William Shakespeare.  The trip was around two and a half hours, nearly all on motorways.  The weather has been drier than northern England and Scotland,  and also a little warmer.
We stayed at a B&B called Salamander Lodge.   The room was very small, the towels were threadbare with torn edges, the shower was very average, but on the positive side, the cooked breakfast wasn't too bad and the owner gave us lots of tips for exploring, as well as half-price vouchers for visiting the Shakespeare houses.
Our first stop was Shakespeare's birth place.  Amazing to see the house itself and the furnishings.

 We were fortunate to sit and watch two actors reciting famous lines from Hamlet, Othello and Macbeth.

 Later we walked through the town and down to the Avon river.

 Emily immediately recognised this statue of William Shakespeare, from all things, the animated movie "Gnomeo & Juliet", where the statue comes to life and speaks to the character Gnomeo.

 Posing with a statue or looking at the map for directions?

 Enjoying some delicious gelato after our fish and chips dinner...

 The Salamander Lodge B&B...