Shakespeare Country

Began the day with a visit to Anne Hathaway’s cottage.

We got there first thing but were already beaten by two bus-loads of tourists which meant we had a bit of extra time in the garden (which was worthwhile). The guide was very informative, terribly English and produced very full answers to all our questions.

Drove to Warwick Castle where we could have done with some jousting sticks to get through the queues for parking, ticketing and entry. It is summer school holidays and every local and many imported kids have dragged their parents along to see the entertainment including jousting,falconary, knight school, plate spinning, archery, tom-foolery etc. While there, G insisted that I sit for another family photo (see the pictures somewhere around here).

Justice was done however as she then encountered a hostile native (a wasp) which stung her hand. I am sure there was no malice on anyone’s part (although she is not so sure) but she tells me that it is fine now. The temperature made it to 25 today (actually the car was 37 after sitting in the sun for half the day).

Next, we visited Shakespeare’s birthplace

which is preceded by an audio-visual presentation about his impact on the world. A couple of actors provided entertainment in the yard outside with short scenes from his plays and recitations of his sonnets. To complete the hatch, match and dispatch sequence, we also visited his “grave” in Trinity Church, Stratford. This is not so much a grave as a group of flooring slates in the chancel of the church under which the bones of his entire family lie. The inscription on his piece of paving is essentially a curse lest anyone dare to dig him up again. We didn’t even think about that as we were off to do some rowing on the Avon River (despite some seriously unstable steering at times, I can assure you that no swans were harmed in the taking of these photos).