Today was a 'relaxing' day in which that I really had nothing planned. This a good thing like today since it's been pouring all day. This morning after breakfast, I was thinking about doing the hop off, hop on bus tour of Stratford Upon Avon and surrounding areas and with that visit William Shakespeare five sites.
In the rain, I decided to walk to the Royal Shakespeare Company theater to see how far it was (10 minutes from the b&b) to see if I wanted to see a play. The place didn't open till 10:00 and I started my walk at 9:00. I then walked along River Avon and saw the canal and lots of Shakespeare related statues. I then walked to the TI to buy my bus and houses tickets. If you get a combined ticket of the five houses and bus tour, it made out to be £26.50. I don't know what each individual houses cost but the bus alone was £12. The bus runs every half an hour.
I first started with the farthest sites, Anne Hathaway cottage and Mary Arden's farm. They are out of town. I went to Anne Hathaway's cottage first. Since it wasn't raining that bad, I walked around the orchard and gardens first before heading to the cottage. By this time, tour buses started pouring in and the cottage got busy. Anne Hathaway was married to William Shakespeare. She grew up in the cottage, but it was not her's since the house would go to the oldest son. This cottage was where William Shakespeare started courting Anne.
Next, I went to Mary Arden's farm. The place is very big and they had falconry demonstration. I didn't see the falconry demo since it started in the afternoon. I just walked around the farm and house. There was a big orchard and a few fields to see but I skipped those since the rain started getting heavier. Mary Arden was William's mother.
After I made my way back into stratford upon avon and went to see Shakespeare birthplace. Before seeing the site, we went through a modern multimedia exhibit before actually seeing the place. The exhibit showed Shakespeare's life and career: his work, his upbringing in Stratford and family life, his career in London, and his legacy. After these movie clips, we made our way to the actual house. The house was actually restored in the 1800's but they tried their best to make it look like 1575 when William was 11. Some of the rooms with no furniture just had modern displays of Shakespeare's influence throughout the years.
Next was Nash's house, but before that it was time for some lunch. A nice hot bowl of soup. Nash was the first husband of Shakespeare's granddaughter. Actually, the house is next to the garden that was once the site of New Place, the house where Shakespeare retired. Archaeologists have recently been excavating the remains of New Place and have displayed dome of the items found in Nash's House. I didn't see any archaeologists digging since it was really wet outside. Nash's house was a quick tour.
Lastly, I made my way to Hall's Croft. This was the former home of Shakespeare's daughter, Susanna. She married a doctor so this house exhibit focused on 17th century medicine. It was another quick tour around. I thought about going to Shakespeare grave site but I was still raining and I was cold and wet. I just decided to head back to the b&b and warmed up. After a couple of hours, I just wandered around town again but quickly came back as it was getting colder. I hope there's better weather tomorrow.
Tomorrow's agenda: Heading to York.
So do the houses look fancy and authentic to the time? Is it like various rooms that are roped off and you kind of look in or can you touch things?
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