Stratford on Avon 30 April - 2 May 2016

Saturday 30 April

The second weekend away of the year saw us visiting Stratford just one week after the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death. Our numbers where a bit depleted as the Tour de Yorkshire has become a permanent fixture on this bank holiday weekend. Most of the group were staying in the youth hostel which had some lovely old trees in the grounds. Best not to mention the food!

YHA Stratford on Avon

We arrived in Stratford at lunch time and there were two walks on offer for the afternoon. The other option was to go into Stratford and I chose this one as I wanted to do the official  tour of the sights led by a volunteer from the tourist office. They do a tour every day of the year and two on weekend days. Anita decided to come with me and although we had to pay a small fee we were rewarded with several discount vouchers to use in shops, cafes or restaurants so it was very good value.
We had time to eat our packed lunch by the river before the tour started at 2.00 pm.

RSC Shakespeare Theatre

The Other Place built as a temporary theatre but now permanent

Chain Ferry
Last one to be built in Britain in 1937 and oldest in Europe

View down the river to the church where Shakespeare is buried

Hire boats all named after Shakespeare characters

Holy Trinity church where Shakespeare's body is buried

Shakespeare's grave.
The wreath on the grave is of rosemary (for remembrance)
and was laid by Prince Charles for the 400th anniversary

Shakespeare did not want to be buried in the graveyard as he had a fear of being dug up some time in the future. His gravestone bears not a name but a curse thought to have been penned by Shakespeare himself.

Good friend, for Jesus' sake forbeare,

To dig the dust enclosed heare.

Blest be the man who spares these stones

And curst be he who moves my bones.

Ironically a recent radar scan of the grave has revealed that the skull is missing. This is thought to have been taken by trophy hunters in 1794.

Bust of William Shakespeare

King James bible

Misericords

Stratford is full of interesting buildings. This is his birthplace that narrowly missed being shipped to America.

In the 1840s P T Barnum had the idea of shipping it to the United States, mounting it on wheels and sending it on a perpetual tour of the country. This so alarmed the people of Britain the money was swiftly raised to save the house as a museum and shrine.

Shakespeare's birthplace

 These cottages once had thatched roofs, hence the tall chimneys, but were ordered to have the thatch removed because of fire hazard.

 This is the HSBC bank that is decorated with relief terracotta scenes taken from Shakespeare's plays.

The house he owned,  New Place, was pulled down in 1759 by the vicar who owned it as he was fed up with people looking through his windows. It is soon to be unveiled as a memorial garden.

Stratford has two gold post boxes because they painted one and the red one next to it looked so bad that they painted that one as well although they only have one gold medal winner, James Roe, a paralympic rower.

A few last words on Shakespeare before I move on to the walks .Among the words first found in Shakespeare are, abstemious, frugal, dwindle, extract, horrid, vast, hereditary, excellent, eventful, barefaced, assassination, lonely, leapfrog, indistinguishable, well-read, zany and numerous others. But his real gift was as a phrase-maker and many entered the common language. Among them: one fell swoop, vanish into thin air, play fast and loose, be in a pickle, cold comfort, more in sorrow than in anger, flesh and blood, foul play, tower of strength, blinking idiot, pomp and circumstance and foregone conclusion to name but a few. What would our language have been like without him?

This is Margaret's photo of John and Frank playing soldiers! That John Bradley gets everywhere.

Sunday 1 May

Three walks on offer today and I decided to do the B walk led by Margaret. We started off from the coach park in Stratford and stopped to look at the Gower Memorial in Bancroft Gardens featuring William Shakespeare overlooking some of the characters featured in his plays.

William Shakespeare

Falstaff

Lady Macbeth

Hamlet

Prince Hal

The walk followed the River Avon to Welford on Avon where we had our lunch under the spreading chestnut tree.

In front of us was one of the tallest maypoles in England standing at 66 ft high and of course it was 1 May so what do you expect CHA members to do!

Several passing motorists joined in the fun by hooting their horns and a jolly time was had by all.

Welford on Avon is a very picturesque village and there are many thatched cottages down in the oldest part near the church.

Our next port of call was the village of Binton where the church has an interesting connection to Captain Scott. He was the brother in law of the rector, the Reverend Lloyd Bruce, and it is said that his last days in England before leaving for the Antarctic were spent at Binton Rectory.

The church has a stained glass window dedicated to the Antarctic explorers paid for by public subscription.

And then on to the next village Shottery to view Anne Hatthaway's cottage. We just missed the tea shop but managed to use their toilets.

The walk had been a bit longer than we thought because of a diversion for a broken bridge so we were all very thankful to finish back in Stratford with plenty of time for refreshments before meeting the coach.

This cafe had some very delicious scones and it was extremely busy and very popular.

A very good day out with beautiful villages,  maypole dancing, thatched cottages, interesting stained glass and a cream tea to finish, what more could you ask for. Thank you Margaret for a good walk.

Sunday 2 May

This was to be Kirsten's first time leading a walk for us as Brian was feeling a bit under the weather. We set off from Stratford again and this time Kirsten  managed to find a hill for us to climb up to the obelisk on the Welcome Hills.

I haven't many photos today as the walk was long and the weather was indifferent but we did see something interesting in the fields. There were several fields cultivated in strips of varying colours and these turned out to be salad crops.

A special machine to cut off the tops and convey them into trays, not something I have ever seen before.

It was a day of colours. 

The intense blue of the bluebells where we stopped for lunch

and the vibrant yellow of the fields of rape

Unfortunately after this the rain set in and after a rather scary walk beside a busy road we managed to cross safely and made our way to Hatton Locks and the 'Stairway to Heaven', a flight of 21 locks. We were a bit pushed for time so didn't manage to see them all but just had a tantalising glimpse on the way to the pub where we were picked up by Steve. Thank you Kirsten for another interesting walk.

Hatton locks

Another great weekend away has come to an end and its time to thank all the organisers and walks leaders and of course Steve the coach driver who was in a strangely jolly mood all weekend. These short breaks are a great way of seeing different parts of the country. Next weekend trip is to Osmotherley in October. See you there!