A Weekend in Stratford-Upon-Avon

As much as we love London, we both enjoy getting out the city every few weeks.

Last week, TE had a convention in Birmingham so we decided to turn it into a weekend excursion.  

Birmingham is a big city in its own right and we wanted something a little more relaxed,

so we settled on the town of Stratford-Upon-Avon.

TE drove up to Birmingham early Friday morning and I took the noon train directly to Stratford.

It's one of my favorite things... a few hours on a train with a good magazine and a sack lunch.

I had a few hours to explore and relax at the hotel before TE arrived just in time for dinner.  

We stayed at The Stratford... nice rooms, good service.

Stratford is the birthplace of Shakespeare and is visited each year by over 3 million tourists.

Luckily, it wasn't too crowded this weekend now that Summer is over.

The town oozes a historical charm mixed in with a healthy dose of 21st Century capitalism.

 

 We happened upon a small weekend market. 

Pulled pork with cracklin' and stuffing?  Yes, please. 

It's missing the saucy tang of a good Tennessee pulled pork sandwich, but it will do.

On Saturday, we visited several of the sites in the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.  (More on that later.)

That evening we took a walk down to the River Avon for a sunset stroll.  

 

 

We stopped to admire the Gower Memorial in Bancroft Gardens.

It features Shakespeare surrounded by some of his most famous characters...

Falstaff, Prince Hal, Lady Macbeth and Hamlet.

The Bard of Avon

  

There were plenty of longboats gliding along the river.  London is only 185 locks away.

Isn't the reflection on the water fantastic?

We neglected to make dinner reservations on Saturday night, but lucked upon Lambs Restaurant.

They seated us reluctantly with instructions that we had to be out by 8:30pm.

We were led up amongst the rafters of a crooked, medieval building

with instructions to "watch your head."

It was fantastic and the food was amazing!

My dapper Englishman after a very good meal.  

Stratford is home to the Royal Shakespeare Company

and one of the best places in the UK to experience one of his plays. 

Unfortunately, they were all sold out for this weekend. 

But, we will definitely be back.  There is still so much that we didn't see.  

I'll have a few more posts to show you the Birthplace of Shakespeare,

Anne Hathaway's Cottage and Mary Arden's Farm.

I took so many pictures.  I also went a little crazy with the Macro lens.

Do you have a favorite Shakespeare character?

xoxo

Selena