Stratford-upon-Avon

7th September, 2012

 Having come in the United Kingdom in the late twenties after learning the English world back home, I finally was lucky to visit the Shakespeare land. On the very day, I had an unusual feeling of visiting my great grandfather in village. It must have been due to the Shakespearean popularity.

On 24^th August, 2012, we started from home at 5:15 a.m. Lucky enough to catch the Piccadilly line- underground train at around 5:40 a.m, we reached Marylebone station at 6:30 a.m. and had tea and doughnut in AMT cafe. Then we directly headed towards Stratford-upon-Avon at 7:08 am. Enjoyed the landscape and clicked pictures.

We reached Stratford-upon-Avon at 9:30 a.m. Excited as we were, did not miss to click pictures in front of the train station. Walking along the road, we came across town centre, charity shops and other shops -M&S, New Look, Edinburgh woollen mill from where we brought a picnic mat worth £6. Old, small, comfy houses, small bridges, a small town; yet a big place. The old town looked very clean and also had few foreigners.

Searching for the tourist information centre, we reached beautiful River Avon and its surroundings. Took some pictures and had ice-cream. Bought tickets from the centre worth £60 for city sightseeing bus together with visiting 3 Shakespearean houses. Those houses included Shakespeare’s birthplace, Anne’s Hathaway’s cottage and Nash’s house and new place. We got into the ‘hop on hop off’ sightseeing bus.

 

Bus tour gave us information about the oldest pub, the oldest house in Stratford and Shakespeare’s school (believed to be). We got off at Anne’s cottage which seemed to have gained more public attention than the rest of the houses. More people got off there along with us.

It was a beautiful huge cottage with garden. Took some photo clips in a big woven high-heeled shoe and rabbit. Sweet pea varieties were blooming in the supportive wood on the sideways of the path and ripening apples covered the trees. We then visited the cottage.

The inner ambience reminded me of my great grandfather’s village home- a very small house with narrow passages. Her living room had a kettle hanging over the furnace. Other items such as furniture, desk, and chair looked ancient. Then a bed in her bedroom was a bit short compared to that of today’s beds. There was another room with a bed and a kitchen. An exhibition room had some portraits and a big notice board contained small pieces of paper where people wrote how they found their love of life.

Moving again outside, we took a lunch break in the chairs and tables provided in the garden. After the break, we listened to recorded Shakespearean sonnets inside the Willow cabin near the garden. Passing through Lavender maze, orchard garden, we walked towards a bigger maze. The first-time maze experience was exciting and a bit scaring. Reached to its centre safely and found the way out. At that moment, it drizzled a bit but stopped in a while leaving us dry. Then we went to the gift shop, got a postcard of 15p and left the cottage.

After waiting for some time, the hop on- hop off bus arrived and we reached the birth place of Shakespeare. Here, first of all, we were to watch some videos about Shakespeare’s life in a dark room and soon the door would open. Same process continued and then we were in the garden. Through the garden, we reached Shakespeare’s house. It was similar to Anne’s home- living room with kettle hanging over the furnace and old items in the room upstairs. On the garden, people were watching a drama performed by a couple. They were delivering dialogues from different Shakespearean plays. We clicked some pictures in front of the house and then exited through the gift shop.

We took a bus again and got off at Nash’s place. Here, Shakespeare had spent his last days and died. Reaching there, we could see the destroyed house and mud and leftovers. In the middle of the place remained an ancient well. People were seen to be working in the construction site. Another house stayed by its side where not much of interest was seen. It looked more of a museum than a proper house. Old bits and pieces like glass pieces, stones, and broken cutleries were preserved in glass boxes. There was a lovely garden beside the house. We left.

 

On the way, there was a school where Shakespeare was believed to have studied. It still runs but is not open for public. Not far from it stays a Windmill Inn claiming itself one of the oldest pubs in Stratford-upon-Avon. Too hungry, we went in and had tea and chips. This place was old but was maintained by some modern pillars too. We took a snap and headed to the town centre.  Went to the M&S store and got a red slipper on sale worth £15 and walked towards the river Avon. Royal Shakespeare Theatre was quite nearby. However, since it was around 5:30 p.m. and our train was to arrive at 7:20 p.m., we could not go for theatre. So went to the top floor restaurant. Considering the long queue, our hunger, less time and a vegetarian day, we caught a glimpse of the town view and headed downstairs.

Most of the shops were closed at 5 p.m. And we remained hungry. Luckily, we found an Indian and Bengali restaurant at around 6:15 p.m. and ordered and ate as fast as we could. The food was good for me and not spicy, but tasty. We enjoyed and ran for the train bidding a good bye to Stratford-upon-Avon, the land of William Shakespeare. The day is one of the important days of my life.