Dukes Stratford-upon-Avon

With time rapidly dwindling I went down to Banbury way this afternoon to visit my brother et famille before I leave, taking the opportunity to say goobye to two young nephews - one of whom was able to appreciate some of the implications of what I am doing, "But what if you get sick?" he asked. :-)

Back up to Stoke in the late evening. Last day of preparations tomorrow.

From Dad
I am writing from our warm and friendly farmhouse at Harbury in Warwickshire. We arrived yesterday night and we have just finished a great day in the area.

The Farmhouse
We are staying in an 18th Century, two-story farmhouse, with a lot of charm and comfort.

Warwick Castle
Today we enjoyed 'Britain's Greatest Medieval Experience' at Warwick Castle ...

... Thus the term "to have a frog in one's throat". Yuck!!! Evidently, more modern scientists discovered that the freaked out frog exuded an oily sweat when stressed that was actually a type of antibiotic - so it probably actually helped!!) Well, we were 3 hours away from "home", so settled down on the train to a good round of double solitaire. We both commented off and on about how slow this train seemed to be. Finally, about a ...

Part 3 of our day trip, and Shakespeare's birthplace. It was a cute little town and an adorable little house. We were disappointed that we couldn't take photos inside, so I managed to sneak one of James standing inside while I was outside! hehehe! After making our way back to London, we met up with Rob and had a lovely japanese dinner at Picadilly Circus. It was a long day, but totally worth it!

... Earl of Leicester, transformed Kenilworth from a medieval fortress into one of the greatest Tudor palaces so he could entertain Queen Elizabeth I in style for 19 days in 1575, costing millions of pounds. The Keep was breeched during the Civil War in the 1600s. The Great Hall where they dined was huge. It was so cold ...

... rolls from a French patisserie for lunch. We got back to Stratford about 3 pm and read a book for a few hours. We went to the "Dirty Duck", a Black Swan pub for dinner. Had a great day – love walking the public footpaths and plan to do lots more in the future.

... crooked walls, stone floors and period furniture. Youngest children slept in a trundle (trunkle bed) until old enough to handle a candle in their parents room and then up to 4 of them share a largish single bed.





We then walked around the markets and then past Garrick’s Inn, Nash’s house, the Alms houses and Hall’s ...

Woke up early again and it started to snow & was 0 degrees! Had a lazy start to the day. Nathan had a huge breakfast – 3 pain au chocolat, 1 apple, 1 mandarin, 1 piece of toast with an egg!








Today was our hiking day and we drove 1 hour to the village of Bibury ...

Stephen dropped us to Warwick Castle – a 10 min. drive away and we had a wonderful time exploring over it for the next 4 hours. Entry was 26 pounds 95 including a 3 pound guide book ($64). Lunch cost us 9 pounds ($21).









It is set in 60 acres of beautiful grounds and is up high overlooking the town on one ...

... Stow-on-the-Wold and saw the Royalist pub 976AD – oldest pub in England and then to Upper Slaughter and Lower Slaughter – 2 lovely little villages around a stream and then on to Broadway.










Went out to dinner at Margaret’s in the village of Radway. She lives in the old school house next to the church