Payton Hotel 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.

... I drove us to Bath. Still pretty stressful but I think I did better. Only almost knocked the mirror off once inside a reallllly narrow tunnel. Jodi and I decided that she would do the driving. She is more comfortable driving and she is a nervous passenger (but she assured me it wasn't just with me!). Bath was really fun! We walked to the Abbey, but we didn't go in. We were there for the Roman Baths! The mineral baths were built by the Romans; they called it Aquae Sulis ...

... cars, bound for Bath. 10:00 - After much struggling, Dean finally finds the clue on the bottom of the murky pool. He and Penne jump in their car and drive to Amesbury in 2nd place. 10:01 - Agi & Claudia's bus drops them off at the SS Great Britain in 5th place, and they retrieve their clue. A minute later, Lynda & Chhitij arrive at the ship in 6th place and take their clue too. 10:04 - Phil & Sean's pulls in at ...

... 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 ...

... and we had a great view of course over fields and little villages.













We did heaps of mud and stiles and Stephen entertained us with two face plants. We eventually found our way to the village of Weston-sub-Edge. It had a 13th ...

... 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 ...

... mouth! Because we got so damp we decided to do the 2 hour walk and not the 4 hour one. Ended up taking us 3 hours. We passed through a field of sheep – white and brown ones – and there were a lot of cute lambs and all the sheep were 'baaing’ at us.








Stratford-upon-Avon, England, United Kingdom hilaryramsey

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

Saturday Rise and shine at 5:30am, tidy up and off we go, still able to arrive at Stratford upon Avon by sparrow ****, which we do, so to speak. Tonight's caravan park is already booked in so we take the "Park and Ride" into the town. A very nice, old, well preserved town it is too. We buy tickets for "A Mid Summer Night's Dream" at the Royal Shakespearian whatsit and have "second breakfast" which is becoming quite a tradition. Janice and I separate for a while and ...