Stratheden 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.

... three sites. To finish off the day nicely, we even got our Sunday roast - Yorkshire pudding and all! The pub was called the Salmon Tail and it was really nice. The only thing that would have topped it off completely, would have been to see a performance at the Shakespeare Theatre Company ... but alas poor Yorick, they do not perform on Sundays! So we headed off towards our final stop on the Wicked tour - the brainstrust of Oxford.

... all of it!" 16:00 - Alex & Jade jog up to the mat. "Give us the bad news," says Jade. "It's OK, we counted the cars in the parking lot," said Alex. "Alex & Jade, you are the last team to arrive," says Bray wretchedly. "I'm sorry to tell you, you've both been eliminated from the Race." "That's OK," says Alex. "I wasn't really expecting it to be like this anyway. I thought it was a roll-playing game." "I'm not that ...

... live and work. It overlooks the plains where the Civil War was fought and was built after the war in 1750. It had a lovely lounge in which we had a drink and then drove back and did our packing.







We walked around to the local for a drink by the fire and then ordered Thai food.

Stephen drove us to Chipping Campden (20 min. away) for our 4 hour walk. It was bitterly cold as a wind was blowing but the sun was out. It was a lovely village and had a lovely open stone market hall from 1627 with an uneven stone floor.









We ...

... back to the river. We went and did a brass rubbing for 7 pounds 50p ($17) of the Earl of Warwick from 1406. We were so cold when we got home that I had to put my feet on the central heating pipes for ages. Called Lavinia in London and arranged to have dinner Monday night. Went to the local for a drink and then home for Coq au Vin.

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We had thought to bring spare shoes with us to change into but hadn’t thought about spare jeans. Nathan had mud up the inside of his legs past his knees and so we made him strip down to his undies to get into the car. My jeans were wet and muddy, at least the bottom 8 ...

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 ...

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We then went home and went for a drive to Bourton-on-the-Water. We paid 3 pounds to park the car for 3 hours and walked into the village called the Venice of the Cotswolds due to the number of little bridges over the shallow little stream running through the middle. Has lovely pubs and beautiful shops. Stopped for lunch and ...

Up at 6.30 am to go to airport & hostel organised a taxi to take us there for 20d ($7.50). We were flying Lufthansa this time. Bought some Calvin Klein Eternity perfume 100ml for 206d (US$57) (Aus$70). Nearly missed the plane as came out of shop and walked the wrong way. When we realised, there were only 5 mins until gates closed & we had to run & were the last on board!!!!



Stratford-upon-Avon, England, United Kingdom hilaryramsey