Linhill Guest House 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.

... s a remarkably humble grave, in that it was not as ornate as many of the others. It was set into the floor of the church, covered by a stone panel that bore a short inscription warning people not to disturb his remains. He is named simply as 'William Shakespeare, a poet."

After dinner, we saw our first production by the Royal Shakespeare Company, Julius Caesar. Julius Caesar is one of my favorite Shakespeare plays, and I read it in high school English. The acting was ...

After looking around Warwick Castle, Iain and I jumped in the car and drove 25 minutes down to Stratford-Upon-Avon to see the Birth-place of William Shakespeare. We parked the car and walked into the main part of town where Shakespeare's House was, it was amazing to see the 400 year old building, got a picture with Kiwi and then ...

... over the castle that Nathan couldn’t even hold the audio controller any more. Our feet and hands were numb by the time we got into the car.










We went home for lunch of a pastie and eccles cake and then drove out to the Castle Inn at Edgehill where Stephen and Michele used ...

... on doing the 4 hour walk (9 miles) but due to the bad directions ended up getting lost, going to village that wasn't even on our map and did the 2 hour walk in 3-1/2 hours and walked about 10 miles. We started off uphill to the top of Dover Hill where snow totally covered the ...

... 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.

... we were quite damp. It was fun though and pretty walking across fields with stone walls and through forests.













Of course, there was a lot of slippery mud. Stephen's shoes didn’t have a lot of grip so there were always expletives coming from ...

... picked us up and we went food shopping for dinner. Had a piece of pork and egg pie. Stephen cooked us duck with orange sauce and veggies. We put the dinner on and walked around to his local "The West End" and sat by the fire and had a drink. After our delicious dinner we watched a DVD – “Nanny McPhee” which was fun.

Woke up 3 am and dozed until 6am and then got up. Nathan slept until 8 am. Michele made us all porridge for breakfast. This morning we did a 2 hour walk around Stratford with Stephen. We went to Holy Trinity church where Shakespeare was baptised and buried. We had a look inside and read some of the old tombstones. We walked along the river and saw swans and ...

... meeting the others at the RSC theatre at 7:15. After eating at Caffe Uno, we took the umbrella and braved the wild weather outside. We knew how to get to the theatre, so that was not a problem, but the rain and wind were miserable! We laughed and laughed the whole way there as we jumped over puddles together and got wet despite the umbrella. We arrived at the theatre earlier than we expected. It must have been about 10 or 12 past 7:00. We thought the show started at 7:30 and ...