The Land of Shakespeare: Visit to Stratford-upon-Avon

Hey guys!

So yesterday, Saturday, I went on an exciting adventure to the lovely Stratford-upon-Avon, in Warwickshire in the South Midlands.  I love travelling to that part of the country (it was only a few miles away from the Warwick Castle, which I visited back in November) because it has so much traditional English charm and cozy little villages, a lot of them near rivers.  Very pretty area and just a general different feel than Brighton (although don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love Brighton and couldn’t have picked a better city for study abroad!).

Despite waking up to a sore throat, I had a great day!  Last term, I went on a bunch of weekend trips with my friend Anna, who goes to Oregon State.  However, since she was only here just for the Autumn term, I missed our travel adventures together and was forced to make new friends!  So, I met this girl named Elan on the bus and we had a great day together! 

After leaving Sussex at 8 AM sleeping through a good part of the 2 and a half hour bus ride, we finally arrived in Stratford, which was such a cute town!  Despite the fact that it was cloudy and not very bright out, it was actually (for a winter day) quite warm and pleasant to be outside.  Since the bus got there early, we stopped at this outdoor market, which had cheeses, wines, desserts, vegetables, meats, and lots of freshly prepared foods, which all smelled delicious!  I went into a cute little coffee shop and got a much-needed white americano coffee…good day so far!

Anyways, the first tourist stop on our tour of Stratford was Anne Hathaway’s Cottage, which was so cute inside and had really good sales in the gift shop!  The ceilings were really low in the house and some of the rooms were quite small, so I’m not sure if I would recommend it if you are claustrophobic but it was really cool!!  The surrounding garden areas were really pretty and quaint.  I thought they looked nice in winter, but I can only imagine how gorgeous they must be in spring or summer!

Following Anne Hathaway’s Cottage, we visited the Holy Trinity Church, where William Shakespeare is buried inside.  Very beautiful church, and definitely worth the 50 p admission price to go inside and take pictures!  The tour continued into the old town of Stratford, and as we walked we passed by so many buildings from the Tudor era, which was a cool site.  We saw the grammar school where Shakespeare went to school (people still go to school there today) and passed a lot of shops and cafes.  From the bus we saw the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and the River Avon, but unfortunately I do not have pictures of these.

At the conclusion of the tour (we actually had the same tour guide, Clare, that I had on one of my Oxford visits), we all had 3 hours of free time to explore and eat.  Elan and I went to this great little cafe, and I had a delicious hot chocolate and omelette for lunch (seriously, eggs are a rarity for me in England, since they are generally not refridgerated here, but that is another story).  We went shopping for a bit after lunch, but unfortunately in many English towns (even Brighton too I believe), most cafes and pretty much all stores shut down around 4 pm on Saturdays, and probably earlier on Sundays.  So, there wasnt a whole lot to do in that last hour before we got on the bus, but just walking around the beautiful town was highly entertaining in itself!

Well, I know this post is long so I am going to stop writing now.  Except I do want to mention that anyone who studies abroad in England should definitely take advantage of exploring places other than London.  Although I love London, the towns are so quaint and full of culture, and there are lots of regional differences in England too, much as you would find regional differences in different parts of the USA.  So yea, I really think these weekend adventures are worth it!

Me at Anne Hathaway's Cottage

The cottage again (sorry, couldn't take pics inside!)

It doesn't look like much, but the surrounding area of Anne Hathaway's Cottage was really pretty!

Holy Trinity Church

Inside the Church (Shakespeare is buried in front of the altar)

Shakespeare's Birthplace

so many Tudor buildings!

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 6th, 2011 at 2:25 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

3 Responses to “The Land of Shakespeare: Visit to Stratford-upon-Avon”

1. Kelsey says:

   February 7, 2011 at 7:40 am

   All so gorgeous!!! I am so jealous of everything that you are seeing!!!

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