in Shakespeare's hoods

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of visiting Stratford-upon-Avon, the town where William Shakespeare was born. It was one of the Give it a Go activities and went very well! The coach journey only took about two hours, and we had the day to explore the town as we wished. I didn't really know anyone else who was going, so I wandered around on my own. I did think of tagging along with some group, but somehow I felt like I wanted to experience the almost-sacred place with only myself. And I'm really glad I did just that!

I had done some research online before I went so I knew what I wanted to see. The two places I wanted to visit the most were Shakespeare's birthplace and his wife Anne Hathaway's childhood home. Anne Hathaway's cottage was about 1 mile away from the town centre, but I thought it wouldn't matter.

The town itself was really beautiful, and you could really feel the olden times there. A lot of the buildings looked just like they probably did back then.

This is the house Will was born in! To get in the house, first you had to go through this "Shakespeare Experience" (or whatever they called it) which was sort of like an interactive presentation with different rooms and special light effects and doors that only opened once the presentation was over. I didn't fully get it at first, but it was pretty cool! And I went so early that I was the only one there, which was even better. I got to explore the house in peace and one staff member shook my hand when he heard I was from Finland. "We don't get so many Finns here!"

This window used to be in the "birth room", but now it's behind a glass panel. It says under it that it was common for "pilgrims" to carve their names in the glass of the window, which I think is quite lovely.

This is the room that Shakespeare is said to have been born in. It was a bit difficult to get clear pictures inside the house, but I'm glad it was allowed anyway!

In Anne Hathaway's orchard. There were several different sculptures and pieces of art scattered around, and a footpath in the forest that took about 20 minutes to finish.

Her cottage! I think it's so lovely, too bad about the scaffolding. I would really love to live in a house like that!

"Shakespeare's church", Holy Trinity Church, where he and Anne Hathaway are said to be buried, but unfortunately I didn't get to go in.

River Avon

The reason why I didn't get in the church! When I got there, I thought there might be a wedding judging by all the hats, so I didn't dare go in. And when I was leaving, I actually saw the bride walk towards the church. I didn't dare take a picture when I was still facing her, so I did it more subtly... It must have been lovely to get married in Shakespeare's church!

Hall's Croft, the house of Shakespeare's daughter Susanna and her husband, doctor John Hall. I had got a "three-house" ticket, so I used my final house visit on this one.

I also happened to visit the town on the "Day of the Doctor", Doctor Who's 50th anniversary, so many places in town were in the appropriate mood.

These were in an Oxfam, where I bought three biscuits: a weeping angel, a Dalek, and a Tardis.

I had a Victoria Sponge and some hot chocolate in a lovely place called Hathaway Tea Rooms. Maybe I should have had tea, but I felt sufficiently like a true English lady anyway!

The building with the tower is the Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

All in all, it was a great visit. It was so nice to spend the whole day with myself, doing and seeing the things that I wanted to. It was a good decision, because this girl in my Irish class who had also gone said that she and her friends didn't visit Anne Hathaway's cottage because they thought it was too far away. ;) Their loss...