Sunday 27th July 2008

Day Fourteen - Stratford upon Avon, Warwick Castle

Stratford is the furthest north we come on our trip but the drive is worth it.  The market town was the birthplace of William Shakespeare in 1564 and there are many sites of historical interest connected to the bard.  Our first stop is the house where William was born and lived for the first 21 years of his life. The house hasn't changed much and the tour  around shows you what things would have been like when John Shakespeare and his family lived there.  The workshop is recreated where William's father made the gloves and the other rooms are decorated as if the family had just stepped out of the house.  The gardens that surround the property are beautiful - a typical English cottage garden, filled with the scent of herbs and beautiful flowers.

After the house it is time to follow parts of the Stratford town trail, visiting other houses that were important in Shakespeare's time and wandering down to the banks of the River Avon and to Holy Trinity Church where Shakespeare is buried.  There is major construction going on at the theatre on the river bank as a new building is being built using some of the old structure.  The impressive new home of the Royal Shakespeare Company will open in 2010.  It is a warm day in Stratford and quite a few ice creams are consumed at the end of the morning.  We make our way back to the coaches for some lunch and then a quick ride to Warwick Castle.

The castle dates back to William I and is an impressive fortification that had been a private house until 1978.  Today the castle is full of interesting things to see and do.  The medieval parts of the fortress show what life was like and there are many recreations of rooms and people.  The great Earl of Warwick, known as the Kingmaker, is shown in a series of waxworks getting ready for the Battle of Barnet in 1471.  A weekend house party from 1898 is depicted in the more modern part of the house and outside there are endless displays of swordsmanship, archery, falconry and most exciting of all, jousting.  Down at the watermeadows a jousting arena has been completed and there is a show with knights from the Houses of York and Lancaster battling it out.  This is great fun and very entertaining. Everyone has a great afternoon, especially those who venture into the haunted tower where one of the Earls of Warwick was murdered and a ghostly recreation is now played out.  The screams are still ringing in my ears!