We met at Marylebone station for a train around 10am. There was a small drama getting our tickets, but I worked it out with 4 minutes to spare! The train itself was uneventful, but lovely. About 2 hours each way with a single change, and we snacked, chatted and knitted our way there.
When we arrived it was already lunch time, so we headed to the river (the Avon, funnily enough!), past the RSC theatre. It's a beautiful theatre and I want to go back for a weekend to see a show sometime. Just past the theatre, across the road from the river, is a lovely pub called the Dirty Duck. It is often frequented by actors and apparently it's not uncommon to see one having a drink! We didn't, although a signed picture of Dame Judi Dench greets you when you enter. After lunch, we headed to our first cultural stop of the day, Halls Croft.
Stratford-Upon-Avon is, of course, the place where Shakespeare lived for much of his life, as well as his family, so this was our main goal. Halls Croft was the house given by William Shakespeare to his daughter Susanna and her husband Dr John Croft. As well as some great information about Shakespeare's daughter and their lives, we also learned about the schoolhouse which occupied the building in Victorian times and all the changes which were made to the building. It still boggles my mind how much history is in this country! There was also a cool exhibition about Dr John Hall and the medical knowledge at the time, which was really interesting to me as a person who kinda likes gruesome things, and also to laugh at.They knew nothing about medicine back then!
After that, we walked just up the street to Shakespeare's New Place. In his time, it was literally the best house in town, which he bought with money from his plays. It's focus was on Shakespeare's life itself and what he accomplished, not only writing plays but other things too. He invested 100 pounds in the London Globe theatre, for example, and when his mother became too old and infirm to live alone, paid for her to live with him in her very own wing so he could take care of her. He even bought Hall's Croft for his daughter Susanna rather than another place (even though it was quite small) because it didn't need a large staff. He simply gave her the house. Turns out, not only was he a great playwright, he seemed like a pretty great overall guy!
After Shakespeare's New Place we headed to Shakespeare's Birthplace (after a quick stop to buy homemade fudge!), which of course belonged to Shakespeare's parents and where he grew up, and even lived for the first 5 years of his marriage. There was a visitor centre next door with clips from plays, copies of his writing, and even a small theatre where actors were waiting, ready to perform any excerpt from any Shakespeare play you might request. The coolest part, I think, of the whole day, was in the parlour room of the house. The guide showed us the actual front door (which is now hidden behind a false wall), the bay window which the Shakespeares used to sell hats out of, and the original stone floor from that time. I stood on the same floor as William Shakespeare!!! Mind blown.
Another interesting thing I learned about Shakespeare is that unfortunately, he has no surviving relatives. He had three children, one boy who died at 11 (Hamnet), one daughter who never married, and Susanna, who had one child (Elizabeth), who married twice but had no children. And there ended the Shakespeare family tree.
We had a few more hours to kill after all the tourist things closed, but nothing was open after about 4:30pm on a Sunday... So we went to a Costa, got hot chocolates, and strung them out over our knitting and more chatting! Then sandwiches for dinner on the train back, I got home about 9pm. It was the most lovely days out, and although I learned so much, I can't wait to go back again when the weather is warmer - there are lots of outside areas to explore as well! Again, wait for the summer...
