6/20 - Stratford-Upon-Avon

We were originally going to do Stratford on Sunday, as a just in case plan for if it was rainy for Stonehenge. But, we looked at the forecast, and it looked nasty. So, we decided to do Stratford on Saturday, so we could have more time at Hampton Court Palace on Sunday. The car park for the solstice at Stonehenge opened at 7pm, and we knew that if we wanted to get next to the rocks, we'd have to get there early.

So, Stratford. Stratford is a truely charming town. At least the downtown, touristy parts are. Not really sure about the rest, if there even is a rest. We went to a museum called the "Falstaff Experience" first. It's located in one of the oldest buildings in Stratford that still has people living in it. It's basically a bunch of rooms of wax figures in Tudor settings. It had a room about the plague, one about doctors, one about schools, etc. It was pretty fun.

We then alked over to Shakespeare's birthplace. There was a pretty cool Shakespeare Centre next door, with an introductory walk-through sort of video museum thing. Then, we got to go into the actual house. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but we're kind of used to that by now. It was neat to get to see the room where he was born.

We went to the Nash House, and then on to the Holy Trinity Church, where Shakespeare both attended church and was buried. That was neato. They even have the bible that was used in the church when he attended, and the baptismal font that most likely would have been used to baptise him.

We still had a bit before we needed to leave for Stonehenge, so we drove out to Mary Arden's far,. Mary Arden was Shakespeare's mom, and this was her farm before she got married. It's actually two farms. One was bought by the trust, or whomever, because it was his mom's farm. The other was bought because it was next door to his mom's farm, and it was going to be sold to a developer. It turns out that the second farm was actually his mom's farm, and not the one that they originally thought. But, they run it as one place. Em really enjoyed seeing the animals and such. One of the old houses they actually have set up as a real Tudor home, with people going about their business as if they actually lived and farmed there.

Then, it was time to leave for Stonehenge.