To go or not to go

When spending our holiday in The Cotswolds last year, we had doubts whether to visit Stratford upon Avon or not. We heard stories about bus loads of tourists brought into town, to pay homage to William Shakespeare. The realisation that we would be part of the crowd, did not really appeal to us. Nevertheless, the fact that our holiday cottage was close to Stratford, made it too good an opportunity to miss.

So it was that at half past seven in the morning, we were among the first visitors at the car park near the river Avon. While the girls enjoyed a guided tour of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, we had a pleasant walk to Anne Hathaway's cottage in the little hamlet of Shottery

Anne Hathaway's Cottage is a thatched farmhouse with stunning grounds and gardens, where the once young William Shakespeare courted his future wife. The garden is absolutely delightful, with masses of flowers, fruit, vegetables and herbs. It looks like the plants are thrown in carelessly, but it all works beautifully. To me this garden is a fine example of a quintessential English cottage garden. We liked the tour of the house. The lady who showed us around and told us about life in Elizabethan times, a joy to listen to.

Our visit to the house and garden inspired us to take up Shakespeare once more. Bad memories of obligatory reading lists, last minute exam stress and horrible dreams of witches, complot's against kings, jealousy and hatred belong to the past. We are into comedies now :-)

Have a lovely weekend,

Madelief x 

Love all, trust a few and do wrong to none (from All's Well That Ends Well)