May 25, 2008

• England - Part II

  On Wednesday we left Broadway and drove toward Stratford Upon Avon again, to spend another day and night. Our first adventure was a visit to Mary Arden's farm, just outside of  Stratford. Mary Arden was Shakespeare's mother and the youngest of her siblings. Since her other sister's were married and she was not, she inherited her father's farm when he passed on.

  And of course, being that time in the world, when she married Shakespeare's father, all the property left her possession and became his. I am glad that ownership rights are a bit more equal in our day and age. And people wondered why Queen Elizabeth the I didn't want to get married!

  Anyhow, the farm was just wonderful! Less than a year back, they had shifted the site to a living history location, where the staff dresses in the clothing of the period and spend their days living, as they would have in Mary's day. Wood is cut for the fires, bread is baked once a week, animals are fed and tended, meals are cooked over open fires, etc. I just love that type of history! It was not too busy, so we had some lovely time speaking to the re-enactors. They even prepare their own meals and eat them and let me tell you, the stew (called a pottage) smelled delicious!

  After the farm, we finished the trip into town and settled in our room at an inn, called appropriately enough, The Shakespeare. We then went just down the road and toured the Nash House, approximately on the location of a home Shakespeare owned, once he was married. It had the most stunning knot gardens and was just across the road from the river Avon.

  Then, we met up with another of Joe's friend and chatted with him for an hour or so while enjoying tea and scones.

  Our inn offered a nice theater dinner where they served a starter (appetizer) and main course, before the play, then coffee and pudding (dessert) afterwards. The inn is owned by a French chain so the food was outstanding! We enjoyed our dinner, then went to see A Midsummer Night's Dream performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company.  If the Merchant of Venice had been great the night before, A Midsummer Night's Dream could only be described as amazing and magical. The scene of the play within the play had me laughing so hard I was crying!

  It was a really fantastic time, a perfect day in every way! So without further ado, here are some more pictures. More to come tomorrow!

  

  The barn at the farm

  

  Picking herbs for the pottage at lunch

  

  The real guy in charge!

  

   Next week there is a special sheep shearing event, so the lambs had wool about as thick as you can get without them tripping over it.

  

  The entry into the farm house

  

  A bedroom in the farmhouse, notice the cool trundle bed at the foot of the main bed

  

  The kitchen where the meals are cooked. This was directly under the bedroom in the previous picture. We found the bedroom filled with smoke. Not the best design!

  

  Lunch time! The owners get the table cloth and salt, the laborer just gets the boring end of the table. The dinning room is separate from the kitchen, with the entry way in the earlier photo between the two rooms.

  

  A lovely old building in Stratford 

  

  The knot garden, in full bloom, at the Nash House

  • 8:15 am
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