Back home after the weekend in Leamington Spa. I discovered we were only a 45 minute bus ride from Stratford on Avon which is Shakespeare's birthplace so we set off on Friday to visit.We had just landed on the open topped, hop on hop off tour bus when the heavens opened for a two hour deluge so our hopping on and off the bus was severely curtailed!I heard one lady remark " thats not just rain, its the wrath of God pouring down"! The houses in the photo are preserved in the town centre and the one to the far end is the house where the bard was born.A lot of houses of the period are very well preserved and newer ones built in a style sympathetic to the period. It is not a quaint old village but a very busy tourist town.
We could not visit all of the places associated with him but made a point of stopping at
Anne Hathaways cottage.It is a beautifully preserved place and a guided tour goes through the rooms which have been furnished in the period style. The cottage had a farm to the front in Anne's time but in the 1800s it was replanted with a cottage garden complete with flowers and a thriving vegetable garden all growing in profusion side by side.
This is a bird scarer which was made according to instructions in a book of 1845. It is a potato with bird feathers stuck through it. I must give it a go on the allotment to see if it works.
The garden, even in the rain it looked stunning with all sorts of flowers jostling for position with the result there were very few weeds evident.
A view up the garden under an archway. The tour also included a visit to
Mary Arden's ( Shakespeare's mother) house and farm but we were too wet at that stage to want to get out for another soaking! We had beautiful weather every day except for this one but maybe someday we will get back to wander around again.
Back home after the weekend in Leamington Spa. I discovered we were only a 45 minute bus ride from Stratford on Avon which is Shakespeare's birthplace so we set off on Friday to visit.We had just landed on the open topped, hop on hop off tour bus when the heavens opened for a two hour deluge so our hopping on and off the bus was severely curtailed!I heard one lady remark " thats not just rain, its the wrath of God pouring down"! The houses in the photo are preserved in the town centre and the one to the far end is the house where the bard was born.A lot of houses of the period are very well preserved and newer ones built in a style sympathetic to the period. It is not a quaint old village but a very busy tourist town.
We could not visit all of the places associated with him but made a point of stopping at Anne Hathaways cottage.It is a beautifully preserved place and a guided tour goes through the rooms which have been furnished in the period style. The cottage had a farm to the front in Anne's time but in the 1800s it was replanted with a cottage garden complete with flowers and a thriving vegetable garden all growing in profusion side by side.
This is a bird scarer which was made according to instructions in a book of 1845. It is a potato with bird feathers stuck through it. I must give it a go on the allotment to see if it works.
The garden, even in the rain it looked stunning with all sorts of flowers jostling for position with the result there were very few weeds evident.
A view up the garden under an archway. The tour also included a visit to Mary Arden's ( Shakespeare's mother) house and farm but we were too wet at that stage to want to get out for another soaking! We had beautiful weather every day except for this one but maybe someday we will get back to wander around again.
Comments
I would have been in heaven.
John (my 'allotment dad') made a birdscarer last year with an overgrown parsnip and some feathers and it worked a treat.
Now I'm off to read Part 2....
kathleen
Vuejardin and kathleen the gardens even in the rain were beautiful. If you follow the link on Anne Hathaway you will find a photo which shows part of the garden in sunshine and it is stunning!