Over the weekend we went to Stratford-Upon-Avon with Angie's parents. Actually, they met us there as they had been driving around England and southern Scotland for the last 2 weeks!When we arrived, there was a "Mop Fair" on, which, for us out-of-towners, means the carnies were about. There were HEAPS of rides and games, and the main street was full (closed off to traffic, of course). We had a bit of a look around, and we got our first taste of how much Bruce and Carol had been socilaising - they chatted with a bobbie that had been in one of their photos the day before... This was a theme of the weekend - random chats with the locals!
After leaving, we made our way out of town to the hotel, which was really nice... actually one of the best places we've stayed in
anywhere. In the morning, we made our way back into town, and started by going to Shakespeare's birthplace. After wandering about there, Angie and Carol went to the permanent Christmas shop and bought goodies while Brice and I amused ourselves in the pub. After that, we went to another pub known as the Dirty Duck (but actually named the Black Swan) for a nice relaxed meal. We wandered about in the park too, looking at the longboats, the marine locks and the lovely autumn leaves.
After lunch we made our way to Anne Hathaway's cottage (Shakespeare's wife) which was quite big and had very picturesque grounds. We had a tour of this house too, which was much more informative and was very enjoyable! After quite a while there we were pretty knackered so made our way back to the hotel. Just over the road there were Deer in the grounds of a castle(!) so we unsucessfully photographed them too :)After a quick nanna-nap, we hit the restaurant and then caught the end of the England-France game (bloody England) in the pub. Then we kept Angie awake by chatting until late. Sunday we headed back to London for the night before Bruce and Carol flew off to Switzerland on Monday. All in all a very enjoyable weekend!
