Shakespeare Country

I've become absent-minded about American holidays. Not seeing them in the calendar of my British phone makes it difficult to remember which ones are coming up and which ones my husband will have off of work. Of course, he always has Veteran's Day off. I knew I didn't want to hang around the house for three days so when I saw a Groupon for a lodge at Warwick Castle, I knew I wanted to have a super short getaway. 

Stratford-upon-Avon is very close to Warwick Castle so when we drove up late Sunday morning, we started there. We started in the birthplace of Shakespeare. The place where he lived most of his life and had many connections to the area. 

If you're going to see the birthplace, tickets to see all five houses are not much more expensive and are good for an entire year (I love this about some British attractions!).

We only managed to make it to three of the homes in the area that have a connection to him. I think we'll go back in the Spring to see the other two though since our tickets will be good.

First up, the birthplace. This is the home that Shakespeare was born in (the picture below with the baby cradle is the room he was thought to be born in though the cradle isn't original) and we walked on the original stone floors that Shakespeare would have walked as a child. It was a charming home. His father was a leatherworker who had a workshop in the home and sold his goods out of the window into the street. As you can tell, the door frames were quite a bit shorter in areas than my 5'11 husband. 

Shakespeare's New Place, the largest home in the town during his time and the place he lived in with his wife and daughters and died in, was destroyed by an owner in 1759 who was quite tired of tourists annoying him in his home. This was before Britain's extensive conservation laws. All that stands now is the foundation, gardens, and the museum-like area that was built on top. This was a quick stop as the house no longer stood there.

And lastly, we visited Hall's Croft which was the home of Shakespeare's daughter, Susanna Hall and her physician husband, John Hall. This home was really lovely and decorated in the style of the time. Upstairs, there was a small exhibit dedicated to medicine and John Hall. The gardens outside this home were really lovely as well.

After we visited the Shakespeare homes, we walked down to the Holy Trinity Church. Everything is within ten to fifteen minutes walking distance if you go from the Birthplace to New place and then walk down to Hall's Croft and head down towards the church afterward. The outside of Holy Trinity Church is beautiful and the graveyard extensive and old as all of them seem to be here. The inside is gilded with beautiful architecture and chandeliers. This is the resting place of William Shakespeare. You have to pay a "donation" recommended four pounds a person to access his gravesite in the church but it was worth it to walk down and see the statue that was commissioned by his family after his death and is said to be the only accurate likeness of his actual looks. His resting place spot with the curse is pictured below. Shakespeare knew that because he was famous, he was at risk of grave robbers digging up his bones after his death hence the need to curse the man that steals his bones.

I've never been a big fan of Shakespeare's work but I am fascinated and respect the fact that Shakespeare completely changed the face of modern language and so many of his words and phrases are still used by us today. It was interesting to see the charming place that he called home.