Welcome to William Shakespeare's birthplace and residence for a significant portion of his life. As a Shakespeare fan of many years, this charming English town had always been on my list and I was thrilled that I was finally heading there.
We're lucky that most must-visit places here are within ten minute's walking distance. However, not everything is. We'll come to that later.
Firstly, I took the Tube to get to Marylebone Station in London. Having heard many stories about people getting lost in the London Underground labyrinth, I didn't know what to expect. However, I very easily managed to get to the station after changing two lines. Moral: don't always buy what people say.
I travelled to Stratford-upon-Avon using the Chiltern Railways. There is usually a change of trains required at Leamington Spa, but I did this change at Warwick. The train ride is very pleasant, and you get to see amazing sights of the countryside. Upon reaching SUA, the walk to the town centre with all the must-see places is around 10 minutes. The town is very beautiful:
We're lucky that most must-visit places here are within ten minute's walking distance. However, not everything is. We'll come to that later.
Firstly, I took the Tube to get to Marylebone Station in London. Having heard many stories about people getting lost in the London Underground labyrinth, I didn't know what to expect. However, I very easily managed to get to the station after changing two lines. Moral: don't always buy what people say.
I travelled to Stratford-upon-Avon using the Chiltern Railways. There is usually a change of trains required at Leamington Spa, but I did this change at Warwick. The train ride is very pleasant, and you get to see amazing sights of the countryside. Upon reaching SUA, the walk to the town centre with all the must-see places is around 10 minutes. The town is very beautiful:
Now, all the important sites related to Shakespeare are preserved and protected by the Shakespeare's Birthplace Trust (SBT), which has a museum right next to the house William grew up in. We have to get a ticket in order to enter and explore all the places owned by the Trust, namely - Shakespeare's Old House, Shakespeare's New House, Hall's Croft, Mary Arden's Tudor Farm and Anne Hathaway's cottage. The ticket is valid for one year and you can come back and visit the places again numerous times for free within that period. I started my exploration at this house that young William called his home:
Yes, it looks very dilapidated, but it's over 400 years old. William was the oldest son of John Shakespeare and Mary Arden. They had eight children in total. This is where he grew up, along with his siblings. The Trust has done a decent job of refurbrishing and preserving the house, and so it was delightful to walk through the rooms and halls of this old home.
Very charming, isn't it? It does take you through time. What's even more charming is that children are your guides in all the notables SBT places you will visit. They will even tell you the significance of the rooms in the houses.
As William grew up, his abilities as a playwright became known far and wide, and he was directing plays in London. He made a lot of money, making him the wealthiest person from his hometown. With the amount he earned, he managed to buy a house for himself and his wife, Anne Hathaway. His two surviving daughters Susanna and Judith Shakespeare grew up there. Unfortunately, the house doesn't survive today. However, the lovely Tudor garden that was built right behind it is maintained well, as well as a well that Shakespeare and his family used. That was my next stop, a five-minute walk from William's childhood home.
As William grew up, his abilities as a playwright became known far and wide, and he was directing plays in London. He made a lot of money, making him the wealthiest person from his hometown. With the amount he earned, he managed to buy a house for himself and his wife, Anne Hathaway. His two surviving daughters Susanna and Judith Shakespeare grew up there. Unfortunately, the house doesn't survive today. However, the lovely Tudor garden that was built right behind it is maintained well, as well as a well that Shakespeare and his family used. That was my next stop, a five-minute walk from William's childhood home.
Where his new house stood once, there is a museum dedicated to describing his plays as well as details of his life. An interesting fact is that there are no living descendants of William Shakespeare. He and Anne Hathaway had three daughters - Susanna, then Hamnet and Judith (twins). Hamnet died as a child. Susanna grew up to marry John Hall, a practising physician and had a daughter Elizabeth. Elizabeth married twice, but she didn't have any children from either of her marriages. Judith married Thomas Quiney and had two sons, both of whom died before getting married and having children. However, Shakespeare's sister Joan does still have descendants to this day, so they are the closest surviving relatives of the Bard.
Before we move on to Hall's Croft, I'll describe two interesting places you'll see along the way. The first is Shakespeare's schoolroom. This is not covered by the SBT, but upon paying the entry ticket you will get a lesson on grammar the way William would have. I still had to cover the other spots on the SBT ticket, so I didn't the time to enter it. But this is how it looks from the outside:
Before we move on to Hall's Croft, I'll describe two interesting places you'll see along the way. The first is Shakespeare's schoolroom. This is not covered by the SBT, but upon paying the entry ticket you will get a lesson on grammar the way William would have. I still had to cover the other spots on the SBT ticket, so I didn't the time to enter it. But this is how it looks from the outside:
The other interesting place is the Guild Chapel, a 12th century stone chapel. The chapel isn't active, but is open to all visitors for free. It is tiny and narrow, but one particular thing caught my eye - the whitewashed, then restored walls. I was told by the guide that John Shakespeare, William's father, was made to bleach all the walls of the chapel as it had paintings of Catholic saints. England back then was drifting away from Catholicism. However, they have removed the whitewash in order to restore the chapel to its original condition. It is a lovely little chapel all the same.
Now, on to Hall's Croft. This was undoubtedly my favourite place among the others on the list. Susanna Shakespeare and her husband John Hall lived with their daughter Elizabeth here. As John Hall was a physician, his notebooks, vials, methods of prescription, and so on, are preserved and kept on display here. I loved that part. He went to the homes of his patients and treated close to a hundred residents of Stratford town successfully, a remarkable feat for the Tudor era days. He followed old-school classical medicine methodologies like the four humours hypothesis, uroscopy (study of the colour of urine to diagnose illness) and gave many natural remedies, like quail's eggs, to cure the ailments of his patients.
The house on its own was very charming. I loved the kitchen, most of all.
Now, the only two spots that were left were Mary Arden's Tudor Farm - which is a fifteen-minute drive from Stratford town - and Anne Hathaway's cottage. There was no chance I could get to Mary Arden's farm as it was too far, but I decided to walk to Anne Hathaway's cottage, which is a clean one mile away from Stratford town. On hindsight, perhaps I shouldn't have, because I only had four hours in SUA and had a train to catch back to London. I walked thirty minutes through the countryside, through quiet lanes of houses, through grassy paths, to finally locate Anne's house. Disclaimer: it's not easy to find it and there aren't many signboards. I had to use Google Maps. However, when I finally found it, the cottage was breathtaking, making my horrendous walk worthwhile.
However, I had all but thirty minutes for my train; which meant I had to walk back around thirty minutes to the train station. I barely walked around her cottage and jetted off, walking as fast as I could. It was a race against time and I was intensely stressed. There was no way I could allow myself to get lost in this new place. If I missed this train, I didn't know when the next one was. As this place was out in the countryside, chances were, that the next train could be late in the evening or so. Finally, though, I reached the train station. The train was scheduled to leave at 2.40pm, and I boarded at 2.38pm. Close call! But there was a signalling error at Leamington Spa, which caused the train to depart only at 2.55pm. Oh, well.
I was glad to finally be on the train back to London, mainly because I was barely recovering from the fact that I had made it on time to catch my train.
However, Stratford-upon-Avon left a mark in my heart and I would love to visit again, with a car the next time. It's a must-visit for lovers of the Bard and his plays. I would like to end this long post with some photos of the beautiful streets and vintage shops of Stratford town.
I was glad to finally be on the train back to London, mainly because I was barely recovering from the fact that I had made it on time to catch my train.
However, Stratford-upon-Avon left a mark in my heart and I would love to visit again, with a car the next time. It's a must-visit for lovers of the Bard and his plays. I would like to end this long post with some photos of the beautiful streets and vintage shops of Stratford town.
March 2018