Images from the Stratford-upon-Avon visit, 2012

On the 6th of August my brother, aunt and uncle from Nottingham, two cousins from Nottingham, two cousins from the East of England, and I all travelled to Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire. Initially, we were worried that this new trip to the town would be marred by rain, but fortunately the weather ameliorated over the course of the day and we had a marvellous time.

As with last year, the first location we went to in Stratford-upon-Avon was the leisure centre, where we had a small meal before venturing out towards the river. At this point we were concerned about the weather so the decision was made to go on a boat ride first and save any indoor activities for later. Coincidentally, the boat and navigator we had during our previous visit were the same for this ride.

A random shot containing the front segment of our boat in the foreground, the Royal Shakespeare Company on the left, the Avon in the centre, and the dock from where our boat was launched in the back. While the overall length of the ride was around half an hour, the route was changed somewhat, possibly owing to the higher water level compared to last: we did not travel as far as the Colin P. Witter Lock, although when going in the opposite direction we did go past some houses and a car park, both of which we didn't see last time.

Easily the most surprising object I observed when on the boat ride was this flag of the Confederate States of America. Seeing the occasional Star and Stripes isn't unusual here in the United Kingdom, but a Confederate flag is bizarre, especially in Stratford-upon-Avon! This is, at a minimum, the second Confederate flag I have seen in this country.

Almost as odd as the Confederate flag were these "Manga Shakespeare" books inside the Royal Shakespeare Company's gift shop. I have no idea if Shakespeare in comic book form has any effect in attracting unlikely readers of his works, but it's certainly an imaginative approach! (I should note, however, that I have observed something similar to this idea before: there is an episode of the science fiction/comedy television show Red Dwarf where one of main characters is reading the "comic book version" of the Greeks versus the Trojans.)

Among the 350+ pictures I took during our visit to Stratford-upon-Avon, the ones I consider my best are those of the observation tower of the Royal Shakespeare Company obstructing the Sun. The camera was mostly still, allowing the tower to be as straight as possible in this picture; and the Sun being blocked while its light shone from behind gave deeper hue to the sky and the clouds. Perhaps the only part of the image that spoils it a little is a segment of the non-tower area of the RSC shown in the bottom-left, but as it is not possible to take a picture of a tower (at least for this angle with the Sun at that point in the sky) without at least some portion of the rest of the building in, one can't complain too much about an otherwise perfect capture.

Remember the "Milkshake Lady" from Stratford-upon-Avon Moo-Moo's? Sadly, she wasn't anywhere to be seen this time, but I did get this shot of the milkshake bar itself. We were down Henley Street at this point and were visiting a few of the stores (such as the Stratford Sweet Shop); one of my cousins and I went into a "souvenir shop" expecting to find items to do with Stratford-upon-Avon, but we left after less than five minutes when we noted that all the products were London-oriented.

This is Quickly's, where we had our lunch; I had a delicious ham, egg, and chip main meal with a chocolate cheesecake for dessert.

After Quickly's we left Henley Street and walked to the Stratford-upon-Avon Butterfly Farm. We noticed the above statue on one of the arches, and those of us who had visited last year agreed that she was a new addition to the farm's front garden. So far I haven't been able to find out what her significance or name is.

My aunt, uncle, one of my cousins, and I decided to forgo entering the butterfly enclosure, citing the now-beautiful weather outside and the heat of the building's interior as our reasons.

Once those who had entered the butterfly farm had finished, we slowly made our way back to the leisure centre. On the way we noticed a machine generating bubbles like these ones; getting a decent shot of the bubbles was immensely difficult given their speed and distance from me.

A closing shot of the Stratford Leisure & Visitor Centre just prior to our departure. We had a lovely day in Stratford-upon-Avon, equalling the fantastic time we had there last year; the town is one of the best and most beautiful places I've visited so far in the United Kingdom, and providing it's a decent day I will always be delighted to go there.

Stratford-upon-Avon images

On the 9th of August, everyone who went to Chatsworth House on the 8th, plus an older cousin of mine all went to Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire, the home of William Shakespeare. Here are a few of the pictures I took, plus some thoughts about the events of that day:

This was one of the first pictures I took when we got to Stratford-upon-Avon. I always find the skylines and architecture of a place fascinating, and Stratford-upon-Avon was no exception, starting with this spire. In fact, on the way there I also got a glimpse of the skylines in Leicester and Coventry, but it was nice to look at Stratford's landscape from the ground rather than in the car. I think the spire in the picture is from the Church of the Holy Trinity building.

The first place we walked to in Stratford, after we had some lunch at the leisure centre, was the Stratford-upon-Avon Butterfly Farm. The butterfly farm, as its name implies, houses butterflies, possibly hundreds of them. They have an enclosure reminiscent of a rainforest for them to fly around in, and although the butterflies will often land on people, you are not supposed to pick them up yourself, as butterflies are delicate, any touching of their wings will easily harm them. I have never seen so many butterflies, both in types and number, all at once before.

The butterfly farm also houses a few other animals, including reptiles, insects, and arachnids, such as the one in the picture above. This is a tarantula, though I cannot remember what type it was called. Despite its size and how fearsome it looks, I found the Black Widow in a nearby glass enclosure to be far more disturbing.

The butterfly farm was certainly a good experience, but after seeing all the exhibits, I was glad to get out. It was not because I had become bored of the place or anything like that, rather, I found the heat and humidity, both of which are necessary for the well-being of the animals housed in the farm, to be overwhelming after more than half an hour in there. My biggest regret, however, was not being able to take more pictures as my camera had fogged up from the steam emanating from the ponds. Still, if I had the chance to go again I would do so.

The next part to the adventure was a motorised boat ride on the Avon itself. The ride lasted for about half an hour, and consisted of travelling to one end then to the other of a small designated part of the Avon for boats. I took this picture of a bridge from the boat.

This is the Colin P. Witter Lock. I thought was an interesting structure, so I decided to take a picture of it: I liked the contrast of the lock with the water in the front and the greenery behind and to the sides. I wish the image was a little less slanted, though,

While these two boats are stationary, it was good to pass other boats on the river. Unlike the rafting trip from years ago, there were no water fights going on here!

The Church of the Holy Trinity is the name of this beautiful building. I am glad the boat was going at a reasonable speed so I could get a decent picture of it this close.

This has to be one of my favourite pictures from the Stratford-upon-Avon trip, as it to me is a "perfect picture": the colouring is superb and everything looks good, from the trees on the left, the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in the middle, the town and boat in the distance, the sky above, and the water in front (especially the ripple from the boat in the bottom right-hand corner). In all, I am exceptionally pleased with this image.

I took this just before the boat ride ended. I am fortunate to have a camera with a strong zoom feature: this is the tower from the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and was taken from quite a distance on maximum zoom.

After the boat ride, we made our way towards a part of Stratford-upon-Avon titled "Henley Street". Henley Street is name of the town's high street and main pedestrianised road, as well was a major shopping and tourist area. As we were moving and wanting to get past traffic, this was the best picture I could take of the Costa Coffee building and the architecture from this side of Henley Street. I remember seeing that building and others in its style in pictures and was glad to see them for myself in person.

Speaking if seeing things in person, the best part about Henley Street is this building: Shakespeare's Birthplace. This building is the place where William Shakespeare was born and spent the early part of his life at. Unfortunately, people are not allowed to take photographs or videos inside the house, but an outside shot is still impressive enough. I will admit that I had a "wow, I am really here" moment when I stepped inside the house, as I could not believe I was standing inside the house where one of the world's most famous and respected people had once lived.

The thing I found most interesting about the house was how large and spacious it was: someone inside said that it had a few unnecessary inside walls and more small rooms by today's standards, but I thought that the house was actually better than today's houses in some ways: it was larger than all houses I have been to so far since living over here again (even our current house is smaller); and if you added modern utilities to it or removed them from current homes, it would be a very comfortable house with plenty of space. Of course, the historical significance of Shakespeare's Birthplace and maintaining the building and its grounds is far more important than comparing it to modern houses, but even so, I thought it held up reasonably well.

This is a picture of Shakespeare's Birthplace from the back. In the group are two performers acting out a scene from one of Shakespeare's numerous plays.

Here are the two performers mentioned in my commentary for the picture above this one, and they are acting. One of my cousins and our friend had their picture taken with the lady in my photo above (done by my brother); I wish I could put it up, but I have a rule to avoid putting up images that contain family members or friends.

Once we had finished at Shakespeare's Birthplace, we went back out onto Henley Street. We then went to a pretty little restaurant that served "cream tea": when my uncle mentioned that we should try cream tea that afternoon, I assumed he meant tea with cream in, and since I drink coffee, plus a couple of other people in our group were coffee-drinkers, I was not sure what all the excitement over cream tea was. It turned out it was actually a meal consisting of a selection of sandwiches and cakes, not just tea with cream in it, and it was very nice. I should also note that I was the only one who drank coffee at tea time.

It was the early evening at the time we met the Milkshake Lady, and we had an hour and a half's trip back to Nottingham, so we left Henley Street and made our way back to the cars. As I mentioned in a previous post, I am a fan of sunny days with "friendly" clouds, so I took a picture of the sky: it was like this the for a majority of the day.

Finally, this picture was the second-from-last image I took in Stratford-upon-Avon (the last was not as good in quality as this), and it was taken from inside my uncle's car, hence why it looks a little like it was taken through a window. We went straight back to my grandparents' house that evening, and we had fruit for dinner as we were still full from cream tea.

To me, this day was what I call a "perfect day": nearly everything about it went smoothly, and anything that could have been considered "dull" normally (such as having to wait a couple of times in queues or for the boat ride to have enough passengers) were still somehow exciting. Plus, everyone was cheerful, and the weather was brilliant: Stratford-upon-Avon is definitely a place I would go to again.

Stratford-upon-Avon

All of us from yesterday, plus my oldest cousin all went to Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire...the birthplace of William Shakespeare! We took a boat ride on the river, walked along the main street of the town, went to afternoon tea, and visited the home that Shakespeare himself was born in! Today has been as wonderful as yesterday, and I am definitely looking forward to posting pictures of this day up!