Different busts of Shakespeare
Different novelty items including an action figure and an extremely large mug!!
Plaques commemorating each one of Shakespeare's plays
The plaques for the plays I have read (Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet: Prince of Denmark, Julius Caesar, and The Tempest)
A timeline of when he wrote each play
The Shakespeare family tree
After we made our way through the museum, we got to walk through the home where Shakespeare was born. The house itself was pretty big, but the ceilings and door frames were all very low and Lindsay had to crouch to get into some of the rooms. This was quite comical!!
Lindsay, Ava, and I signed our names in the guestbook
After we finished with "Birthplace" we got to watch two women preform some scenes from different Shakespearian plays. They asked for requests from the audience and between the two of them, they preformed short excerpts from Hamlet: Prince of Denmark, As You Like It, and my personal favorite, The Tempest. They were flawlessly executed and we were all extremely impressed!!
After "Birthplace" we continued onto Nash's House and New Place. The house Shakespeare actually lived in is no longer standing, but the house that belonged to his granddaughter was right next door to his home and we were able to tour that instead. We didn't spend much time inside because we were all drawn to the GORGEOUS garden. We spent a while exploring this area. Ava and Collin found a secret passage through some hedges that they insisted that Lindsay and I go through with them. Two of the four previously mentioned got stuck in the tiny so called "secret passage". I bet you can guess which two!!
The third house, The Hall's Croft, belonged to Shakespeare's daughter. At this point we were all really really hungry so we didn't spend much time taking pictures. They did have these fun picture riddles in each room and you had to guess which Shakespearean play they were referring to. There were also stuffed mice with name tags scattered about and we though it was the funniest thing in the world. Probably because we were all SO HUNGRY!!! Thankfully we had put a bag of crisps in my jacket pocket and that held us over for the next half hour.
Ava and I made our own crests
We broke for lunch after we finished with the third house. Lindsay and I had seen a few shops we wanted to return to back over by the "birthplace" so we quickly grabbed a sandwich and got back on the paths. We visited a Harry Potter shop (we couldn't resist!!!), a really cute Christmas shop, the Peter Rabbit shop, and we found a candy store that was blaring High School Musical music. Intrigued, we walked in expecting to find some interesting European candy... Instead it was filled wall to wall with American junk food like Poptarts and Lucky Charms. But the real surprise was nestled in amongst the Dr. Pepper and Coca Colas. WE FOUND CHEERWINE IN ENGLAND!! For those of you not familiar with Cheerwine, it is a soft drink that is only sold and manufactured in North Carolina. I've been told you can't even find it in South Carolina, but here it is, hanging out on the shelf in Mr. Simm's Sweet Shoppe!! After that exciting discovery, we wandered around until it was time to meet back up with the group for the tour of the theatre.
After lunch, we toured the theatre where the Royal Shakespeare Company preforms. Pictures were not allowed during the tour so there isn't too much to report on that. It was supposed to be a front of the house tour, but our guide got us inside of the theatre that was being set up for their next show. He was very knowledgable about all of the history and we all were very interested through the entire thing. Stratford is such a charming little town. Lindsay and I really weren't ready to leave, but we added it to the list of places to return to. Classes start this week so wish me luck!!
xoxo
SG
Thanks for sharing xo xo!
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