Now Heading South....

When we reboarded the bus  .....

 .... to leave Hadrian's Wall, we were handed the itinerary for the following day...

 ......... and headed south...

 .... and stopped at this impressive home...

.....the grounds were meticulously kept and were very attractive...

.... the whole gang of us went inside and were treated to dinner at this home.  The owners were extremely cordial and very correctly British!  We were asked to abstain from taking pictures of the interior - so you'll just have to take my word for the loveliness of the interior.  It was definitely an unexpected treat as part of our tour!

Needless to say, we weren't too fussy about keeping our hotel room tidy that night - we dropped our stuff and crashed!

 We each had a bed this size..

..... and there was lots of space for watching TV and checking my e-mail!

.....and like many of the places we stayed.....

... there were wonderful views out the windows...

We were heading for Stratford-on-Avon - as I'm sure you all know - the home of William Shakespeare!  The house above is typical for the area - isn't it lovely?

This one in particular, seemed to me to be typical of Shakespearian architecture.   

But, I thought this building was definitely worthy of a picture too!

And - guess where we got off the bus!

James gave us a little talk on how to conduct ourselves inside, including an admonishment not to touch anything or enter any roped off areas.  Other than that we could take as long as we wanted.

Oh - how I loved this!  I'll just share some pictures so you get the idea - they are mostly self-explanatory.

This is the parlour.

Shakespeare's family was not wealthy and after all the opulent castles introduced us to the lifestyles of the ordinary folk.

The wall of fame.

Squirrels - shot and eaten and the hides were sold - I want a squirrel hat!

More Shakespearian-era architecture!

The master bedroom.

Shakespeare's sister?  No - a tour guide - they were friendly and had a lot of information regarding one of England's most well-known poets/playwrights.

The children's bedroom - I wonder who got to sleep on the trundle!

Another one of the charming hostesses available to answer any questions (and I loved the period costumes!)

The flower beds outside Shakespeare's home were beautiful and Poppa had to stop to see what kind of flowers were growing there.

He took his time and checked out any he thought he would like in our flower beds in the spring in Canada.

I liked this one!

Evenutally he finished browsing....

.... while I went to the small adjoining area where actors were performing some of the famous stories woven by William.

I quite enjoyed it!

When we were finished, it was supper time and we had free rein to wander around and choose a place to eat.  They had a McDonald's and a few other familiar signs - but we could get that in Canada, so we chose this small cafe.  I didn't have the presence of mind to note the name!  

But it was charming and quite busy.  The menu was decidely British for us Canadian, but it was yummy! (Especially the desserts - which I am partial to!)