The Bard's Country

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Thursday, June 23

Off to do one more self guided tour around Oxford and could not find any parking and ended up out of the city. Decided to go ahead and head for Stratford-on-Avon. We got there after a couple of unnerving roundabouts and again it felt like we were in some kind of bump'em car game. Got to our B&B and since we beat L&I there we chose the room with the King bed and they got the bigger bathroom. We headed to lunch and left a message for L&I who met us at King's Head Pub about an hour later. Had a great beef and ale pie with all the trimmings. The we headed into Stratford to look around. Used both cars and we led and as soon as we got to the 2nd roundabout we lost them. Walked around the town and the river Avon figuring we'd meet but no. Back to the B&B (5 min out of town) and they arrived about 45 min later. We'd done the same route around town but in opposite directions. Off to dinner and the play "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at the Royal Shakespearean Theatre. I wasn't looking forward to it as enthusiatically as Ross since we've seen it a number of times at Bard on the Beach in Vancouver and at Stratford Ontario. Well this turned out to be the best one I've ever seen and it was laugh out loud many times. The actors were excellent at portraying the characters. Usually it takes about 15 min. to accustom myself to the bard's rhyming speech but this time a little longer because not only was it Olde English but Olde English with an English accent. A very good production. Brexit won in the election.

Only 7,034 steps

Friday, June 24

Still in Stratford and a day to become a National Trust member! Something like a National Parks membership only this includes castles, gardens and other attractions. We spent over 3 hours walking around and photographing everything at Hidcote Gardens. After a nice lunch and cappuccino there and a visit to the gift shop we headed to Chastleton House. The parking lot was quite a ways away and we had to walk though a sheep field to get to the House. Such a great old building with lots of original furnishings. They did not add any extras to make it appeal to tourists but it was the owners bedding, dishes, etc. Definitely worth a visit. After lemon drizzle cake and tea in the church right next door it was back through the sheep field and then a drive home. We rested up a bit and then headed out for a late dinner at "The Stag".

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sticky toffee pudding rating: 8 ( we will judge these out of 10)

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