Bookish Tourism: Visiting Stratford-upon-Avon

As my adventures in the UK continue, I’m finding it difficult to find time to blog. However, I knew that all my book friends out there would find one of my recent trips interesting, so I wanted to get this down before I forgot about it. Last week, we visited Stratford-upon-Avon, which is the birthplace of William Shakespeare as well as his final resting place. It’s also home to a beautiful park, which houses a very strange looking tree, as the below picture will prove. If anyone knows what kind of a tree this is, please let me know in the comments.

Anyway, we walked past his birthplace (pictured below) but unfortunately didn’t have time to enter the welcome center for a tour. This is one of the problems with vacationing on the fly, you tend to miss out on a few things. But I wanted to financially support the good work the Shakespearean lovers were doing, so I purchased some hand cream for my mother-in-law at their gift shop, as proceeds go towards maintaining this important site. We then walked through the beautiful little town to a large, gothic-looking church where Shakespeare is buried, and took a few pictures there. It’s right next to the stunning park where the above photo was taken, which was probably one of my favourite places I’ve seen so far over here.

I wouldn’t call myself a huge fan of Shakespeare, although I really enjoyed Hamlet and Richard III. I tend to lean towards his darker work, but Midsummer Night’s Dream was fun too. That being said, the historical sites based on his life were still fascinating to see, even for my husband, who probably hasn’t read an entire play in his whole life. I couldn’t help but wonder how sick the residents of Stratford-upon-Avon must be of William Shakespeare, mentions of him are literally everywhere, and it seems like one of the main reasons people visit their town in the first place. Still, it’s a beautiful town, and the people there were so kind and helpful. If you’re ever over that way, make sure to stop in, even for an afternoon.