SHAKESPEARE AND STEPTOE, Friday/Saturday, October 7/8

Anne Hathaway's family home.

Bard birthing bed.

The bed in the Rococo room.

B&B row.

Shakespeare's birthplace.

Stratford Upon Avon watering hole.

and more modern terraces.

Checking out for the umpteenth time.

Channeling 'Arfa' Daley

Bargain baby head.

Road to William Morris's house.

Morris's Kelmscot Manor

Feeding Arts and Craft bull.

Another story book cottage.

Next stop was Stratford Upon Avon which sounds very posh but as I discovered it has its bogan element like Grafton Upon Clarence.
The hometown of the world's most famous playwright is Tudor city with lots of great examples of that style of architecture complete with colourful floral hanging baskets adorning the facades.
While we didn't have time to go to one of the Shakespeare theatre to see a production while we were there, we did go to Anne Hathaway's cottage (that's Mrs Shakespeare not the Hollywood starlet Gen Yers). Turns out Anne was the original cougar marrying Will who was 18 at the time and she was 26. The cottage was the place where he wooed Ms Hathaway and contains some significant pieces of furniture including the bed in which Shakespeare was born.
We stayed in a cute B&B run by a Scottish couple, our Rococo room lived up to its name, pretty lavish for the 75 pounds.
After another hearty full English breakfast (lost count of these), we headed to the local car boot market to check out the locals and find a bargain.
It was a stark contrast to Shakespeare and the theatre types around the night before. It was Steptoe & Son meets Minder. I tried to speak neutrally but some of the 'geezers' picked up on my accent. After quizzing me they soon worked out I was an Aussie after I commented on the rugby. The Poms had just lost to the Frogs and they weren't happy. Oh well our cricket team is crap at the moment. It's been crap for five years one of the geezers said. Do you want me to buy something or what? They all laughed and said they liked Australians cos we didn't take any crap from anyone, and we don't get have all that class structure, or royal families or anything. I said we do have a class system but it's self appointed. After a few more jokes I parted with a 'fiver' in exchange for a collection of trinkets and we headed off into academia and the university cities of Oxford and Cambridge.