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This morning I woke at 3:00am and could not get back to sleep. I listened to my music until about 5:30 and then rose. I tried to sort out my email from
Holland Park only to find the kids had used up all the Internet card money the night before! I followed this with a good breakfast and then we walked into Stratford as usual. I enjoyed the walk particularly as the spring flowers are exquisite. I have taken lots of photos .... to bore you all!!
The students appeared to enjoy their early morning exercise. Once we reached the town, we went to Sainsbury's where they bought lunch. After that we met the coach in the Leisure Centre carpark and Rob drove us to Mary Arden's farm where we enjoyed about two hours. It was much nicer than the previous time as it was fairly empty and with no apple festival it was less commercialised. I particularly enjoyed my cuddle with a huge white Clydesdale whose mane was exceptionally long. He was an affectionate beast and seemed to like the attention. There were day old chicks and some older chicks which were so cute. Of courser the people in period costume were fabulous and
just made the day. The kitchen was great- they even cut the vegetables for pottage in the 16th century way! It was also lovely to see the veg and herb gardens coming up again after the winter. One of the best things of the day was the display by the birds of prey. The woman and her son who did it have been doing this all their lives. The family own many birds and make their living running such displays. We saw two owls working and John was given the glove for the owl to land on. Boo was an extremely large owl.
After enjoying the buildings and the knowledgeable guides, we left the farm
And Rob drove so to Anne Hathaway's for our 12 o clock tour. The gardens there blew me away and the students, too, were transfixed by them. They just wanted to wander in the gardens. We persuaded them to have their tour and a wonderful woman took us into the house and introduced the house to the kids. We saw the courting bench and even got to sit on it - it was very narrow and upright ! You couldn't get up to much mischief on that. We also learnt where the phrase 'on the shelf' comes from. She explained how they ate in the trencher tradition which will make our Bath meal more fun. We let the students play in the gardens and Liam fell into some stinging nettles but soon recovered. After a picnic lunch , we set out by coach for the birthplace in the town as we were running out of time. This was amazing. The highly entertaining use of media has made the introduction to the sight very engaging for all ages. We joked about setting my classroom up like this with John and Tennille's expertise!! We went through the birthplace and once again the costumed guide who introduced the house was very good. In the gardens we encountered a wonderful surprise- actors performing bits of plays. We walked in on Lady Macbeth persuading Macbeth to kill Duncan and then they asked what we would like and I suggested Much Ado which was terrific. They then went on to do some
Midsummer Nights Dream and then we left as I needed to arrange dinner and the kids had been attentive all day and I felt they needed a break. I bustled off in pursuit of dinner and got us a booking at Garrick inn - the oldest pub in Stratford! Then I shopped (successfully) at Laura Ashleys sale - all in an hour!!!!
Once we met up with the students again we walled them down to The church of the Holy Trinity to see Shakespeare's grave and the students were suitably awed. I had forgotten he died at 52 - sobering when I am over that age!!
After this we walked along the river to Bancroft gardens and played at the statues of the Gower memorial. Having learnt about Falstaff earlier the kids really enjoyed him. Then it was back to the coach at 5pm and on to the Yh to freshen up before dinner. My group enjoyed their dinner and Rob and I had a lovely evening catching up. When he heard about my 'kettle thing' he offered to keep stuff for me for my my next trip to prevent my having it bring the same old stuff over all the time!!! Sweet hey??!!
We all returned home and to bed by about 10:30 and I was extremely pleased with how the way the day went.
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