Oxford and Stratford-Upon-Avon again

Friday, June 12th, up at 5.30am to walk half a mile to get the bus to Walsall at 6.38am.  Martin came with me on the bus to Walsall to make sure I got on the right train to Birmingham !!! which I did, then changed trains at Birmingham for the one to Milton Keynes where I met Debs, my sister and her daughter Tessa, who are also holidaying in England and their rental car.

We made the decision to travel first to Oxford and then go up to Stratford-Upon-Avon where Debs had booked accommodation for the night (my second trip to Stratford-Upon-Avon in a week !! previous trip was in the boat on June 3rd, see previous blog for more details).

Oxford is mainly based around education and the Colleges that make up Oxford University.  There are 27 Colleges, over 10,000 staff and 20,000 students.  Most of the property in the centre of Oxford, shops, pubs etc belong to the University and are leased out.  We decided to take the bus trip around the town as had limited time so we sat up in the front of the double decker bus and tried to take it all in and take photos as we went around.

Christ Church College and Oxford Cathedral

Entrance gate to Christ Church College.

Trinity College in Oxford.

We were able to park the car in Broad Street in the centre of Oxford and took the following photos from this street.  One of them is of the famous Sheldonian Theatre.

Broad Street in Oxford where we parked the car.

Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford.

View of Regent Park College and bikes near where we parked the car.

We then continued up to Stratford-Upon-Avon on the motorway (Debs actually went the wrong way onto it and we ended up going 10 miles before we could get off it and back on the right way !!!) arriving there at about 5 pm, very tired and it was starting to rain.

Linhill Guest House where we stayed in Stratford-Upon-Avon, centre building, room was on the 2nd floor (window open)

We were up in reasonable time the next morning, Sunday 13th June, after a great sleep at the Linhill Guest House right in the centre of the town and a very big breakfast !!! and started our walking tour around Stratford-Upon-Avon.  Unfortunately the weather wasn't very kind and was drizzling off and on but wasn't cold but had to wear our raincoat or jackets.  First stop was Hall's Croft, the house that Shakespeare's daughter and her Dr husband lived in.  I had not seen it on my previous visit.

Debs and Tessa outside Hall's Croft.

The kitchen in Hall's Croft

Dr Hall's Consulting Room in Hall's Croft.

It was then onto the Holy Trinity Church where Shakespeare's grave is and Harvard House, an Elizabethan town house was next for a quick look and then to Shakespeare's Birthplace.  I was able to go through the Holy Trinity Church and Shakespeare's Birthplace again using the ticket I had bought previously.

Garrick Inn in Stratford-Upon-Avon where we had lunch.

Notice outside Garrick Inn

We had lunch, soup and a bun as it had started to rain harder, at the Garrick Inn, the oldest Inn in Stratford-Upon-Avon dating from 1718, but the building was known to be occupied from at least 1594 if not earlier.

We made our way back to the car and set off down through the Cotswolds, through Moreton-On-The-Marsh, then to Stow-On-The-Wold where we walked around for a look and Debs took a lot of photos despite it raining slightly. 

We continued on through Bourton-On-The-Water ( the last 2 towns I had visited with Martin and Sue earlier) and made it down to Bristol, despite the rain, the countryside was not as pretty in the rain and the visibility was not as good, where we stayed the night.