Marsh-Mel-O's Adventures: UK Roadtrip - Stratford-upon-Avon and Royal

8th October

After a very late night up talking to the early hours of this morning, there was a slow start to the day. Eventually we got up, dressed and fed before setting off to Stratford-Upon-Avon.

Stratford-upon-Avon is a medieval market town in England’s West Midlands, famous for the16th-century birthplace of possibly the most famous writer in the English language, William Shakespeare. A gorgeous little town, we arrived and walked down the main strip where the original Shakespeare residence is. The small cottage sits on the main street with the Shakespeare Birthplace Centre next door. We didn't go inside the building, deciding instead to continue walking through the town.

We walked down to the locks where the canal boats were moored, they looked exactly like off Rosie and Jim, the old children's TV show. Down at the canal we found markets to wander through, before continuing on around the rest of the town. We stopped for McDonald's (I didn't abbreviate it Rachael!) for lunch, using some vouchers we had been given at WHS, when mum bought a new SD card for her camera.

Thanks to Danielle, we found the golden mail boxes, celebrating the two gold medals won by James Roe in the 2012 London Paralympic Games in Rowing: Mixed - Coxed Four and LTAMix4+.

We finished up in Stratford-upon-Avon and piled into the car and continued onto the Royal Leamington Spa. Here we found more markets and charity shops (chazza's as Rachael has decided they should be called), which we wandered through. There was an antique section where we taught Rachael and Danielle how to determine the good tea sets and crystal glasses from the cheap versions!

We dropped Rachael and Danielle off back at Coventry Train Station to make their journey's home before we headed back to Warwick. We quickly drove through Warwick, to mentally map where things were, before heading to the Fleur de Les, the local pub to Finwood Cottage. It is a gorgeous little pub with pokey corners and low doorways you have to duck under before you step through. Next to the pub was another canal with more Rosie and Jim boats, and on the way home we drove over another operation lock!