Stratford-upon-Avon

We are a one-holiday-a-year family; usually in the UK and normally self-catering in a cottage or tent. This week was a bit of a change for us - we spent a few days in a hotel, (albeit of the budget variety), in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Stratford is mostly known for being the home of a certain W. Shakespeare. Here is his birthplace, which we didn't actually visit:

The prestigious Royal Shakespeare Company is based in Stratford in the aptly named Royal Shakespeare Theatre, (somewhere else we didn't visit!):

Stratford developed around the river Avon, and boasts its very own canal which runs up towards Birmingham. The hotel we were in, (think large cheerful comedian!), was on the canalside, and we could walk into town along the towpath in ten minutes. We were all fascinated by the locks:

 

There were many narrowboats moored along the canal, some of which had their own garden areas!

Stratford has lots of quirky shops, especially this one:

I was rather surprised that we didn't meet Harry Potter coming out! One of the attractions that we did visit was the MAD Museum which stands for "Mechanical Art and Design" and was full of complex, intricate, artistic and ultimately pointless machines.

A lot of them were marble runs - the children both enjoyed working out the different paths taken.

We spent hours in here; it appealed to DH's logical engineering brain. For me the most enjoyable part of the break was wandering along the riverside in the sunshine, watching the hustle and bustle and knowing I didn't have to do anything!