DIYs, Recipes, Furniture, Art - Whatsurhomestory

Your family's story through your home

  • Home
  • My Story
    • Contact
  • Our Home
  • Tutorials
    • DIY & Crafts
    • Furniture Makeovers
    • Sewing
    • Gardening
    • Room Makeovers
    • Home Tours
  • Holiday/Seasonal
    • Christmas
    • Winter
    • Spring
    • Summer
    • Halloween
    • Fall / Thanksgiving
    • Parties
    • Indian Holidays
  • Recipes
  • Advertise
    • Privacy Policy
    • Features

Stratford-upon-Avon – Shakespeare’s Birthplace

August 25, 2017 By Vidya 1 Comment

The Merchant of Venice, the comedy of how Bassanio and Portia help their friend, Antonio escape the greedy clutches of the money lender Shylock, was my first foray into Shakespeare’s plays. More of the Bard’s works followed through the course of my 6th grade English class. With each play my admiration for the playwright increased and soon enough his birthplace, Stratford-upon-Avon, earned a spot on my bucket list as one of the places to visit.  Over the summer I finally got to cross this quant little English village off my bucket list! Yay!

Stratford upon Avon   Shakespeares Birthplace

I had read up well on the place so knew what to expect; that the house Shakespeare was born was a tudor and in the center of the town. While the quainter true English cottage that we usually associate with the place is actually his wife, Anne Hathaway’s childhood home.

Stratford upon Avon   Shakespeares Birthplace

What I was most surprised by was how crowded and touristey the Henley St, the street on which the house is located is. The picture above, which is the back of the house, was taken during that one second when no one was in front of the house.

Stratford upon Avon   Shakespeares Birthplace

Stratford upon Avon   Shakespeares Birthplace

Shakespeare’s father, a glove maker had a store at the right side of the house and used  to sell his goods to walkers through the second window from the right on the main floor.  The front of the house is the first picture.

Stratford upon Avon   Shakespeares Birthplace

Before you enter the house there is a small exhibit about the famous playwright where they have displayed The First Folio, the first collected edition of Shakespeare’s work from 1623.

Stratford upon Avon   Shakespeares Birthplace

The inside of the house is quite modest, keeping with their means. Their family room.

Stratford upon Avon   Shakespeares Birthplace

The dining room where he and his siblings used to have their meals.

Stratford upon Avon   Shakespeares Birthplace

The house was used as an inn/ lodging house over the years. The Shakespeare Trust, which maintains the place has tried to strip away a lot of changes that were made during that time and bring the place back to its original days. His parents’ bedroom.

Stratford upon Avon   Shakespeares Birthplace

His room and the bed he shared with his brothers.

Stratford upon Avon   Shakespeares Birthplace

The bard’s birth room window. They had to remove it from the actual room for safety reasons and store it inside the house. Over the years it sort of became a pilgrimage spot among his fans and people would throw coins and souvenirs at the window and it started getting damaged.

Stratford upon Avon   Shakespeares Birthplace

The courtyard at the side of the house. Actors enact scenes from his plays there.

Stratford upon Avon   Shakespeares Birthplace

Now for the charming part of the tour, his wife’s childhood home. The Anne Hathaway’s cottage is about a 15 minutes drive from his house and is a MUST SEE! It is everything you have heard about an English cottage, the thatched hay roofs, the cottage garden, every thing oozing Englishness. 

Stratford upon Avon   Shakespeares Birthplace

A close up of the cottage.

Stratford upon Avon   Shakespeares Birthplace

Anne Hathaway’s family rented this house for a very long time only buying it from the owner in the later years. The interior is similar to that of Shakespeare’s.

Stratford upon Avon   Shakespeares Birthplace

The hay roof.

Stratford upon Avon   Shakespeares Birthplace

When we had visited most of the flowers in the garden were only starting to bloom.

Stratford upon Avon   Shakespeares Birthplace

They had fox gloves, roses, and huge mock orange trees. Both B and I fell in love with the mock orange at the very spot. We came back with plans of adding it to our yard.

Stratford upon Avon   Shakespeares Birthplace

A view from the other side of the house.

Stratford upon Avon   Shakespeares Birthplace

Are you a fan of Shakespeare? What is your favorite play?

← Front Yard Garden – Summer 2017 Happenings – Onam 2017 →
« Front Yard Garden – Summer 2017
Happenings – Onam 2017 »

Comments

  1. Sean Mahan says

    August 29, 2017 at 8:28 am

    Wow, I didn’t know this place existed. I mean, of course Shakespeare was born SOMEWHERE, but I didn’t know the place was still around and easily accessible. Added to the list of places to go!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Hi! I'm Vidya, an IT professional by day, a mom to my 2 darling monkeys, a wife, a home maker, an avid gardener and home decor/ DIY enthusiast round the clock, and a blogger in my free time. Read More…

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
subscribe img

Categories

Love this outdoor space with a beautiful red and blue outdoor decor with a flamingo pillow, metal tray side table, and loads of green plants

Finally the long overdue post, our new screened in porch reveal. This space has undoubtedly become our favorite room in the house now. To tell you the truth, I was against the idea of ripping apart our good size deck and replacing it with a screened in porch but B insisted that this was the…

Read More »

Archives

Features

Features

Networks

POPSUGAR Select Homemarthabadge1
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

HOME | MY STORY | OUR HOME | TUTORIALS | HOLIDAY/ SEASONAL | RECIPES | TIPS & TRICKS | ADVERTISE | PRIVACY POLICY | FEATURES | SITEMAP
DIY, Crafts, Recipes, Gardening – Whatsurhomestory.com COPYRIGHT © 2020 WHATS UR HOME STORY

Like What You See? Subscribe to Receive WUHS Posts via Email!
Your information will *never* be shared or sold to a 3rd party.