Stratford-Upon-Avon, England

Stratford-Upon-Avon is William Shakespeare's hometown. This map is centered on New Place, Shakespeare's final residence. Here's the wikipedia article on the town.

If you scroll due East, you'll see two bridges across the Avon. Between them is the Swan's Nest hotel where we stayed. The long bridge is the Clopton Bridge built in 1490. Here are some old postcards of the bridge and the nearby foot bridge.


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Warwick Castle, England

Warwick Castle is a Norman castle near Birmingham, England and literally just down the road from Stratford-Upon-Avon. The river just to the South is the Avon.

Here's the wikipedia article and here's their web page.

They do reenactments on the grounds and the interior is a Tussauds exhibit. You can climb that tower in the upper right.

Stow-on-the-Wold, Cotswolds, England

Stow-on-the-Wold is a pretty little town in the Cotswolds. Their web site is here and the wikipedia article is here.

Stow was a big market for sheep. There are narrow alleyways called "tures" leading from the Square to the perimeter of the town that were used to herd the sheep to market.

We ate lunch in the pub of the Stow Lodge Hotel which has a false bookcase in the lounge that once concealed a spiral staircase leading to a secret room. There are also tunnels from the basement allegedly leading to the nearby church.