Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwick, The Slaughters and Bourton-on-the-water

Today was supposed to be our day of cycling the Cotswolds, but the weather this morning quickly put us off this idea. So Petra set the itinerary for the day.

She decided that Stratford-upon-Avon would be a nice place to go, and as usual she was spot on the money. Stratford is a beautiful town, no two ways about it. We visited a series of Shakespeare sights, including where he was born, where he lived and where he is buried. The town was humming today, being Saturday, and with a food festival on as well. Even saw some morris dancing. We finished up in Stratford with a visit to Ann Hathaway's house - Shakespeare's wife, not the hollywood actress - a few miles out of town. An incredible house set in some very attractive gardens with some dodgy people sitting on a love seat in the lavender maze...

From there we drove to Warwick to get a glimpse of the famous Warwick Castle, which was pretty much all we got. For some reason Warwick Castle is ridiculously expensive compared to other castles, and even their parking cost is outrageous. Shame really.

Next Petra's itinerary took us back into the Cotswolds. Starting at Stow-on-the-Wold, we drove through the villages of Lower Slaughter and Upper Slaughter (the first particularly nice), and then ended up at Bourton-on-the-water...

Finally we drove back to Weston-sub-edge via Dover's Hill, which has spectacular views over the surrounding countryside...

We went out to dinner for a change. This time at the The Fleece, a pub in a medieval building in Bretforton owned by the National Trust. Very atmospheric. For the first time on the trip Phil had to drive after dark!

A very beautiful dusk this evening, but this is quite literally the calm before the storm. There's a big Atlantic storm (the first of Autumn) due to pass through Britain tomorrow. Should be interesting.