Much Ado About Nothing.

I have come over all Shakespearian having just spent the day in Stratford upon Avon - birthplace of The Bard. I am in Warwickshire at the moment doing a little dog-sitting and living the good life in my friends' lovely 17th century cottage! I know - lucky me! As Stratford is only 30 minutes away from where I am staying I thought it would be nice to pay a visit. I have not been there for some time and nice it was - bustling with tourists , sunny.......but after an hour or so it started to irritate me how bloody "shakeperian"everything was - Bard's Walk, Iago Jewellery, Mistress Quickly's Tearooms, Measure for Measure Bistro etc etc etc. The whole place seems unreal, like a film set and what some businesses have done to the building frontages is quite honestly legalised vandalism thus reducing our heritage to cheap and tacky tourist traps (it is as bad in Scotland with all the crappy 'tartanalia' and 'mockintosh' on sale)  I know that not everything can be preserved pristinely, after all it is a town like any other not a museum, but I can't help feeling that there should be some limits to what companies should be allowed do to the fabric of the buildings. I am not knocking tourists - they bring alot of money into our country - I just think we should be offering them something better!

Anyway, despite the total sensory overload of being surrounded by so many quaint buildings I managed to take a couple of pics ofa couple that I particularly liked. This first one is now a pub and was built in 1576.........

there are a huge amount of buildings like this in Stratford. I really liked a couple of the details like this dog?...............

and this Tudor style Rose........

and of course the scary screaming head - so popular during this period of history!...

Here is the local Costa Coffee....

with yet more carved heads.....

and of course no trip to Stratford would be complete without a pic of Will's house...........

I managed to snatch a couple of shots without hoards of tourists in front of it - believe me it was a very small window of opportunity!

I am ashamed to admit that the most exciting thing about my trip to Stratford was discovering a great shop called Fred Winter. It had a really great mix of interior decor and craft items and I just had to buy half a meter of each of these wonderful Grayson Perry fabrics designed for Liberty.............

I love the quirky, slightly sinister feel of it.

I was also delighted to discover that my new fave bodywash is currently 2 for 1 at Boots so for £3.91 I got 2 bottles!

It smells amazing , contains no parabens or bad stuff and the bottle itself is made from 50% recycled material and can in turn be recycled. What more could you want! Try it - you won't be disappointed.

Well, as the title of this post implies, I have indeed made 'much ado' about almost nothing - I have been away from proper regular blogging for a while and I really am finding it difficult to get back into the swing of things. Hopefully I will get my mojo back soon - there is only so much you can say about bodywash! (it really is seriously good though)

I had a tinker with the header on the blog today - I know it looks crap but I don't have the mental capacity to change it at the moment. I also tried the same header on my Etsy shop - what a disaster!!! Will have to sort it out another day as I have no idea what I am doing.

 

Comments

[Valerie Rickis]

I like your header!!! I enjoy tinkering with graphics so if I can be of any help let me know. We need to meet up again, give me a shout when you are back up Vx

[Rebecca]

That body wash sounds good...will have to try it!!Am a sucker for anything that smells good. Nice for a change of scenery down in stratford. hope your having fun!

[Bella Bheag]

I'd love to leave a comment about your new header - but I don't see it on my machine! Is it me or have you done something magical with it - like make it disappear? Glad you're getting out and about. Know what you mean about blogging - I'm a blogging disgrace these days! Will check out your recommendation, sounds like a treat.

[caireen]

I like the new header - it's more connected to what you do... Oh ENJOY your holiday - it looks lovely and SO different to Scotland - have a nice time x

[julie whitmore]

Such fantastic pictures of Staford and the buildings. I really enjoyed my tour and thank you! Like your work very much.