{"id":13676,"date":"2025-10-26T09:10:02","date_gmt":"2025-10-26T09:10:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hweb.uk\/?p=13676"},"modified":"2026-01-27T12:28:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T12:28:11","slug":"cotswolds-day-4-shakespeares-birthplace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hweb.uk\/?p=13676","title":{"rendered":"Cotswolds – Day 4: Shakespeare’s Birthplace"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Gained an hour’s sleep overnight as the clocks went back and surprised at how long we slept in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Callum emerged just before 9.30am and we set off to Stratford shortly afterwards, just a 30 mins drive away. We had planned where to park but took a wrong turn and ended up somewhere else. All the car parks in this are very old with very narrow slopes and spaces – Jon just loves these car parks! It turned out we were a stones throw away from Shakespeare’s house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Before exploring, we stopped at Bensons <\/a><\/strong>for breakfast. Bacon and egg \/ Sausage and egg sandwiches and a hot drink.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Before exploring, we stopped at Bensons <\/a><\/strong>for breakfast. Bacon and egg \/ Sausage and egg sandwiches and a hot drink.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were ready to explore. First stop was Shakespeare’s Birthplace<\/a><\/strong>. Shakespeare’s house still stood in town – a lovely old tudor building – however, it was hard to comprehend why the planners had allowed such a modern monstrosity to be built right next door. It looked very out of place and it turned out this building is the entrance to Shakespeare’s House. We bought tickets to explore his first house. “New Place” – where the house he bought when he married once stood, next door to the church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A small museum housed a couple or artifacts from around the time of Shakespeare, but the most interesting thing was the house itself. Shakespeare’s father, John, was an affluent glove maker, tanner and wool dealer. For a number of years he played a prominent role in the town. He served on the town council and was elected bailiff (mayor).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The house was representative of the time when Shakespeare was born – this house was his birthplace. The kitchen was set out as per the time – a large fireplace and the table set up for entertaining. In the room next door, was John’s workshop. He was a glovemaker by trade and would have sold his gloves through the window straight onto the high street. His stock room was upstairs. John would have had apprentices working with him – they would not have been paid, but received free board and lodgings. The little room in the attic would have been where they all lived.<\/p>\n\n\n

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