Sixth Form Literature Group Travels to Stratford
By Harry Harding
Year Thirteen
We left Faro airport for Birmingham on the 28th April, a Saturday. Everyone turned up eventually: Charley Waite, Christina Campbell, Andrew Adamson, Holly Bailey, Stephanie Homersham, Mrs. Holland and myself.
As we left the airport in Birmingham the weather was perfect. It was even better than back in Portugal. On the first day we just settled in. We were staying at a wonderful bed and breakfast called Chadwyn’s Guesthouse. There were three to a room; three girls in one, and three boys to the other. Mrs. Holland had a room to herself. For dinner everyone split up and did their own thing. Andrew and I learnt many things about the locals on the first night.
On Sunday we visited Nash’s House. It was one of the three houses owned by Shakespeare that we had planned to visit. There were so many it was quite confusing at times. At the end of visiting the house, we walked out the back and into the Great Gardens. They were beautiful and very relaxing to stay in. Andrew often took a nice nap there after a busy day.
The third day, Monday, was the most memorable. We visited the remaining houses, one of which was Shakespeare’s birthplace and it had a fascinating museum inside. Just as the previous, this house also led to a garden. It seems to be a recurring theme in Stratford, lovely gardens. In the evening we went to watch Shakespeare’s “King Lear”. The purpose of the trip was to help the literature students with the study of King Lear, but despite this the play was very good. Sir Ian McKellen was very convincing as King Lear as he played the role very dramatically.
Tuesday was a sad day. We had to leave. We took advantage of our last few hours to either go shopping or take boat trips on the river Avon. Charley and I bought a couple of ukuleles to entertain people on the plane. We arrived in Portugal quite late. I think everyone had a great time in Stratford, and not only was it fun, it was educational.
