Part 5 Innocents abroad: Shakespeare’s birthplace

Follow the travel diary of Val and Rosney (The Man) as they travel to the UK via Vancouver one way and San Francisco on the return trip. The self-drive ‘innocents abroad’ expedition was planned in celebration of The Man’s 70th birthday to walk in the footsteps of their ancestors.

Next morning after breakfasting with a couple from Bristol, we set off for Flore where The Man’s great-great-grandparents were married. Found the church easily, situated in very pretty village with tiny narrow streets – the houses were lovely and I figure it for an upmarket place to live. It’s hard to explain, but there is something quite spiritual about going back to places where your ancestors once lived, finding out where you came from, somehow gives your life a meaning.

Long Buckley was next on our family tree visiting list, where we needed a pee, but found the town’s toilets firmly locked, so had to walk around with legs crossed (as if we weren’t strange enough already). Fortunately, we came across a man who had come out of St Lawrence Church to take his daughter to use the loo at the next door school. He had a key and he let us use the loo also, for which we were very grateful. We found the United Baptist Church we were looking for, but as there was more than one in the district, it was all a bit vague, so it was on to Newham and St Michaels of All Angels where The Man’s great-great and maybe great-great-great grandparents are buried. A very old picturesque church and graveyard, complete with some big randy bull roaring in the background. The gravestones were difficult to read, some totally indecipherable, but we did find Edwin Bird and his wife Annie and said hello to them.

Nice to know The Man’s history started in such a charming place.

We had planned to have lunch in the Newham Pub. But there was a sign outside which read: ‘Sorry – No Food Today.’ So we ate some sticky buns which I was saving for some starving feathery-bird-life, which turned out to be us. Badby was the next stop, this is where the Maltsters Arms is (a pub that was on my possible ‘stay’ list but was under receivership at the time). A nice job has been done on repainting, and it was pleasant place to stop and have a quiet beer. Back in Daventry we had a real cup of coffee in a real cup (sick to death of these paper-cup-jobs) and I came across a cute-trendy shop and bought some take-home gear for the grandee girls. Found some grub at the supermarket that we could eat without knives and fork etc. (goats cheese and crackers for me, followed by bread and butter pudding) and headed back to our accommodation only to find a family gathering still in full swing, (saying goodbye to a family member who was off to live in Australia) found some twit had scoffed all our beers from the shared fridge, so The Man stole some of theirs!

Comments: Saw a dead badger on the side of the road (sniffle).

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The navigational pow-wow must have worked as we had a good straight run to Stratford on Avon (birthplace of Shakespear). Checked into our accommodation at Applegarth’s which we found to be very pleasant/comfy, that is after negotiating a narrow staircase to our room. Also checked our emails to discover that the Warriors are out of the NRL finals, blast! The day is cloudy with a few showers, but it’s a delight walking around Stratford whatever the weather, admiring the old-as buildings, quaint bustling streets, and yes, the place is full of tourists, and I can understand why, it’s a true old English town that is a ‘must’ to feature in all the tourist brochures. As Shakespeare’s very own town, the bard naturally draws in the crowds and his old-world home must be busier than ever it was in his day, if his ghost is hanging around his pad it sure don’t get much peace.

Stopped to have my hair cut along the way, as it was driving me loopy, turned out to be twenty pounds for the cut, then they wanted another fifteen pounds if I wanted it dried, well, I figured that was a bit steep, so this skinflint kiwi wandered around with wet hair! However, this was the cheapest hair-cut prices I’d come across with the most expensive in London’s Sloan Ranger Salon at three hundred and twenty-five pounds!

Back to Stratford, and along the way we had two ‘good’ cups of coffee and a yum cheesy lunch – and no, I’m not worrying about my cholesterol, that’s my doctor’s job when I make it back home! We took note of a charmingly old pub close to our bed-and breakfast to eat out at tonight, we plan to wander down there after putting our feet up for a wee time (that was, after what turned out to be six hours of solid exploring).

However, there was embarrassment when we arrived back at Applegarth’s to find we had popped our gear in the wrong bedroom, we were supposed to be in room 6, and we had moved into room 9 – they had sorted it out for us while we were gallivanting, so we were now in our correct room. Told the nice lady ‘twas because we were from the other side of the world and things are upside down.

After a solid night’s sleep, had a navigational pow-wow over breakfast then further instructions from the helpful lady at the checkout desk . . . next stop Chester via Hope Bagot where the Downes side of my family originated from (Downes was my maiden name) (2010).

 

To be continued….

 

By Val Bird

Read more of Val and The Man’s adventures here.