Stratford-upon-Avon

As I mentioned in my last post, we had a little trip away back in November. I last visited Stratford-upon-Avon when I was at school, so it was over forty years since my last visit. I'd been wanting to go back, though I have to say that I could remember hardly a thing from my school trip.

We stayed in a lovely hotel right in the centre of town. A very nice cooked breakfast was included, and we ate in the restaurant on our first night too. There was a good choice on the menu, we opted for fish and chips, beer battered haddock with triple-cooked chips.

Stratford-upon-Avon is the birthplace of William Shakespeare and the town attracts tourists because of this. There's many places associated with Shakespeare which you can visit, and there's different statues dotted around the town too.

We arrived during the morning so we had plenty of time on our hands on our first day. We decided we'd visit Shakespeare's Birthplace on Henley Street, which was just a five minute walk from our hotel.

Shakespeare's exact date of birth is not known, but he was born sometime during April 1564. He was born and grew up in this house, and spent the first five years of his marriage to Anne Hathaway here too.

John Shakespeare, William's father, lived and worked as a glovemaker in the house for fifty years. It was the largest house on Henley Street.

There are some beautiful buildings in Stratford-upon-Avon. This is Shakespeare's Schoolroom & Guildhall. This is where Shakespeare went to school in the 1570s. We didn't go inside, but what an amazing building. It was very cold on that first day but it was nice to just wander around the town, the architecture is fantastic, so many structures from the Tudor period still standing.

On our second day, we visited Anne Hathaway's Cottage. It wasn't quite as cold as the day before, though there was still frost on the ground.

Anne was Shakespeare's wife and she was born here in 1556. The house was built in 1463 and thirteen generations of the Hathaway family have lived here.

After visiting Anne Hathaway's Cottage, we made our way down to the waterside. The Stratford-upon-Avon Canal runs for twenty five miles to Birmingham. It shows thirty miles to Birmingham on the signpost because it's connected to the Grand Union Canal at Kingswood Junction.

As its name suggests, the town is situated on the River Avon and it connects with the canal in the centre of town. There were no boats for hire, or cruises, on this chilly day but we did take a walk along the river.

The Royal Shakespeare Theatre is situated alongside the River Avon. Our trip was a last minute thing so we didn't have theatre tickets. I went to see Hamlet the last time I was in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Also around this area is the Gower Memorial. The statue, sculpted by Lord Ronald Gower, was given to the town in 1888. There are four figures around the base depicting Shakespearian characters. Here we see Falstaff, there's also Hamlet, Lady Macbeth and Prince Hal.

If you look back at the photo of the river, you can see the steeple of Holy Trinity Church. This is where Shakespeare was baptised, worshipped and is buried. Unfortunately, we didn't realise but the church is only open on a weekend so we couldn't look inside. The walkway looked so poignant though, the tree trunks adorned in poppies for Remembrance Day.

The following day dawned wet and grey, the rain hitting the window had woken us in the night and it was still raining on and off. It was the day we were leaving for home, I'm glad we'd booked the dates we had, it may have been chilly but at least it had been dry. There was a market right outside the hotel so we had a wander around that, and then had a little mooch around the shops in the town before deciding to go back to the church as it was a Saturday and therefore, we would be able to go inside. It was a lovely church but we didn't bother paying the £10 it would have cost for us both to see William Shakespeare's grave.  I don't think we'd have seen very much anyway, can you see the huge crowd in the chancel. Perhaps it's just me but I think it's in bad taste to charge to look at a grave.

We had a very enjoyable time. There's so much to see and do in Stratford-upon-Avon, I'm sure it's even nicer during the summertime. Perhaps I won't leave it forty years until I return again.

November 2025

The beautiful colours of autumn have now faded as most of the trees stand bare, there's just a few leaves still clinging on here at the end of November. The month started off rather mild but the cold weather has arrived bringing with it a sprinkling of snow on the 19th, and there's no doubt that we're now crossing over into winter. 

We've still had some enjoyable days out. We visited a fabulous Christmas fair at Harewood House, there were about 160 stalls in total, and for the £3 admission you could explore the wonderful grounds of the estate too. We had a day out in Masham, visited Northallerton, and even had a mini-break away which I'll tell you about in my next post.

It's very rare that we spend a lot of time shopping, for one thing, we just couldn't leave Archie home alone for long periods when he was here, and that feeling of having to hurry up is still with us. We'd pop out for an hour or two but our eyes were always on the clock, we knew Archie would be waiting for us. It's still taking some time to adjust to life without him but one Saturday this month we visited Monks Cross and Clifton Moor Shopping Centres in York. If we go shopping it's usually with a purpose, we're in and out again in no time at all, but this Saturday we took our time and had a really good look round the shops. We didn't get to look in them all but we'd enjoyed it so much that we decided to go back again on the Sunday to look in the ones we'd missed. It was a miserable weekend anyway, wind and rain, so we wouldn't have gone anywhere outdoors, but this was such a novelty for us, it was as good as having a day out, haha. We managed to pick up a couple of Christmas gifts along the way and we had lunch out too.

We had a lovely meal out last week. A local pub restaurant reopened after being refurbished and we were offered half price meals in return for our opinion on the new look and new menu. On arrival we were given vouchers for free drinks too, so it turned out to be a very cheap night out. I like what they've done with the place, it's now split into a room for live sports and a family room where meals are served, the food was very good.

I've read three books this month.

I'd heard such great things about The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah and as Eleanor had bought it for me as part of my Christmas present last year, I thought it was about time I got it read. What can I say, I absolutely loved it. Set in France during World War II, it follows the lives of sisters Isabelle and Vianne. A harrowing tale of what life was like for ordinary people and the hardships they suffered as well as the extraordinary sacrifices they made for others. If you haven't read this book I can thoroughly recommend it.

The Night Hawks is part of the Dr Ruth Galloway series by Elly Griffiths. I can honestly say that these books just get better and better. The stories are fast paced and interesting and they keep you guessing. What I love the most though are the characters, each of them so different and yet they fit together perfectly. This is such a great series.

I loved Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier. A dark tale set on the moors in Cornwall, I wasn't sure it would be for me but it absolutely was. A real page turner, it has suspense and intrigue, and the bleak atmosphere of those lonely moors is created in the wonderful writing. I've read Rebecca but I shall look out for more books by this author.

It was only last month when I was telling you about the lovely warm jumper I'd knit for Jack ready for the winter months. Well, somehow he's managed to pull a hole right in the middle of it, there's a tear on the hem too. Jacob was looking after him at the time and hasn't a clue how it happened, he was just playing with his toys so he must have got it caught on something but we really don't know what. I've tried to mend it the best way I can but it's only really fit for wearing around the house now, it'll still be cosy to put on in this cold weather.

Thank you for all your comments on my post about A Forthcoming Spending Spree. I did indeed purchase a Hotel Chocolat Velvetiser, though I just haven't had the time to try it out yet. A certain little someone is taking up quite a bit of my week just now, but I'm looking forward to getting it out of the box and making myself a delicious hot chocolate. It came with a selection of hot and cold drinks so it will be fun trying those out. We're still considering our other purchases.

I'm very behind with my Christmas shopping this year so I need to get a spurt on. I'm hoping that there'll still be time for some fun things in the lead up to the big day amongst all the preparations. I'm just hoping that I'm well in the month ahead and that I don't succumb to the dreaded lurgy as I did last year.

Restocking The Bookshelf

I don't often buy a whole batch of books all at once but it just happened this way last week.

I like to have a selection of different books waiting to be read so that I can choose what takes my fancy at any given time.

A Nurse's secret is part of The Nightingale series by Donna Douglas. I've read all of the preceding books so as soon as I saw the latest one on offer for 99p on Kindle, I grabbed it.

I don't visit charity shops on a regular basis but I popped into a couple recently and came out with three books. I loved The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and Miss Benson's Beetle, both by Rachel Joyce, so when I saw The Music Shop by the same author I thought I'd give this one a try. I know Judith Kerr from The Tiger Who Came to Tea, but I haven't read the semi-autobiographical novels she wrote about the war. I'm really looking forward to reading this one. I've watched The Handmaid's Tale and the book was on my wish list so when I saw it, I picked it up.

I popped into The Works and saw that they'd got a Black Friday offer on. Instead of three books for £7.50, their usual offer, it was four books for that price. How could I resist? I've read a few Jenny Colgan books in the past, they were okay, I couldn't resist one about knitting though. I haven't read anything by Freida McFadden before but she seems to be a popular author at the moment, the world and his wife seem to be reading her novels, so I thought I'd give one a go. The Trial sounds intriguing so that was put into the basket, and The Librarians of Rue de Picardie is based on a true story which sounds fascinating so that one came home with me too.

After writing the above, I happened to pass the charity shops close to home and couldn't resist popping in, I came home with another three books. Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers was on my list of books to look out for, I'd read some reviews and thought it was something I might like so I'm pleased to have found this. I'm interested to read more from Kristin Hannah after reading The Four Winds earlier this year so I picked up True Colours. I'm curious about Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K Jerome after hearing people mention it, so that came home with me too.

I really didn't need any more books, there are already plenty waiting for me on the bookshelf but I just couldn't resist.

A Forthcoming Spending Spree

Both Mick and I have been thinking of treating ourselves to some small kitchen appliances for a while now so we've been doing a bit of research on the things we're wanting to buy.

First up is a bean-to-cup coffee machine. Mick loves a good cup of coffee and I know this is something he'll get a lot of use out of. It's something that other members of the family will get a lot of use out of too! This is something that Mick is definitely going to buy, it's just a matter of which one. The one above is a Ninja, we went into an independent shop where they gave him a demonstration and he tasted the coffee it made, you don't get that sort of service in chain stores. We've got a Ninja air fryer and we've always been happy with that.

Another contender is this Sage model. He hasn't had a demonstration but he likes the look of this one and it's got all the functions that he wants the machine to have.

Something that I've been considering buying is a Kitchenaid stand mixer, not in the colour above, that's Milkshake. I quite like the Almond Cream or Cast Iron Black, and I prefer the stainless steel mixing bowl rather than the glass. I've always used a hand mixer or good old elbow grease in the past so I'm wondering if I actually need one. I'm still thinking this one over.

I'm definitely going to treat myself to a Hotel Chocolat Velvetiser. I know I don't actually 'need' this but I 'want' it. I always enjoy a nice hot chocolate and this gadget makes delicious hot chocolate, and cold drinks too. So this is going to be a gift to myself. There's some delicious flavours that you can buy so it will be fun trying them all out.

We don't often treat ourselves to 'things', in fact, we're using money which my mum and dad gave us as Christmas gifts, and they died over five years ago. It will be nice to use that money on something we'll actually use. So, has anyone got any experience of the things we're thinking of buying? Any recommendations or things to look out for? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Masham

Yesterday we visited the small market town of Masham in North Yorkshire.

A wonderful array of independent shops are set around a large market square and it's a wonderful place for a day out. Set in rolling countryside, it has links to both Fountains Abbey and Jervaulx Abbey through the sheep trade. An annual sheep fair is still held in Masham to this day.

Masham has held a market charter since 1250 and markets are still held in the market square on Wednesdays and Saturdays. There's a really good array of stalls: fruit & veg, baked goods, clothing, footwear, fabric, jewellery, handicrafts, artwork to name but a few.

One of my favourite shops is The Curious Merchant, listed in House & Garden 50 best independent shops 2025.

Inside is a treasure trove of homewares, French antiques and haberdashery. It's absolutely packed full of so many useful items as well as decorative beauties you just can't resist. It's always a joy to visit.

Right next door is Masham Gallery, another beautiful Georgian building housing a selection of British art and craft. There's lots of treasures to discover here.

If it's art you're interested in then don't miss the sign which directs you to Nolon Stacey's gallery. It's tucked away behind one of the cafes facing the market square and definitely worth visiting. Nolon's artwork depicts native wildlife and beautiful landscapes. He uses pencil and charcoal and I've actually got two pieces of his art on my own walls.

I always love an old fashioned sweet shop and I do try to support independent shops, but sadly, I found the prices in Bah Humbugs extortionate. There's a gift shop across the market square which sells the same sweets at a fraction of the price of those being sold here. I wouldn't grumble for the odd twenty or thirty pence per 100g more, but really, they were almost double the price!

There aren't that many bricks and mortar yarn shops to be found these days so it's wonderful that there's one in Masham. Through the Looking Glass sells not only yarn and knitting notions but supplies for other crafts, such as embroidery and needle felting, too.

We recently watched a TV documentary series called Our Yorkshire Shop in which the community of Masham restored an old grocer's shop to its former Victorian glory. Unfortunately, Peacock & Verity closed down just as soon as it opened as fundraising is continuing to extend the restoration. The aim is to provide a heritage centre, a Post Office counter and four rental flats for local people. Such a worthwhile venture.

Just off the market square is St Mary's Church. Mainly Norman, there were additions in the 16th and 19th centuries. There's archaeological evidence that the site has been used for Christian worship for over 1400 years.

It's a beautiful church and felt very welcoming.

There's lots of side streets and snickets to explore. Can you see what you can find down this one. Yes, a brewery tap.

Masham actually has two breweries. Theakston is an independent, family-run brewery which was established in 1827. The direct descendants of the founder, Robert Theakston, are still in charge today.

I just love this dog hydration station in the beer garden.

Black Sheep Brewery was established in 1992 by Paul Theakston, the Black Sheep of the Theakston family.

Both breweries offer tours and each have their own bar and shop. Quite a few bottles travelled home with us, a good selection from each brewery.

This is just a taste of what Masham has to offer. We've visited many times but it's one of those places you can visit again and again and never get bored with. Such a lovely day out.

October 2025

The highlight of October for me was most definitely my trip to Copenhagen which you can read about in my Wonderful Wonderful Copenhagen post. I would wholeheartedly recommend this city for any short break, or even longer break, we both loved it. The chest infection I ended September with thankfully abated for our trip but unfortunately returned with a vengeance once we returned home and the aftermath left me with a hacking cough. I'm feeling much better but the cough is still ever present.

I also wrote a post about our visit to Fountains Abbey to see Helios, and we've had some other wonderful days out this month too. We've visited the market town of Helmsley many times but we've never been in the castle before so that was something we did this month. The ruins aren't quite as impressive as Fountains Abbey but it's an interesting place with good information and more to see than I expected. We also visited Nunnington Hall, one of our favourite National Trust properties.

I've read three books this month.

No One Saw a Thing by Andrea Mara is about two little girls who jump on the tube ahead of their mum, the doors close and they head off to the next station. By the time their mum catches up with them there's only one child waiting for her, no one saw the second child, she seems to have vanished into thin air. This storyline sounds right up my street but I found the characters unlikeable and one dimensional, the writing wasn't up to par, it felt as though the author was trying to create tension but the cliffhangers were most definitely lacking, and I'd guessed the outcome at the start. Not a book I'd recommend.

I'd seen Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout when looking around Waterstones, I nearly picked it up there and then but decided to order it from the library instead. It was only once I started reading that I discovered the book is part of a series. It was an okay standalone story, not quite what I was expecting really from the blurb, but I think you'd probably get more out of it if you'd read the other books in the series first.

The eleventh book in the Dr Ruth Galloway series by Elly Griffiths is The Lantern Men. I can get through these books quickly, I enjoy them so much. This book finds Ruth with a new job, a new home and a new man, but it isn't long before she's back with Nelson, in more ways than one. Another great read.

Do you watch The Traitors? I've never watched it before but I saw that a celebrity version was being made. I happened to turn the TV on when it had just started, I hadn't planned on watching it, but I noticed some celebrities I knew as opposed to most other celebrity versions of TV shows when you haven't a clue who any of the, so called, celebrities are. There's Jonathan Ross, Stephen Fry, Charlotte Church, Claire Balding, to name just a few. Of course, there's others who I don't know, but I started watching. Half way through I told Mick that I didn't know if it was for me, but I continued to watch and I really got into it. I've enjoyed this so much that I thought I'd give the very first series a go but it just wasn't the same and I won't continue to watch. I am looking forward to the final of this celebrity version though which is being shown next week.

I've managed to get a couple of woollies finished for Jack, a jumper and a cardigan. I actually knit both in larger sizes so that they'll last him throughout winter, they're a little big on him at the moment but he'll grow into them. I've used both patterns before, the Baby Aosta Cardigan by The Knit Purl Girl is my go to pattern now for babies and this one is the eighth I've knit for various babies. This is the second Marienlyst Sweater by Guri Pedersen that I've knit, the first was in a size 3-6 month for Jack and he's worn it and worn it so I hope this one gets as much use. I love this sage green colour.

I had a lovely surprise when I watched the Franny Do Makes podcast, I'd won a prize in the Spring Shawlathon. I'd cast on the Vertices Unite by Stephen West, and though I still haven't finished the shawl, I will do eventually. It's such a lovely pattern. Fran who hosts the podcast lives very close to where I live, walking distance in fact, so we decided to meet up so that she could give me my prize. We went for a coffee (tea for me) earlier this month and we enjoyed a nice chat. The prize was a gorgeous sock set from Bellica Yarns, such a pretty colour. There was a project bag from Hannah's Happy Space, a yarn carrier and also some project cards which Fran sells in her Ko-fi shop. A wonderful prize.

Today is Halloween so I thought I'd show you my own little Halloween pumpkin. Eleanor and Jacob had taken him pumpkin picking and he had a whale of a time pushing the wheelbarrow, climbing on the tractor and generally running amok! I knit one of these hats for him last year, it's the Sweet Pumpkin by Drops Design. Obviously, he'd grown out of that one so I knit him another to wear this year, the same pattern. While they were there, the mum of a baby of a similar age to Jack asked Eleanor where she'd got the hat from, when she told her that I'd made it she said it was the best pumpkin hat she'd seen. That made my day!

You can see the hat a little better in this photo. Jack had just fallen in the mud!

It's hard to believe that there's only two months left of the year, time is passing by so quickly. The clocks have gone back now and the evenings are so much darker. I usually hold off putting the heating on for as long as I can but having Jack here at 7am some days means it's been put on earlier than usual this year. Winter is definitely not my favourite time of year but we've got Christmas to look forward to yet so that's keeping me going for the time being.