Saturday in Stratford

After spending the morning on WRAP year end I went into town to meet Ann out of Blue Cross.  I took a look at the new Chinese pavilion in The Firs Gardens which opened yesterday. Known as Peony Pavilion, a play written by Tang Xianzu who lived at a similar time to Shakespeare, 1550-1616, Will being born in 1564 and died in 1616.  The inscription stone is in Chinese though there is a translated stone on the other side.

This weekend Stratford celebrates Shakespeare's birthday.  The town centre is closed to traffic, flags are hoisted along Bridge Street and Henley Street, there is a market and living statue competition on Waterside and this morning was a parade of dignitaries, plus others; as a charity we were invited to take part in the parade, at a cost, we considered the money could be spent on more worthy causes.

We came home via Hall's Croft, the Shakespeare property where his daughter and husband, Dr Hall lived.  The Shakespeare properties are free entry to residents this weekend although the garden was open to all.  I've added an outside shot of the building showing the wonderful display of Wysteria.