Friday 4 July 2025: Short break in Stratford

On Thursday we were up bright and early and on our way to Stratford-upon-Avon. Some people I’d worked with 30 years ago were having a reunion, and they invited us to go along. We’d ummed and ahhed about going in the campervan, and the host this year kindly offered us the use of their drive. But we decided to get a hotel this time, as we needed the independence and convenience of a car that would be parked in the city centre. 

We’d booked and paid for an early check-in and we arrived in time to check-in and get changed before going off to meet the others. We stayed at a Premier Inn this time, and it seems worlds away from others we’ve stayed in. For a start, we were upgraded on arrival to a room on the same floor as Reception, so we didn’t have to negotiate a flight of stairs, and the staff were lovely. Nothing was too much trouble, and we didn’t feel as though we were a nuisance at all.

Our hotel was within walking distance of everything, and we walked down to the river to meet my former co-workers and their partners at the boat yard. There were 11 of us, and once I’d introduced the poet to everyone and said hello, it honestly felt as though I only saw them last week. We fell into our former camaraderie instantly. Our former boss had hand-picked the team when we all worked for him and we all worked really well together back then, so I suppose it was natural that we’d slip back into things so easily.

The river cruise lasted just under an hour and we went to have a cup of tea/coffee while we all continued our natters. Then we went back to the hotel to collect the car and our contributions to the evening’s food. Our host lives just outside the centre of Stratford and we all reconvened on his patio while he and his wife sorted out the food and drink.

Despite the heat, we had a lovely time and everyone was just as nice as they always were. But the poet and I were the first to leave, at about 9:30pm. We had another full day ahead of us and wanted to get back to the hotel in good time.

The bed was the best bed I’ve experienced in a Premier Inn in a long time, and certainly lived up to their claims. Maybe we just dropped unlucky on the couple of times I went with the poet, and maybe he’ll choose a different hotel next time I go with him. We had a good night’s sleep but we had to have our breakfast at 9am, instead of 12 noon, as we’d paid for it and couldn’t really expect them to fit in with our 16:8 regime.

We spent half a day shopping and seeing the sights, and half a day in our room, having bought a sandwich to eat for our dinner. Then we went out for our tea and we arrived at the Swan Theatre at about 7pm. The Constant Wife started bang on 7:30pm, and it was absolutely brilliant. 

The writing, the acting, the delivery, the costumes, the set, the production, the presentation, the acoustics. It was funny, it was entertaining, it was interesting. Everything was a different class.

The cast included Rose Leslie (Game of Thrones, The Good Fight, Downton Abbey), Kate Burton (Grey’s Anatomy, Charmed, Scandal), and Luke Norris (Poldark), but we hadn’t realised that Kate Burton was Richard Burton’s daughter. 

We came home Saturday morning, after another early breakfast, but as soon as we’d unpacked the car, we had to go out again and do the weekly shopping. We had nothing in, and Daughter-in-Law #2 was bringing grand-doggy #1 over for a week’s visit. They came at tea time, but she didn’t stay long as she had a lot to do and Son #2 was walking up mountains in Wales, so she was on her own to do it all.

We took the dog for an evening walk before bedtime on Saturday, and went out on Sunday for a 2-mile walk around our local reservoir. The dog’s a bit of a puller on the lead, so we thought we’d treat him to a nice new harness to see if he walked better on that. He did, and he looked very handsome. 

As ever, I have a busy week ahead, and already I’m behind because I didn’t start today’s blog post until today.