The Aardvark Blog

A couple of days in Stratford upon Avon
18/05/2025

A couple of days away in Stratford upon Avon made me realise just how cut off from the mainstream of British life we are in the mid-Marches. Recently Ethel attended a tourism meeting at which the Nabobs of our local tourism bodies bemoaned the area's lack of a killer draw that would bring tourists from far and wide.

Having just been to Stratford I can appreciate their point, but on the other hand it is quite nice to have the kind of hand knitted tourism we get here where there is time to talk to visitors and get their stories, and every third vape shop isn't named after the Bard.

We had a fantastic lunch in the rooftop restaurant at the RSC - heartily recommend to any-one who finds themselves in the area - and stayed in an achingly trendy apartment decorated by a young lighting entrepeneur. A really well appointed holiday flat, but I am too old fashioned to truly get the point of painting bedroom walls dark red and dark grey.

In the RSC shop I was pleased to see copies of the brilliant anniversary facsimile of the First Folio produced by the British Library, of which we have sold many copies in the last year or so. A truly wonderful production that reflects well on the publisher and is an appropriate memorial for the publication itself. Speaking of the First Folio, the RSC shop had copies of the recent paperback edition of 'Shakespeare's Book' by Chris Laoutaris. Just click the link to buy from Bookshop.org. We heard Professor Laoutaris talking about his book at Hay Festival a few years ago and it remains one of the most compelling non-fiction titles to have been published in the last few years.

On the subject of mass visitors it is only 7 days until our second May car boot on the 25th of the month. The Cottage Herbery are back with lots of plants to jazz up your garden ahead of summer, and Norrie Davies will be again playing her historic French piano accordion to get you in the mood for summer holidays to come.