More Shakespeare, then Bath...

..all in one day!

After another lovely cooked breakfast, we packed our bags and drove north to Ann Hathaway's cottage (this photo) Ann Hathaway was William Shakespeare's wife, and this is where she was born and grew up, one of 8 sisters, all whom survived to adulthood. Ann was 26 when she married the 18 year old William. She had their first child 6 months later - this was quite normal and not scandalous! What was scandalous was their age gap, as the appropriate age for men to marry was closer to 28 than 18.

It was cold, wet and windy so we only had a quick walk around the grounds, but we did remember them from our visit many years ago when the children were small. Then we drove to Mary Arden's Tudor Farm. We hadn't been before, and is a place you coukd spend a day at, if the weather was nice. I stroked an adorable lamb, who ran over and pushed his little face in to my hand like a cat does, and continued to nudge me so that i scrsthed his thick woolly back. I could have smuggled him away with me! Is it too late in life to try and get that smallholding we always dreamt of? Probably, unless we want to move to Scotland!

At midday, we headed south and after a lunch stop (More of Thursday's picnic) we arrived in Bath at 3.30pm. We are in a tall guesthouse, about 10 minutes walk into the city. Our bedroom is at the top of the 3 story building and our view is out towards the city. It's lovely.

We took a late walk to explore. Walked up and down, crossed the famous Pulteney Bridge, located the Roman baths, dodged the showers and bought (another) allotment book in Oxfam!

Not feeling too hungry we bought a Tesco meal deal plus a gin and tonic in a can and a bottle of beer! Enjoyed relaxing this evening, just watching tv!

Our first impressions of Bath are how beautiful the buildings are. It feels very French. Looking forward to our 2 days exploring!

p.s. We both absolutely loved the play last night. Looks like we might do a bit more Shakespeare!