Hello everyone! 🙋

So today I got back from what has been a glorious mini-break in Stratford-upon-Avon. I had the most wonderful time there and I’m really quite gutted that I’m not there anymore.

I did a fair amount of the tourist-y sightseeing but I didn’t do too much of it for a number of reasons:

1. I need an excuse to go back another time
2. There is so much to see, I didn’t want to exhaust myself even more by trying to see it all in one go – the whole point was to get some rest and relaxation!
3. The weather was so beautiful that actually I was over the moon to just sit in the sun and read my book.
4. It is hard work pushing myself around everywhere and I could actually only go so far before my arms felt like they were going to fall off or my hands were going to blister (I should have been wearing my wheelchair gloves but they didn’t go with my outfit 🙊)

I really have been so impressed with how accessible the town is given how old it is! Which is great because it means I know I can come back and I won’t encounter too many difficulties.

There are a few hilly spots here and there but nothing that was any more difficult to navigate than what I have to deal with at home. Everything has been paved really well there are no outdated cobbles or foot high pavements without a dropped kerb in sight everything was so flat and smooth and I really didn’t have any trouble at all in getting around. The RSC theatres are completely accessible and the staff are incredibly helpful. Even when I went to look at the house that Shakespeare was born in I could still get around easily which I really wasn’t expecting given that it’s a restored 16^th century house. There were staff in every room to help guide me which was reassuring even if I didn’t need any help at the time and as I couldn’t make up the stairs to see the bedrooms they radioed to reception and produced an iPad with loads of pictures on there of all the rooms upstairs which was almost even better as I didn’t have to deal with all the other people that were looking around and blocking the way and trying to get through the small rooms. It was ideal really.

The streets did get really busy at times but there was a massive food festival that was taking place so I wasn’t surprised and the food I had was really delicious so I really didn’t mind.

I’ve never really got it when people said that they’ve fallen in love with a place before but I have well and truly fallen in love with this place.

Now ‘once more unto the breach, dear friends’ – it’s back to work tomorrow…