Vintage Stratford & Saturday's Fair

The Fair's First Visit To Stratford

The Stratford Vintage Fair is taking place on Saturday, our home for day will be the Town Hall which is situated on the corner of Sheep Street and the High Street. The Town Hall is the building in the foreground on the left hand side of the picture.

The High Street In Bygone Stratford

I cannot remember where we found a little book called Shakespeare-Land although I like to imagine that it was on a summer's day several years ago when we visited Charlecote Park and stumbled across a tiny second-hand book store where the cold stone walls provided welcome respite from the heat outside. It is thought that the 'Bard of Avon' was arrested for steeling deer from the park at Charlecote.

Anne Hathaway's Cottage

The book was published in the 1940s and contains some lovely colour plates and I used a picture of the High Street showing the Garrick Inn on the poster for the fair. The style of the watercolours is very much 'of their time' and depicts places of particular interest to anyone treading the Shakespeare trail.  Anne Hathaway was married to Shakespeare and her childhood home can be found on Cottage Lane.

Shakespeare's Birthplace On Henley Street

Henley Street is a short walk away from the Town Hall and it is here that Shakespeare was born, the house is very pretty and has a rose garden which looks lovely in June. Shakespeare's father became Mayor of Stratford and William attended the local grammar school.

Mary Arden's House

Mary Arden was Shakespeare's mother and she lived a couple of miles from Stratford in a village called Wilmcote.  

The Shakespeare Memorial Theatre

The Shakespeare Memorial Theatre opened in 1932 and sits beside the River Avon. Just over half of the funds raised for it's construction came from America.

Holy Trinity Church

Shakespeare is buried in Holy Trinity Church which is situated on Old Town and it is probably the most visited parish church in England.

The Guild Chapel

Shakespeare's England can be found by visiting these places and in a similar way one finds a way to connect to the past through 'vintage'. How nice it is that everyday things from a bygone time have the chance to become cherished again.

Stratford Town Hall 2013

This is the Town Hall on a rainy winter's day. Reassuringly the dark coloured noticeboard hanging on the wall behind the lamp-post can be seen in the vintage picture of the High Street painted seventy years earlier.