A weekend in Stratford-upon-Avon

My absolute BFF just got married. Eeep! Her beautiful wedding is not my story to tell, but picture the most glorious day filled with love, sunshine and the biggest smiles you've ever seen and you're just about getting close.

What I will tell you is how much fun we had in Stratford, where the nuptials were based.

I'm averagely keen on celebrating anniversaries. And when I say averagely keen, I mean obsessive. You might have already guessed that from my ramblings here, here and here. Which means it didn't take long to figure out that my husband and I turned eight just before the wedding.

So we got down to Stratford a couple of days early to toast our own mini milestone.

We arrived in the midst of a spring heatwave and made our way down to the river. Swans glided along the water, couples serenaded each other on boats and I became convinced that a barge sold both sushi and ice cream until husb revealed that I'd actually misread the word 'slush'. Which was a relief because who wants to buy a 99 with a flake and sushi from the same establishment?

Anyway, we meandered along the water's edge and saw many pretty things...

We cooed over blossom because we really really like blossom.

And found where Shakespeare is buried.

A word on Shakey P. Stratford is the place to be if you're keen on this guy. You can go and see his gaff, take an open-top bus trip, find out what would have happened if Shakespeare had been a wizard (true story) or see a play at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. The latter gets my vote - it's a spectacular building and you can eat overlooking the river before immersing yourself in a performance.

However, it wasn't our first time at the rodeo so we did none of the above. Instead we decided upon something else typically Stratfordian. We went for Thai food.

We chose the Giggling Squid because lols at the name and feasted on tempura veg, pork skewers, scallops, noodles and fish curry until we could not move.

The next morning we woke up at our hotel and went for a run, heading back down to the water because sweet baby jesus it is pretty. Stratford's only little so we were out of town and running alongside fields in no time.

We got back, breakfasted and headed back out for yet more coffee and some friend-making.

Saturday was wedding day. As I said, perfect.

And by Sunday, we rolled our sleepy heads out of bed for one last languid breakfast before pottering off to say goodbye to Stratters. 

Which meant that we absolutely had to pay 50p to get on the ferry between one side of the river and the other. A tiny ferry! What's not to love?

A very happy end to the loveliest of weekends.