The blacksmith on the farm made all of these things.
The axe laying on the stumps was also made by the blacksmith. He forged the Steele and also made the handle.
He was in the process of shaving a piece of wood to work with.
She's milking the cow while her "master" as she refers to him explains to the crowd the need to milk cows ands also the difference between milkmaids and dairymaids. Most of the crowd was made up of small children on a field trip.
The property there is also the original building. It's very pretty, spacious, smells of smoke on the inside, and is also quite flammable.
The master bedroom and dining room were shared together in this house on the first floor.
This seemed like a washroom/kitchen area.
This fireplace was so grand and wonderful in the dining room area.
These were other bedrooms upstairs to show that dependent upon the family's income would also depend on what the children's beds would most likely look like. These rooms were upstairs.
I love the dresser . All of the furniture is hand crafted and in wonderful condition.
This is where the children would learn to read the Bible and write . This was also upstairs.
There were also examples of the types of games that people might play.
They made the games much larger so that several people could participate at once.
There were several birds wondering around the farm. This turkey liked to strut and show off his feathers around the farm.
After leaving the farm we got back on the bus and rode for another 30 minutes to the main town of Stratford. When we go there we were given a guided walking tour along with several suggestions on places that we should go on our free time. There was also Poundland there :^> I know this may not seem like a big deal, but after spending so much time in London where everything is expensive, and we're all on budgets it was a blessing. It's basically the pound's version of Dollar Tree. Everything is pound. I kind of went overboard and immediately went and bought my groceries for the remainder of my trip there plus some souvenirs. In London it would have been close to 45-50 pounds, but at Poundland, it was only 13 pounds.
As we continued our tour, we came across a park that have various Shakespeare performances on the weekends, and is open to whomever else wants to perform a scene or recite a poem. Our professor volunteered to recite Shakespeare's sonnet 130:
Coral is far more red, than her lips red:
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound:
I grant I never saw a goddess go,
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
And yet by heaven, I think my love as rare,
As any she belied with false compare.
The Sonnet first discusses how his mistress is not a typical beauty. She's rather average and maybe even less than average looking. All of that is ok, because he loves her for who she is. She is reality and not a made up fantasy. It's because of her flaws and his affections for her despite them that he knows that his love is real and lasting.
We also went to the Church that William Shakespeare attended and where he is buried. We paid 50 pence to go and see his grave cite:
This is where e was baptized.
The white arrow shows his Father's signature on the date of the baptism.
After leaving the church, we went to the birthplace of William Shakespeare. It has now become more like a shrine to is work. Here are some pictures:
There was a beautiful garden.
They had a massive version of this displayed on a wall and I took pictures of the two plays that we were seeing in England, as well as my favorites.
They had two performers in the garden performing a scene from A Comedy of Errors. It's one of my favorite plays, and my favorite scene from the play. This is the link where you can read act III scene II: http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/views/plays/play_view.php?WorkID=comedyerrors&Act=3&Scene=2&Scope=scene
To give you some context. There are two twin bothers who both live on separate islands, and on the same day decide to go visit each other. They are constantly mistaken for the other brother and the whole day is a massive concussion. Antipholus of Syracuse has just seen his brother's wife who has mistaken him for his brother. He is now confessing his thoughts of his sister-in-law to her sister, who also think that he is his brother.
After we left, we were allowed to go around the town until the bus showed up to take us to the hostel that we would be staying in. It was a youth hostel. Over all it was ok, but I'm not quite sure that the laundry was done before our arrival, and it made me rather uneasy about sleeping. There were clumps and strands of hair in everyone's linen, one girl had a brown stain that looked like makeup on her fitted sheet, while I had a freshly smeared booger on my fitted sheet. I slept without the fitted sheet and used the duvet cover instead. Luckily I brought my own blanket so it was one less thing for me to worry about.
After making our beds and unpacking we all got ready to go see part 2 of Henry IV. Here is a picture of the playhouse:
I read part 1 last quarter in Dr. Lewis' Shakespeare class, but I still had no idea what was happening in the play. I can read and watch Shakespeare with ease usually, but we were seated on stage right of a theatre that was meant to be used I the round, but the actors only ever faced front. It made it difficult to hear what they were saying. It also seemed as if they were mumbling at times. I wasn't too much of a fan from what I saw and kind of gathered. After the performance we all went back to the hostel. That concludes the day.
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