We visited Stratford upon Avon for a midweek stay in late March, early April. We had arrived at the site around lunchtime and checked in at the reception. Our kids, who are pretty outgoing and like talking to new people, were gifted an Easter egg each by the brilliant staff manning the desk. They were very happy!
We had arrived in the sun but with strong winds, making us a bit nervous about putting out our awning this time. Although being given a beautiful pitch by the riverside certainly helped us to get over not being able to use the awning.
We didn’t need the chocks, so we were able to get hooked up to electric and settled in pretty quickly, once we had filled up with water. By this point the kids were getting hungry and we cooked up a big saucepan of soup to dip our bread and crackers into. Then the exploring could begin! The kids sussed out the toilet block, where the washing up could be done and the shower areas. It is a really warm, friendly and lovely site, run expertly by a very organised suite of staff. We also checked out the kids play area (good size, right by the river and very close to the restaurant and bar, lots of flies in the evening dusk!) and saw where the mini golf was. Our kids are a bit too big for the size of the mini golf here, as they love the big courses! But it would be fantastic for some slightly younger kids for sure.
We can get a bit stir crazy sitting down for too long, so although we hadn’t planned to we ended up walking into Stratford town centre that first afternoon. It was around 1.5 miles along a good sized road and we really enjoyed looking at the beautiful array of houses as we went. We wondered how Bramble our dog would get on, as he is nearly 14, but he was a champ!
I’ll list out the brilliant places we visited in Stratford upon Avon with the dog and the two kids below, but we knew we’d enjoy the place as soon as we saw Cox’s Yard pub at the bridge by the river! For starters, it’s in such a great spot on the river and the courtyard was flooded with sunshine (even worth battling the wind for!). But we mostly loved it for the bird watching – it faces a little protected island and watching the battle for territory play out between the geese and the swans is like watching the warring family in Romeo and Juliet come to life! A brilliant place for us to rest the dog, hydrate and appreciate the relaxing sounds of avian animosity.
After a walk along the river to the play ground and playing fields for the kids that first day, we walked back to the touring park and fired up our new BBQ.
Over the next three days, we popped into the town centre each day via a new form of transport/ route. On day 2 we took the river taxi both too and from the centre and it was probably our kids biggest highlight! (Apart from the aforementioned geese). The amazing river taxi driver, Rich, told us some wonderful little facts along the way and it was a great way to see the river bank and all of its activity. On day 3 we caught the X18 bus into town from the other side of the park and walked back along the other side of the river. And finally, on day 4 we scrounged the last of our change together to do one last river taxi trip into town and then walked the scenic route back once more. More detail about what we got up to in the next post!
