Stratford upon Avon (a gathering of Payne’s)



Wow - that was a full on weekend – the first time my parents have had their sons and daughter together for about five years.  We don't get together very often but the main thing is that when we do get together we get on really well and have a good time. 

We were getting together because my sister in law, Liz, was performing on the Sunday.  She is in the Linlithgow players and they had been invited to perform their take on Twelfth Night at the RSC open air theatre, The Dell.  This was a big event for Liz and the family as she was also the producer.  

It rained all day on Friday so we didn’t do a lot other than take Buddy out for a couple of walks.

At one point we visited the open air theatre and Buddy and I gave a quick performance of our own.

In the evening we entertained the family.


Saturday was a glorious day that brought the tourists out in force.  There is a chain ferry just down from where we are moored that takes you across the river to The Dell.  The ferry purports to be the last chain ferry in England but I can’t really believe that is true.


We had a brief look at The Gloucester Youth players who were putting on a performance in The Dell.


And then went for a walk with Judith and Nigel to find some butterflies.  Here is one of the Speckled Woods we saw.

And this is a Holly Blue.


Ted (Liz’s son) and I had a good chat as we walked along the canal.

We went out for an early dinner with my parents and then everyone descended back on the boat to finish off the evening.  We remained moored on the River Avon opposite the RSC all weekend.

On Sunday most of the family came and joined us on the boat and watched the annual raft race.  The first few through were experts and completed the 7 1/2 mile course in about 40 minutes.


Most of them were fun teams taking between three and six hours!



We all went to see Liz's production of her version of Twelfth Night which was good fun. 


As it was raining we all spent the rest of the afternoon on the boat and in the evening Karen and I took Buddy for a relaxing pint.






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