Among the 500+ posts on this blog is one from July 2019 entitled Cheltenham: The Hotel du Vin and Brian Jones. There is a little about Cheltenham, but mostly
it is a review of our dinner at the Hotel du Vin. This post was intended to
redress the balance and be more about Stratford and less a restaurant review. It
has partially achieved that aim.
A Valentine's Day Visit to the Midland's Tourist Honeypot
Introducing Stratford
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| Warwickshire |
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| Stratford-upon-Avon in the southeast corner of the English West Midlands |
Stratford’s most important citizen died over 400 years ago, but he can still be seen around in statue form; this one is in Henley Street,
near his birthplace. The work of James Butler it arrived as part of the 2020 redevelopment.
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| Lynne and William Shakespeare, Henley Street, Stratford-upon-Avon |
Stratford on Valentine’s Day
And is a Valentine’s Day visit to Stratford a romantic gesture? Yes, and indeed, no.
In summer, the town is just too full of tourists, in February all the fine old buildings are still there and unobscured by crowds.
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| Stratford has plenty of old buildings |
But February in England is typically cool and damp and Valentine’s Day is not exempt. Cool and damp are not the adjectives of romance - and most of the tourist attractions are closed.
We knew this and a did not arrive until lunchtime. If we lived further away we would have set out earlier to make a day of it, but Stratford
is 70 miles from home (a little to the west of Stoke-on-Trent in the map above)
and we feel we can go there any time - though we rarely do - so why make the big
effort when little is open?
Shakespeare’s Birthplace
Despite the (waning) effect of Covid and (predictable) effect of the season, Shakespeare’s birthplace was open.
The 16th century timber-frame house now known as 42, Henley Street, was rented and later owned by John Shakespeare, William’s
father, for over fifty years. The street frontage used to be more impressive,
but the building’s original rather grey colouring is being allowed to reassert
itself.
The current entrance is at the back, via the modern exhibition further down the street.
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| Shakespeare's Birthplace, Stratford-upon-Avon |
The substantial garden may well have existed in Shakespeare’s time though used for producing vegetables and accommodating livestock rather than growing flowers.
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| Snowdrops, Shakespeare's birthplace, Stratford-upon-Avon A reminder that even in the depths of winter there is hope. |
Visitors first enter the parlour, where guests would have been entertained. Finding a bed here seems surprising, but beds
were expensive, even to the relatively wealthy upper middle class, and if you
had a best bed, you showed it off – and honoured guests even got to sleep in
it. This puts Shakespeare’s bequest of his ‘second-best bed’ to his wife in
some perspective.
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| Parlour, Shakespeare's Birthplace, Stratford-upon-Avon |
The family and any guests would have dined in the hall where only the head of the household had a proper chair. Food
preparation would have been carried out in a building behind the house which
has not survived.
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| Hall, Shakespeare's Birthplace, Stratford-upon-Avon |
Inevitably no furniture has survived in situ, but although some on show is reproduction, most is of the right age. The hall benches were definitely in use (though elsewhere) in Shakespeare’s time.
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| A bench of some antiquity, Shakespeare's birthplace, Stratford-upon-Avon |
Beyond was John Shakespeare’s workshop. He was a glove maker and leatherworker and built up a successful business. In
1556 he was elected borough ale taster (now there’s a job!) which brought responsibility
for weights and measures and price control. Later he became a constable, then
an alderman and in 1568, when William was four, he was appointed High Bailiff
of Stratford, a position that brought both power and responsibility.
In 1576 he was rich enough to educate his sons and to buy the next two houses in Henley St, combining them into one dwelling – I think that includes the current gift
shop. After that he over-reached himself, becoming
involved in unlicensed wool-trading and money-lending. He lost his position in
society and endured some difficult times.
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| Buttery, Shakespeare's birthplace, Stratford-upon-Avon |
Upstairs was the main bedroom. The mattress was stuffed with hay, goose down mattresses being the preserve of the very wealthy.
The batons sticking up on either side could be removed and were used to beat the mattress
before retiring. This would have some cleaning effect and stop compression and
explains why ‘hitting the hay’ now means ‘going to bed’.
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| Master bedroom, Shakespeare's birthplace, Stratford-upon-Avon |
The children used the next bedroom. John and Mary Shakespeare had eight of whom William was the third, oldest of the five who survived infancy.
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| Children's bedroom, Shakespeare's birthplace, Stratford-upon-Avon |
John left the house to his oldest surviving son at his death in 1601, but William already had a Stratford home and leased out this building as
an inn. It remained in Shakespeare ownership for a couple of generations until
they ran out of heirs - William Shakespeare has no descendants.
The Avon and the Royal Shakespeare Theatre
Leaving the great man’s birthplace, we walked down High St and Sheep St…
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| High Street, Stratford-upon-Avon |
… to the River Avon. The river rises near Naseby in Northamptonshire and flows southwest for 75 miles before joining the Severn at
Tewkesbury. ‘Avon’ derives from the ancient Brythonic word for river (like modern
Welsh afon - the single ‘f’ pronounced as a ‘v’) so the River Avon is a
tautology – which maybe accounts for why there are so many of them. To avoid confusion,
this is the Warwickshire Avon, or Shakespeare’s Avon.
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| Lynne beside the Avon at Stratford |
Swans are always associated with the Avon, but there were also plenty of (mainly Canada) geese, pigeons and black-headed gulls. A
woman was feeding the birds; twice they gathered in great numbers at her feet, then
something spooked them and they all took flight at once. Surprisingly they do
not seem to fly into each other.
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| Birds take flight beside the Avon, Stratford |
I photographed a small gull in Bakewell
in 2019. My knowledgeable friend Francis, identified it as a black-headed
gull. ‘But it does not have a black head,’ I objected. ‘It’s in winter plumage,’
was the answer. The photo was taken in July but, Francis informed me, it goes
into winter plumage as soon as it has finished breeding. So why is it called
black-headed when it only has a black head for three months of the year?
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| Black-headed gull (in winter plumage) beside the Avon, Stratford |
The Royal Shakespeare Theatre is right beside the river. It was under reconstruction for several years, but has emerged still
recognisable as the building it was. It has grown a tower which, I am told,
gives excellent views across the town, but of course, it was closed.
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| Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon |
When we lived nearer, we visited the theatre regularly but it is ages since we went and we cannot blame covid for more than a small
fraction of it. I think we should make the effort.
Shakespeare’s Grave
After visiting his birthplace and the theatre that helps keep his work alive, we ambled down beside the river…
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| Walking beside the Avon |
…to Holy Trinity Church where he is buried.
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| Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon |
I had not expected the church to be closed, but Mondays are never a good day. Fortunately, I have a photo of Shakespeare’s grave from
an earlier visit. He was buried on the 25th of April 1616, so he probably died
on the 23rd, his 52nd birthday. Shakespeare paid a considerable sum to be buried
inside the church rather than in the graveyard, but recent research has shown
the grave is only a metre deep. Souvenir hunting was popular at the time so
there is a curse - half hidden by the altar rail - on any who disturb his
bones. He has probably lain here unmolested for over 400 years.
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| Shakespeare's Grave, Holy Trinity, Stratford (2006) |
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| Shakespeare Memorial |
Strangely I did not photograph the memorial on the wall just to the left of where I was standing, so I have borrowed Wikipedia’s. (The
work of ‘Sicinius’, it is reproduced under Creative Commons Attribution-Share
Alike 4.0 International). The figure and pillow were carved from a single
limestone block probably by Gerard Johnson. It must have been made before 1623
as it is referenced in the First Folio, published in that year, and may be as
early and 1616 or 17. The sculptor had the assistance of people who had known
Shakespeare, and possibly of a death mask. It has been criticised as a work of
art, but it is as good a likeness as we can have of a man who died so long ago.
The Hotel du Vin, Stratford
It was time to walk to our hotel and check in. The rain had held off most of the afternoon, but not for this final walk. Never mind, the hotel was doing its best to celebrate the day.
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| Valentine's Day at the Hotel du Vin |
Dinner at the Hotel du Vin, Stratford
At the appropriate time we presented ourselves in the dining room for the 3-course Valentine’s Day dinner which included a glass of
Champagne with the starters.
Chicken Liver Parfait
From six first course choices, Lynne went for the chicken liver parfait with raisin chutney and brioche toast. She has a long-held belief
(which I actually share, but express less forcibly) that brioche is
breakfast food and its creeping colonisation of savoury dishes should be
resisted. She made her speech, ordered the dish regardless and complained not at
all – except to say was a bit large with two courses to come – but we can’t
eat like we used to. Getting older is no fun.
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| Chicken Liver Parfait and a glass of Champagne, Hotel du Vin, Stratford |
Pissaladière
The dish originated in the Liguria region of Italy and long ago spread along the Mediterranean coast into France, this version being described
on the menu as niçoise. The unfortunate sounding name derives from peis
salat, salted fish in the old coastal dialect. It traditionally has four
basic ingredients, a dough base, caramelised onions, anchovies and black olives.
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| Pissaladière, Hotel du Vin, Stratford |
In this case the ‘base’ was a pastry coffin. The pastry was a touch claggy, but the filling of soft, sweet onion flecked with
shards of savoury/salty anchovy was delightful. The black olives were ‘à la Grecque’
and I would have preferred something less aggressive – little niçoise olives preserved
in brine would have been perfect. The rest, some leaves and a quail's egg, looked pretty and the leaves were fresh and
crisp, but all would have benefitted from a splash of olive oil.
Pan-Seared Duck Breast
Despite the fish, vegetarian, vegan and two beef options we both went for pan-seared duck breast with fondant potato and Agen prunes.
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| Pan seared duck breast, Hotel du Vin, Stratford |
My duck breast was appropriately pink, the skin nicely seared, but it could have been more tender and ducky-flavoured. I blame the
beast rather than the chef. Prune juice, as Commander Worf once averred, is a
warrior’s drink, and the Prunneaux d’Agen of south west France, are the most
warlike of prunes. So much so, they rather overwhelmed the duck.
Vin de Madiran
The hotel is justifiably proud of its extensive wine list. Looking beyond the recommendations on page one there is an interesting mix
of expensive classics and cheaper regional wines. I chose a Madiran from south
west France - at under £35 it was inexpensive by restaurant standards. Made
from the local tannat grape known for its dark colour, firm tannic structure
and raspberry aromas, it lived up to its reputation and was, we thought, a good choice.
Sorbet and Crème Brûlée
Lynne only had space for a scoop of raspberry sorbet, which slid down nicely. I would have liked to try their ‘selection of artisan
cheeses’ but although the spirit was willing, the flesh was weak and I settled
for the crème brûlée. The vanilla custard was less sweet than usual, but I
liked that; who needs more sugar when you have cracked your way through the glazing?
This was our second Hotel du Vin dinner, both were good enough to be worth a review, but neither hit any great heights. These are
not Michelin starred menus – but nor are they Michelin star prices – and I appreciate
a menu prepared to take a few risks, even if some do not come off.
Other 1 AA Rosette meals
The Speech House, Forest of Dean Gloucestershire (2019)
The Hotel du Vin, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire (2019)
The Hotel du Vin, Stratford-upon-Avon. Warwickshire (2022)
The Dukes Head, Kings Lynn, Norfolk (2022)
