Mason’s Court, Built c1485, Occupied by me & Janie from c1615 on 13 October 2024
Janie and I both love spending time in Stratford-Upon-Avon and don’t need much of an excuse (usually something interesting at the theatre) to arrange a short visit to the place.
Indeed, our first short break together, just a few weeks after we met, was in Stratford-Upon-Avon – in a B&B of the old-fashioned variety:
Subsequently we tried most of the better hotels in Stratford, until I discovered Airbnb for some of my/our other short breaks and tried that approach in spring this year:
Janie discovered Mason’s Court while e-rummaging on our previous trip and I agreed that I should try and secure that place for our next trip if I was able.
I was able.
You can see from the headline picture that this wonky so-called Tudor design predates the more linear Mock Tudor that followed it:
Our hosts had clearly done due diligence on us and wanted to make me to feel at home by putting up a portrait of me in the dining room:
When depicted from the correct angle, it is almost impossible to distinguish between the two images:
But joking apart, we loved staying in Mason’s Court, despite and because of its genuine late-medieval wonkiness and deference to “Shakespeare-pilgrims”, as a large proportion of the house guests no doubt come from that cohort.
We’d thoroughly recommend 3 Mason’s Court – here is an Airbnb link. Don’t be put off if the link looks struck through – it should still work.
On the first evening we had booked to have dinner at The Opposition, as we had tried Lambs for the first time in decades on our previous visit. We like both of those places a lot and were not disappointed by the quality of the food and service at The Opposition, still, after all these years.
Monday 14 October 2024
Despite the promise of good weather for our trip, the weather gods chose to drizzle upon us for almost the entirety of our short visit this time, confounding our planned trip or two to the tennis club. Indeed we left the tennis equipment in Dumbo throughout our stay, as he was blessed with a private parking space and police protection to go with it:
Dumbo was a bit nervous of parking alongside the police station. Despite being a relentlessly honest vehicle and a pandemic hero…
…as anyone crazy/interested enough to delve into Dumbo’s canon will discover, he was traumatised by an early experience when he was stopped and searched by the fuzz for seemingly no good reason.
But I digress.
We knew we were seeing a long play on the Monday and had brought grub with us for a light meal of smoked fishes on our return from the play.
During one of the breaks in the rain we made a short trip to the shops (five minutes walk) to get one or two additional provisions, including stocking up on cheap confectionary for the impending Halloween invasion at Noddyland:
But I digress some more.
In the evening we went to see The New Real at The Other Place. I have written that up separately.
Our fishy supper at Mason’s Court was a delight and we both felt we had earned a glass or few of wine after more than two-and-a-half hours of The New Real.
Tuesday 15 October 2024
More drizzle, but heck, we had some lovely provisions in for lunch (including some very tasty bread from MOR.)
We had also made an executive decision to try The Giggling Squid for dinner as a takeaway, given that the restaurant was two or three minutes walk from our place and we had such a lovely environment in which to dine at home.
Further, I had brought Benjy The Baritone Ukulele with me and felt inspired by the Chandos “Shakespeare” portrait in Mason’s Court to lay down a lyric sung to the traditional tune The Mason’s Apron, the lyric being – Oor Hamlet by Adam McNaughton. (The latter link has the original version of McNaughton’s performance and lyrics). My version owes also to Martin Carthy’s version, with the Scots lingo toned down a bit. Here’s mine:
Not my finest performance, but something I felt compelled to get out of my system.
The staff at Giggling Squid were delightful and helped us to choose a very tasty meal. We’d certainly be happy…keen even…to try some more of their Thai food on a future visit.
Wednesday 16 October 2024
Still drizzling in Stratford but the weather forecast told us that London would be different…
…which it was.
So we did finally get a game of tennis during this short break, but back on our regular courts in London. Which is sort-of how the break started, as we played on Sunday morning before setting off for Stratford. So it goes.
We have another short autumn break in a 15th Century cottage in an old market town lined up very soon…watch this space, readers!
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