Sunny Stratford Upon Avon and Grave Hunting Success

After yesterdays relaxing time, we were off on our travels once more today.
This time to Stratford Upon Avon.
Paul decided that he would remember the route, and despite a minor detour that took us about 10 or 15 minutes out of our way, we arrived and parked up on the Avonside carpark, where we always used to park.

We wandered up the river towards the town, snapping away with our cameras as we went.

It was already 12 noon when we arrived, so by the time we’d had a gentle wander up, I was ready to eat my own arm, so it was definitely time to get some food LOL

We bought our sangas from the Baguette Bar, and they were wonderful, and made totally fresh by order.

I’d forgotten just how lovely Stratford is, and the buildings just kept springing out to be photographed.
We wandered a little more, and at every turn, Fred and Hamish were attracting admiring advances by Americans and British alike!
Mid afternoon, and it’s cake time!

Off we trotted to Cox’s Yard for coffee and cake treated to us all by Mike.
A wander back over the bridge and it’s time for us to get the boat for our little trip up river and back.
The dogs were welcomed on board, and as we were the first on, we chose the very back of the boat.

The two dogs settled down and looked over the side at the ducks that were actually in the water and getting wet, unlike them ~ Silly Ducks! LOL

It was a lovely trip that took us both ways on the river to see the big posh houses on one end and the lovely countryside on the other.

We had a lovely time, and it was made better by the factor that the boat was run on electric, so no nasty diesel fumes to inhale.

Soon the half hour was up, and we were back to dry land, where Mike and Paul got chatting to the owner about the engine and other man type things! Sally-Ann and I snapped away for our blogs with our cameras LOL
Our time in Stratford over, we headed back to the car, and on towards Hampton on the Hill and Budbrooke.

During my family history quest, I have found that there are many of my family born, bought up and buried in these two villages.
When we arrived we went to Hampton on the Hill first, but only found a Catholic church there, and this did not fit with the profile I had.
A mile or so up the road, and Budbrooke looked exactly as I expected in my minds eye, and in the church-yard we found graves stones almost straight away.

Unfortunately the church was locked, so we took some external pictures and made our way back to the car to check the names on the stones with my PAF file on the laptop.
Meanwhile Sally-Ann spotted some people coming across the car park away from the church, so, being cheeky I asked if they knew anyone who may be able to give me some information.
The chap was instantly extremely helpful, and said he had keys and could access the records in the safe for me.  How fantastic!

The inside of the church was lovely, and once the gent had checked the records he confirmed the names of the people that I had already photographed the stones for, and also another two, were so old, they were no longer legible.

At this point I became overcome with emotion, and we chose to leave, thanking the kind gentleman profusely for all of his help.
Now it really was time to head back to the site, but one last stop was in order.

Hatton Locks, for a quick photo opportunity, and a look back down the locks towards the church we had just been in.We had the chance to watch a boat come through one of the locks and then climbed back into the car for the last part of the journey.

Another great day!

Jo Anne