This lovely door with wisteria crown belongs to one of the buildings at Shakespeare’s birthplace, Straford-Upon-Avon. There are several sixteenth century buildings on the site, including the main house where Shakespeare was born and grew up – he even spent the first five years of his marriage to Ann Hathaway there, the couple living with his parents.
During his lifetime, Shakespeare leased out part of the property and it became an inn called The Maidenhead(!). Upon his death, the house passed to his daughter, Susanna, and it stayed in the family until 1847 when it was purchased by The National Trust, who continue to manage the house today.
The house and surrounding buildings have been restored to how they would have been during Shakespeare’s lifetime (except for the gift shop on the ground floor, of course). It’s a fascinating place to visit, and an insight into how wealthy families lived in the sixteenth century.
This is my entry to this week’s Thursday Doors Challenge, courtesy of Norm.2.0. For more doors, or to add one of your own, visit Norm’s page and click the link.
Helen Glynn Jones 
From your photos it looks like you visited about the time my wife and I did … fortunately for us just an hour and a bit away up the M40 … will be there again for sure.
The photos are from two different visits, but they were both around the same time of year. I grew up not too far from there, in Coventry, and now it’s about an hour and a half away – I’m sure I’ll be back there again too. It’s a lovely town, isn’t it? 🙂
Absolutely … our first visit this year mid-June. Crazy really as we live in the Chilterns … how often we miss what’s closer than we think.
This little green island is so jam-packed with wonderful places it’s hard, sometimes, to see them all 🙂 And I’m not too far from the Chilterns myself – beautiful countryside, isn’t it?
It is … and that’s from someone raised in Devon. I live in a village clinging to it’s identity close to High Wycombe and if it wasn’t for the trees and a few houses I’d see the Thames from Wooburn Green to Marlow.
Sounds like a wonderful spot. I’m in Hemel – not so wonderful, but it has its moments 🙂
I’ve a few hours writing to do … or miss a deadline I can’t afford to … my excuse for my mistake … the view would be Bourne End to Marlow , the river dosn’t flow through Wooborn Green, mind you I’d need a chain saw and steel swing ball to see the water, wouldn’t go down well around here. Good night Helen. Eric.
Good night to you too, Eric – hope you make your deadline 🙂
The place where legend was born
Absolutely 🙂
✌🏻️
Sigh…that must be a special place to see in person. How were the crowds? Lots of people?
Not too bad, actually, the time I went inside. It is very interesting to see, definitely – wealth bought quite a different level of comfort than it does today.
Another bucket list item. Isn’t it interesting that how wealthy people lived in the 16th century is more primitive than how ordinary people live today?
Yes, I commented the same thing to Norm, that wealth then bought quite a different level of comfort than wealth today. The house is lovely inside, but I don’t know how comfortable it would have been. And the bit about how they had a canopied bed to stop bugs dropping down from above was a bit off-putting, to say the least!
It looks like such am interesting place to visit Helen.
It really is, Miriam – the town is chock full of history, like a lot of places in the UK 🙂
I am SO jealous you went here! What a dream!!!! Thank you for sharing with us, and allowing us to vicariously live through you!
Hi Mack! Thank you for commenting, and coming along on the visit with me 🙂 Hopefully you’ll get to see it in real life one day too x
Shivers!… What a memorable post from the greatest English Writer’s place. Thanks for sharing, Helen… Sending best wishes for your weekend. Aquileana 🌟
Thanks so much, Aquileana – so pleased you enjoyed the post! Happy weekend to you too 🙂 x
It looks so pretty! I remember reading Shakespeare in middle school and being very into it. Looks like this should be one of my “must visit” places. It’s remarkable that the house stayed in the family for as long as it did before being sold.
Yes, I think that’s why it remains, when so many other houses of that era were knocked down. It is a cool place to visit, definitely, and very pretty indeed 🙂
It’s a reminder of somewhat simpler times. Well, simpler in some ways and terrible in others. The house is so pretty and unique.
It’s gorgeous, isn’t it? Yet when you get inside you see how simply they lived, despite their wealth. Comfort in those days was a lot different than it is now 🙂
Isn’t it the truth? I think that’s what’s wrong with us now. It’s not a bad thing to desire certain things, but I think we strive for it so much that we end up burned out, and forgetting about what really matters.
That’s definitely the truth – the older I get, the more I realise what it is that I actually need 🙂