Gadfield Elm and Stratford

Tuesday we piled into the van and drove to Gadfield Elm, the first LDS chapel in Great Britain. The land was bought by the church and the chapel has been restored. It sits by itself in the middle of some farmland. It was beautiful, if a bit chilly, and we looked around a bit before driving a little further to a little pond on Benbow Hill Farm, also owned by the church, where Wilford Woodruff performed the first baptisms in Great Britain. They were doing some clean-up from a big storm, so that’s why the tree is falling in the pond.

Outside of the chapel
Inside the chapel. So beautifully simple.Benbow Hill Farm Pond. Originally much bigger. And cleaner.We made a couple quick stops at Tewkesbury Abbey (the best mulberry trees!) and Gloucester Cathedral (where they filmed much of Harry Potter). Those were fun to visit, and had so many cool things to see. I don’t get tired of seeing Cathedrals and Abbeys : )

Tewkesbury Cathedral

In Gloucester Cathedral!

The girls in the hallway. You can't tell, but they're in the process of re-enacting a scene from Harry Potter six, which we've seen....was if four times by then? It's now six.
We spent the rest of the day in Stratford-upon-Avon, the birthplace and home of Shakespeare. Seeing that place was a real dream come true for me. We toured his parents’ home – where he was born – and then the church where he attended and part of him is buried. Grotesquely enough, only half his remains are in Stratford. The other half of him is buried in Poet’s Corner in Westminster Abbey. Weird. But I’m glad I got to see him here, since Westminster wouldn’t let us in without paying an exorbitant amount of money. The grounds surrounding the church were just beautiful as well. We wandered around there for a while, admiring the old cemetery and the view of the river.

I'm in Stratford!

Shakespeare's childhood homeIn front of Shakespeare's houseStratford's church and cemeteryPart of Shakespeare's remains are buried here in the Stratford church, up by the altar. On the wall to the left of his grave, where they put a statue and a tribute to himJust sitting around in the cemetery
Most of the places to tour closed at about 5, so a few other girls and I spent the hours between 5 and 7 stopping by the grocery store to get dinner and chatting while we ate. Then we met our whole group at the Courtyard Theatre to see As You Like It. I was able to sneak one picture of the stage before it started, though it isn’t very good. The play was quite funny and well-acted, costumed, set, everything. We enjoyed it a lot. Every seat in the theatre was a good seat with a great view of the stage. Brilliant : )

The stage before the play started. A really bad picture, but one nonetheless. Straight in front is the audience on the left of the stage (I'm on the right of the stage), so the stage itself projects out from the right, with a beam of light shining across it.
Then came the long drive home to Cardiff.