Nottingham with the McBrides

People had told us not to waste our time with Nottingham and that there was very little of the Sherwood forest remaining. Well, Jake's family just so happened to be lace makers from Nottingham, so it was the perfect excuse to ignore all advice and head to Nottingham and explore. We were able to go to the home where Jake's Great Grandma lived and take some pictures of their family.

I love children's expressions. This one screams "hey.....wait for MEEEE!"

A very fancy Robin Hood shrub *snicker*

This is at Nottingham Castle, which originally burned down and is now some Georgian style looking building. The kids posed by the great Robin.....and Jake.....and the Blue One who is ever presently on the run.

This group of young lads were so pleased with our creativity that they asked us to take a picture of them doing the same pose, of which I had to document :)

Robin Hood is such a chick magnet, even the little girls are drawn to him.

That's right, NO kissing until COLLEGE!

The boys were more interested in climbing all over Robin whilst the girls were interested in giving him a cuddle.

Talbot clan

McBride clan

Heading back to our hotel we passed the oldest inn in England "Trip to Jerusalem Inn."

And of course, who could pass up the opportunity to take a picture of a mannequin made of mirrors? I mean come on, is it every day you see such a sight? Um no.

Vogue

Peace

We decided to head to the "Crime and Punishment" museum in Nottingham. I know that it sounds horrible, but it was a really fascinating museum about the criminal system and prison here in Nottingham back in the day and how it evolved and was eventually shut down in the Victorian era due to it's inhumane conditions. This is the cage where they put a body after it was hanged (hung?) and covered in tar. The story is that a soldier shot the body that had been in the cage for months and that when he did it broke through the tar causing the gases and odours to leak out of it and waft it's putrescence through the neighbouring village ticking off the locals. The officer who shot the rotting body was punished for his act of stupidity.

This is the snivelling Sheriff of Nottingham.

Maid Marian testifying against Robin Hood.

Our very "interesting" Robin Hood.

The gallows. Actual gallows that were used.

These were carvings down in the prison cells on the walls and pillars. I found it interesting that the figures that were carved looked like women :) The prison was dank, small, gross, and included an oubliette. How cool is that?

The girls exploring and the Blue One running.....always running.

The museum was my highlight in Nottingham. I loved the history and the live actors that created a great atmosphere in the museum that took you back to inner workings of crime and bribery in the middle ages on up.

Stratford-Upon-Avon with the McBrides

Stratford-Upon-Avon.....oh how I love thee. I fell madly in love with this quaint little town. Let's remove Shakespeare from this equation and I still love it, let's add him back.....and I love it even more. This town is magic. Fantastic crooked Tudor wood styled homes, fantastic church on the river Avon, great cool vibe, fantastic shops, I can't sing it's praises any more positively.....LOVED it.

The Fool- and a couple of theatrical Diva's.

A couple more theatrical Diva's :)

The home where Shakespeare was born...... and where all of the genius began.

The ladies

Lord Talbot

"My lady..."

And this is what happens when you wait a month to do your blog post...can't remember if this is an old pub or someone of significance old house. Actually I think it is the pub that Shakespeare used to frequent and the significant house is next door.

Yup, significant house. But why is it significant? Crap! I have forgotten. I knew I should have dedicated myself to blogging this before I forgot it, but alas time has escaped me and I didn't get it blogged....and have now forgotten.

Shakespeares home where he lived until he died.

My obsession with windows :)

The font that Shakespeare was christened in.

The grave of Shakespeare in the church on the river Avon.

Cool creepy gargoyle heads on a building on the church grounds. I love all of the interesting architecture, statues, and ornamentations.

I would so return to this town again. We arrived in the morning before all the tourists had unloaded and had the village to ourselves, or so it felt. I really have a love for the beauty of this place and the connection to Shakespeare makes it even better. They talked about how conflicted society was when Shakespeare was alive because of the Catholic/Protestant changes with Henry VIII, and Mary, and Elizabeth, it was very interesting and certainly something I hadn't thought about or considered.

Bath and Lacock with the McBrides

I LOVE Bath. Bath has to be one of my UK favourites. There is something fantastic about this place, and I can see why Jane Austen mentions it so much in her writings. We arrived at Bath in the evening so Maren and Jake took the girls to tour through Aqua Sullis (the Roman Bath House), which we have seen before, and Hubby and I took the boys and wandered around and ate pastries :)

The next morning it was time to do the Royal crescent, and Jane Austen Centre. I had wanted to see the Jane Austen Centre the first time we were in Bath, but alas, there wasn't enough time. Hubby and Jake took the boys whilst Mare and I took the Girls to tour through the life of Jane Austen.

Gorgeous day in Bath at the Royal Crescent.

Mare, Jake, Cole, and........ Tessa in time out.*snicker*

Even Mare thought it was irresistibly funny.

The girls.

The Diva's.

"Oh yes, I do agree."

3 generations of proper ladies :)

Awww...

At the Jane Austen centre we learned a lot of interesting facts about Lady Jane and her family. I never knew that one of her brothers had been adopted by her uncle so as to inherit his estate and thus provide for Jane and her family. Interesting, right.

Loved this bloke.

We left Bath and headed to the medieval village of Laycock. I love Laycock. This village is home to films such as Harry Potter, Cranford, and the Kiera Knightly P&P. This is the picture of the cottage that Hubby would buy me if he "truly loves me." 

Studly budlies.

The McBride clan.

Last time we were in Laycock hubby and I ate the most amazing Lemon bars EVER. We couldn't wait to get to the bakery and sink our teeth into some :) Sadly, they didn't have any. We sampled a couple other sweets, but nothing compared to the lemon bars we had the first time we visited Laycock. *sniffle*