Back in September we were luckily invited to The Shakespeare “Sonett” Winter Weekend on the 4th to 6th February 2011.
The invitation stated:
“It will be held at the Stratford Manor Hotel, Stratford Upon Avon. Immersed in 21 acres of landscaped grounds yet just 3 miles from the centre of historic Stratford it is the perfect place to shrug off those winter blues and met up with friends old and new.” (later we found out, that this event has been runnong for more than 17 years).
We made our decision within an hour, just checking availability at Ryanair ☺.
To make most out of this weekend, we decide to take the early flight on Thursday and the last flight
on Monday. So here we go: Thursday get up at 4:00 to get the flight at 6:50 we arrived on a sunny day in Stansted
Car Rental at HERTZ gave us this little rotten MITSUBISHI colt with app 36.000 miles with nearly everything marked on the damage report. Driving on the wrong site is not my favorite driving, but with my wife and TOMTOM it worked quite well.
After driving for 2,5 hours we arrived in Brackley, invited by Hilary and Mike for Lunch and of course, we couldn’t not only amire the new 9-5 TdI but also the historical cars:
After a great lunch we continued to the Hotel: “Stratford Manor” described as:
It will be held at the Stratford Manor Hotel, Stratford Upon Avon. Immersed in 21 acres of landscaped
grounds yet just 3 miles from the centre of historic Stratford. Despite its tranquil setting, the hotel is just 5 minutes away from the M40, connecting you to a number of interesting cultural attractions, including Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwick, Kenilworth, Royal Leamington Spa, The Heritage motor centre at Gaydon and the bustling market towns and quaint Cotswold stone villages. Additionally the indoor pool and fitness centre is available to all guests.
Day finished resting from the journey.
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Friday, after a beautiful English breakfast we went to discover Stratford Upon Avon.
On the way, we spotted theses two unusual cars:
Friday afternoon more and more SAABs arrived:
But also a Scotsman towing his new toy to Aberdeen!!
The Friday finished with a lovely dinner:
Saturday: a road book was available which takes in some of the Cotswolds area, but we decided to go
North and do the Cotswolds on Sunday:
At dinner on Saturday!! What a surprise ☺ special guest Eric
Talking for about 40mins about his life (he’s nearly 82!!).
Sunday started with obligatory photos:
.. and we drove to Cotswolds area
A small part of the group continued to stay like us till Monday, so we drove to Warwick and finished the evening at the hotel bar.
On Monday we had plenty of time to manage to go to Stansted and we ended up in “The Green Man” close to the airport for lunch.
Returning the car was no problem ☺ and again the sun was shining.
It was a beautiful break and thank you very much to the organizer and participants for the warm welcome.
Norbert.
Many more pictures can be found at; http://www.flickr.com/photos/nsoa/sets/72157626032096174/
