Stratford snapshots and Shakespeare marina

A long walk in Stratford last week. We parked the car, walked through the green in the Recreation Ground,

reached the river. Across, the Shakespeare Theatre.

We walked along the old tramline, and then reached this path that would take us back to the river.

We saw a sign informing us that the Shakespeare marina was completed and that they were having an Open Day. We have been following the progress of building the new marina for months now, so we decided to go and visit.

It's quite big, 250 berths, but not many boats here yet.

The development has been controversial because it has destroyed a substantial area (about 16 acres) of natural green riverside land, land that has important ecological value for the variety of nabitats and wild life that it supports. In 1993 the Stratford Society organised a series of public protests, including active obstruction of the bulldozers while they were working and at the time forced the clearance activity to be abandoned. They did manage to build it in the end, however.

They were offering tea, coffee and croissants for Open Day in the cafe, so we each grabbed a croissant and then explored the marina.

Good views of the river from here.

We left the marina and took the river path

so many wonderful trees here

we had come full circle, back to the theatre

so many swans - apparently their population was decimated by bird flu two years ago, but I have to say, I can't see a big difference

view from the bridge

We walked into town, then walked down to the river again - a different view of the theatre

and another one. 

We then walked along the other side of the river, crossed another bridge and headed for the car park and home.