The Joyous Stratford Trip

On the 28th of September 2026, fourteen weary Year 12s and two tea- wielding teachers thundered from Newcastle Central Station by rail. The mission: get to Stratford, visit Anne Hathaway's cottage, watch As You Like It at the RSC (starring Jonathan Groff), then get home. All this was to be achieved within two days, without leaving any toothbrushes behind. Little did the intrepid travellers know, they would get a whole lot more than they bargained for... 

First on our itinerary once we arrived was to visit the childhood house of Shakespeare's wife, Anne Hathaway. We looked around the building, the experts explaining why a small stone hung at every doorway. Known as an "Adderstone", its job was to keep out witches- just one of the superstitions Hathaway's family would have believed at the time. 

Leaving the Hathaway house, the sun just beginning to set, it was time to take our seats in the RSC theatre to watch the highly anticipated ‘As You Like It’, starring Broadway legend Jonathan Groff. By the time the standing ovation had ceased to roar out into the night, it was dark, and we began our walk to the youth hostel, Mrs Perry lighting the way with her headtorch on so bright, you could probably see it from space. We reached the youth hostel and collapsed into bed. 

Dawn broke, not twelve hours after the show we were back in the RSC for our exclusive backstage tour- the contents of which are too important and secretive for me to disclose here but may or may not have included us catching a glimpse of the First Folio of Shakespeare's works published 1623. 

The hours lapsed, and suddenly it was time to catch our train home. Feeling like we'd been and gone in the blink of an eye, we boarded our train, certain that we hadn’t seen the last of

Stratford. 

By Lucy Dixon – Year 12