We arrived in the breakfast room to find that the advertised continental breakfast was exactly as advertised, unlike our previous hotel where several components of the continental breakfast were missing. I couldn’t miss out on the opportunity even though the vegetarian breakfast was also tempting. I wasn’t disappointed.

After breakfast, as planned, we had a chilly but leisurely mooch around the town before having lunch in Huffkins. I chose a Belgian bun, which was tasty, but I had forgotten how sticky the icing on top is! Surprisingly one of the Waitresses recognised us from our previous visits.

Our planned adventure for the afternoon was the Butterfly Farm which was busier than on our previous visits. I felt a bit crowded out when we first arrived which wasn’t helped by a gentleman who followed me round as I was trying to take photographs; he too was looking for perfect photo opportunities. I think it might have been the half term holiday which starts a week earlier in Stratford than in my local schools.

There were lots of interesting creatures hiding in plain view in the tropical house, including a red kneed tarantula who unusually was at the front of his safe cave and slowly moving his fangs. The cayman, once again did not realise that I had come to visit and was hiding away in his sleeping quarters.

We returned to Brook Tavener where Mr C had purchased a jacket the previous day. He bought the same jacket in a different colour. It was now time to return to the hotel for a warming cup of tea and a chill out before pre-theatre dining in the Giggling Squid. I chose sticky chicken which was delicious and chose the appropriately named (for Valentine’s Day) Melting Heart Chocolate. Unfortunately, when it arrived it was the full-sized version rather than the small portion ordered, reminding me that the service had been a little bit quirky on our previous visit there. We had a date with Hamlet at the RSC so there wasn’t time to rectify the mistake.

Photo copywrite of the RSC (Hamlet promotional material)

The stage was stunning in the shape of a ship with water around the bows and a video of waves and horizon to the stern. The first half is scene setting where the story is told. The second half, which is more dramatic, saw the stage tilt back and forth with the stormy sea and dramatic culmination of the story.

We returned to the hotel to have a nightcap in the bar to find that our favourite seats had just been taken, as were all the other seats in the bar area. We retired to another seating area which is lovely, albeit quieter than the bar area.

We were joined by others including two gay couples (including an American and a German) who discussed the recent election of Trump and related politics of the situation. Their discussion was to loud to tune out, but at least it was interesting.

We had a good journey after setting off later than intended. We arrived in Stratford in time for lunch in Huffkins where I couldn’t resist the warmed almond croissant.

After lunch we walked to the butterfly farm where we found the butterflies were more active than they had been on our previous visits in 2022. We also saw the lady iguana sitting on her lofty perch, turning her face away from food that was offered by the keeper. The keeper told us that this particular iguana was addicted to the sweetness of fruit which had led to her becoming overweight. So ‘lady iguana’ is no longer allowed sweet treats.

In the rainforest area, I was looking forward to seeing the spectacled caiman but when we found him he was zonked out and looking comatose (albeit with his beady eye open) just a short distance from his bed area. Didn’t he know I had come especially to see him?

However, the nearby chameleon with his amazing feet and claws (not to mention his active beady eye) made up for the caiman’s nonchalance.

Next, we moved our car to the hotel car park and checked in. We were shown to our room, ‘Pear’, which was reached by a quaint spiral staircase. Our room was not the grade we had originally booked but it had amazing views over the theatres and river beyond. We were just grateful that our booking was able to be transferred to another date when we had to cancel our theatre Valentines Day break at short notice due to my mum being rushed into hospital and her subsequent illness.

After checking in we headed into Stratford for a cup of tea in York’s then browsed a couple of cookshops before heading back to the hotel to unpack our bags and chill out before our evening meal in ‘The Opposition’. The town was buzzing with Irish people; it was Cheltenham Cup week. Our meal was followed by a nightcap in The Woodsman.

We set off a little later than planned because Mr C had been away in London at a conference and needed to pack.

With lunch in mind, just outside of Stratford, we noticed a Dobbies garden centre. We negotiated around a car crash that was outside the garden centre but, on arrival at the cafe we found that only drinks and ’sweet treats’ were on offer. The sweet treats looked a lot sweeter than either of us would enjoy so we decided to lunch in Stratford, which was only a short distance away. It was too early for access to the hotel carpark so we parked in a multi-story car park and made our way into town.

We found a delightful tea room, Huffkins arriving just as a table was being cleaned and reset. Several people who arrived just after we did were turned away as the café, was full. I chose a warmed Almond Croissant with Elderflower Presse. We then strolled into town, visiting the Guild Chapel, the Shakespeare bookshop, Waterstones, the magic yard and the antiques emporium before returning to the car to drive the short distance to the hotel car park.

We checked into the Arden Hotel and were taken to our room on a never-ending up-and- down corridor to our room, which was called Juniper. The room was fabulous and we accepted the offer of the ‘Bed turn down service’. This was sheer luxury after hit and miss room service during the previous two years because of Covid-19 restrictions and laziness (or lack of staff) after the restrictions were lifted.

Before walking to our chosen restaurant we had a pre dinner drink in the hotel bar. The service was slow and chaotic. Our gin arrived in a gold fish bowl full of ice leaving us to duck and dive with the provided straw to find the gin lurking in the bottom of the glass (bowl). Whilst drinking our gin, we enjoyed watching a couple of the staff videoing their attempt at making a hot chocolate drink crowned with cream and chocolate drizzle. It didn’t work out as planned and take two was needed.

We dined in the Edward Moon brasserie where I chose butternut squash and coconut chilli. Mr C opted for chicken and mushroom tarragon pie. We shared a lemon brulee dessert. The food and service were both excellent.

We stopped off at the Garrick Inn for a nightcap before returning to the hotel. I didn’t really enjoy the nightcap experience; it involved climbing onto a high bar stool which isn’t an enjoyable experience when dressed up in a skirt and even worse there was the underlying feeling that the customers were a nuisance and the staff couldn’t wait to go home. Lights were turned off as customers left areas of the bar.