Blessed by hot and sunny weather there was a vast turnout by people in the West Midlands for this event, which grows in popularity year by year.
The half hourly train from central Birmingham was crowded on my late morning yourney from Snow Hill station.
The famous town has obviously seen some decorative enhancement in recent years to its buildings and is a pleasurable experience to wander around.
The 1 km walk from the train station was passed interesting shops and eateries to the park along the Avon River which was the scene of the event.
I decided this year mainly to explore the views from the west side of the river past the Royal Shakespeare Theatre (RST).
This has been enhanced and enlarged in recent years, though I’m not keen on the tower on its west side I’ve included two photos of the theatre which illustrate this.
The views along this west bank are outstanding across the river and the surrounding area is very pretty especially around the lovely Holy Trinity Church just south of the theatre.
Also here is the Chain Ferry, ‘Malvolio’, opened in 1937, rebuilt in 2010. It ferries annually thousands of passengers across the River Avon. of the last remaining hand wound chain ferries in the country it gives great views downriver to the Holy Trinity Church and upstream to the RST.
Walking north there are splendid views of Clopton Bridge. Built in 1486, it has 14 pointed arches. It is wide enough (just on festival days!) for two passing lines of pedestrians only.
On the park side there was considerable crowding but this added to the great summer atmosphere and there were plenty of interesting stalls and pop-up eateries to add to the delight.
Below is a small gallery of photos I took.
Gallery
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