We arrived back from Italy earlier this week (more of that later) and found Stratford gearing-up for a new annual event: The Stratford - upon-Avon Festival of Food & Drink, which has, over the last three days, proven to be a wonderful affair, with our fridge now stuffed with all sorts of Italian, French, and English goodies.

We also came across Roger Clay, who is the Secretary of the Stratford & Warwick Waterways Trust — SWWT for short — who is a thoroughly charming man with a fight on his hands to extend (or more accurately complete) navigation on the river Avon from Stratford to a junction with the Grand Union canal near Warwick. It’s a bold scheme that has met with a great deal of opposition over the years, although things are now looking promising. I believe it should happen, and the sooner the better.

A few weeks ago Hilary and I visited Charlecote Park (famed as the place where Shakespeare is supposed to have poached deer) just outside Stratford, where, after a look inside the house — which is a superb mixture of Elizabethan and Victorian — we wandered out onto the terraced garden at the back, where the Avon curves gently down from Warwick, through lush ‘hidden’ meadowland, toward the villages of Alveston and Tiddington just a couple of miles away.

We both agreed that such beautiful countryside, and important buildings such as Charlecote House – and some other fine 17th and 18th century buildings along the way - just had to be seen by as many people as possible (these things can no longer be kept purely for the enjoyment of the landowner, determined walker, or angler) and that this last watery link between the historic towns of Stratford and Warwick has to be completed, as outlined in the SWWT’s pamphlet.

“ The navigation proposal is known as the Upper Avon Extension (UAE) and is a continuation of the re-opening of the Avon from Tewkesbury to Evesham in 1962, and from Evesham to Stratford in 1974. It would fulfil the aims of a scheme first authorised in 1635.

“ Improved access to the river banks could be achieved by extending and joining together the footpaths that already exist near the river. The ultimate aim is for a continuous riverside walk between Warwick and Stratford.

“ The Trust recognises that these significant goals can be achieved only with the goodwill and co-operation of the many organisations and individuals who have concern for the interest in the river, in particular the local authorities, the riparian [water rights] owners, the wildlife interests and the many potential users.”

In fact it would seem that many local individuals, politicians, and organisations (the regional tourist bodies for instance) are now beginning to support the scheme as they realise that a river, and the land alongside it, has to earn its keep, and that tourism, especially in this part of the world, is a vital part of the financial life blood of the area, with more and more people taking river and canal holidays. So it came as a bit of a surprise that Warwick Castle (owned and run by Madame Tussauds, who are very commercially minded) is still apparently against the idea, as is Charlecote Park, which is now run by The National Trust, although members of the Fairfax-Lucy family ( who once employed many Newmans) still live in part of the building. But surely the financial return for both of those tourist attractions could be huge (and such buildings and estates need a lot of money to keep them going) especially if landing stages were built alongside that could take tourists straight off designated river boats, which means it would also be good for local boat building and river cruising operators from both towns, as well as increase the navigational opportunities in all directions, as the SWWT pamphlet points out.

“ The benefit for navigation interests are substantial. The Upper Avon Extension would create a non-tidal broad gauge link between the Severn and the Thames and complete a major step towards joining with the broad navigation network to the north which links the Mersey, the Humber and the Wash.”

The engineering work required would also be pretty straight forward, because the…

“ …waterway already exists with over 90% being fully navigable; very little dredging would be required. Six locks would be needed alongside existing weirs. A short canal near Barford would bypass a long shallow loop of the river. The navigable river would join the Grand Union canal near Warwick by four conventional locks or a lift.”

The world renowned actor — and narrow boat owner — Timothy West CBE, is the Patron of SWWT, who, at the inaugural meeting of the Trust said…

“ We can only hope that the accelerating countrywide interest in inland waterway development, the benefits of which are being appreciated steadily by more and more people, will finally filter through to those in authority…”

Well, it would appear they are, but there are a good many people still to be convinced, so, find out more about the work of the Stratford & Warwick Waterways Trust to offer help and support.

Although Hilary and I were married three months ago we never really had a honeymoon, so on Monday 17th September we’re off to Italy for a few days – Rome first, followed by Sorrento.

The Shakespeare Hotel

When we get back there will be lots of stuff to report, not least a review of a fabulous production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night at the RSC’s Courtyard Theatre, starring John Lithgow as Malvolio; a visit to Stratford by my Humdrumming co-director Ian Alexander Martin, plus full preliminary details of ‘The Stratford-upon-Avon International Festival of Literature’, which is to be held at The Shakespeare Hotel on the 18th, 19th, and 20th April 2008.

Writers already booked for the festival includes Colin Wilson, Garry Kilworth, Brian Gordon Sinclair, Greg Lewis, Sebastian Peake, Guy Adams, Martin Val Baker, Roy Cane, and Paul Chapman, whose new book about Dracula, ‘Birth of a Legend’ will be featured. The festival will also feature contributions from authors who written about the life and work of the American novelist, Ernest Hemingway. On the last day of the festival there will be the presentation of ‘The Charles Whiting Award for Literature’, which will have two categories: one for a new work of Military History, and another for a new piece of Wartime Adventure Fiction.

I shall also be reporting on the progress being made in the re-building of the Royal Shakespeare theatre which is now going ahead at full speed.

So, watch this space.

What a difference a day makes. Nearer to thirty-six hours to be exact.

Hilary and I had scooted off to Cheshire on Saturday evening – staying at the Granage Hall Hotel, which is a large conference complex built onto the back and sides of a beautiful Victorian mansion situated just outside Knutsford – so that we could attend the last day of the Tatton Hall RHS Flower Show on Sunday. It was a superb sunny day too, even though the ground was still rather muddy from Saturday’s rain.

We left around 3.30, which was great timing because around 3.45 the heavens opened, quickly turning the car parks (waterlogged open fields) into even muddier car traps, especially if your own vehicle happens to be a very low to the ground MG sports car.

Once home, around 6.30, we decided to take a walk down to the theatre and river to see how far Saturday’s floods had retreated.

Quite a bit was the answer, with the remaining flood-water still half way across the Bancroft Gardens, which is on the theatre side, and wholly covering the park land on the other side, making Stratford look more like a lake side town.

It’s still pretty much the same today (Monday), although the Swan Theatre is opening for business tonight, with further performances of MacBeth, which is a fabulous show and one I shall be reviewing here in a day or two.

The real problems are now much further down river, especially in Evesham and Tewksbury, where the rivers Avon and Severn meet.

After our walk we ended-up in the Dirty Duck pub last night, where the wine and food tasted as good as ever.

My only wish now is that the British media gets a grip of itself and cools down the national disaster hype they’re peddling at the moment, and instead remind everyone of the truly devastating floods that hit New Orleans a couple of years ago, and continually hit Bangladesh.