#061 The Mary Arden, Wilmcote, Warks : 1997 to 2011

If we hadn't recently sold our boat Emma Jane I would have been showing you a picture of this pub from 2012 taken only a few days ago on our annual Easter trip to Stratford. However, this year we've hired a boat for the first time and enjoyed the delights of Chester. Anyway, back to history!

This was our second visit to Wilmcote and the photo was taken on Saturday 29th March 1997. As I recall, we had a couple in the Mary Arden before moving on to the Mason's Arms, #006 in this series. I don't remember much else about it from that time other than it was an alright place to visit, but not a proper local like the Mason's Arms.

Our next visit to Wilmcote wasn't until 2000 and the Mary Arden was unchanged.

This photo is from Friday 21st April 2000 which is pretty much the latest that Good Friday can happen.

Unusually, in 2001 we stoped at Wilmcote twice! Once on the way down to Stratford and again on the way back up.

These were taken on Sat/Sun 14/15th March 2001, both lunchtime stops.

We were back again in 2002 and this is the scene that greeted us.

For the first time in this blog, I've actually captured a pub being refurbished! This was taken on Saturday 30th March 2002, but the redecorating has hardly got underway as all of the signage is still the same.

And this is what it looked like afterwards.

This picture was taken on Saturday 19th April 2003, now just called The Mary Arden. The inside had also been refurbished, but I found it to be cold and not very welcoming.

We have visited here every year since (apart from 2007), but I won't bore you with all of the pictures as the pub has changed little in the intervening years!

Saturday 15th April 2006

Saturday 11th April 2009

Saturday 3rd April 2010 - the 'lintels' above the windows are now black.

And finally...Saturday 30th April 2011. Not Easter, but the weekend of the Royal Wedding.

The Mary Arden is not a place I'd say is a must visit pub, but it is perfectly pleasant and does good food. It is situated very close to Mary Arden's House (just behind and right of me as I took this picture) and has it's own website. 

#006 Mason's Arms, Wilmcote : 1996 to 2011

Since we moved our narrowboat Emma Jane back onto the Stratford Canal we have taken an annual trip to Stratford-upon-Avon over the Easter weekend apart from 1998 when floods got the better of us. We stop at Wilmcote (home of Mary Arden's House) every year now (since 2001) and I have pictures from each year showing that the Mason's Arms has hardly changed over the 15 years that we've been visiting.

In a departure from my previous posts I'm going to show you pictures of the Mason's Arms going back over 100 years to demonstrate that even over that period it has hardly changed.

This shows the Mason's Arms in 1891 and I took this photo of the picture that was hanging in the pub on our last visit.

Now we've moved on to 1908 and the pub has been changed and appears pretty much as it is now (see below). Another photo of a picture in the pub.

This is what it looked like in 1930 - I got this photo from the internet.

This was our first canal related visit and the photo was taken on the evening of Saturday 6th April 1996. In those days it was a traditional village/country pub that served very good food. It also has a restaurant area at the back.

This photo is from Saturday 30th March 2002 and was a lunchtime stop. The only visible changes are the signage. Inside all exactly the same.

And now it's lunchtime on Saturday 7th April 2007. After we'd been doing this trip for a few years we fell into a consistent routine that sees us stopping at Wilmcote for lunch on the second day of our journey. The Mason's Arms has consistently provided us with excellent wholesome food (and if you order a full meal you will get way too many vegetables!)

Finally to 2011. This year, we delayed our trip by a week so that we could miss the royal wedding! This was taken at lunchtime on Saturday 30th April 2011. The only noticeable change from the outside is that the pub sign has been replaced by a floodlight. Inside...still the same décor/atmosphere...and still the same landlord after all these years of our visits. This is how pubs should be - cosy, welcoming and serving good, unpretentious food at a reasonable price!