So I had a wedding and a city visit on my hands. And I wanted accommodation. And I knew I wanted to experience more travelling hostels so in October, I typed in ‘stratford upon avon hostel‘ in my search bar and up came this place!
The online booking process is pretty easy see: Stratford YHA and looking at the 2 good reviews posted on there, I thought I’d be in for a treat. The price was very reasonable. Paid roughly £35 for 2 nights and 2 breakfasts.
The day before I was due to set off to Stratford, I checked the instructions to see if I needed to do anything…nothing really. Sounds good!
On the day, I arrived at the YHA, they gave great directions from the Motorway and the car park there was very big enough for everyone who had the experience to stay in this beautiful Georgian Mansion converted into the YHA.
Stratford Upon Avon Youth Hostel
As I arrived, the reception was closed and it was very deserted! I searched the main rooms for someone and I couldn’t find anyone! I dumped my rucksack in the back Lounge and tried again to find someone but a sign said to find someone on the first floor if there was no one at reception.I tried and looked through the bar and kitchen. No one. Eeep. Will I have ghosts for company? Luckily, I managed to clock one staff going into the reception to pick up something and she was very surprised to see me. After a little banter, she signed me in and said the room wouldn’t be ready for another hour and a half as they are cleaning the rooms. That was fine with me and I asked if there was anywhere I could log onto the wifi so i could do a bit of work on my laptop. She pointed me towards the kitchen and dining room, which by chance had an internet mini room next to the dining room.
Great! But she stopped me first saying I need to buy a token to use the wifi. Oh dear. Not a good thing to say! I don’t mind paying for wifi when it is advertised I would have to pay for wifi but on the website, there was no mention of this..just ‘wifi’ so I assumed I would have free access. Hmmm.
Off I bought a £5 token to use unlimited wifi for 24 hours. After a few hours working, I checked into my room. It was a dorm of 6 beds and turns out I would be the only one staying in there overnight. Ah well. Hoping to meet other people but never mind, it’s the weekend before christmas after all!
I also checked the grounds of the YHA, there’s definitely a lot to explore and I found a Tomb Raider Tree to play with as well 🙂
Tomb Raider Tree!
After having dinner with my parents in a pub down the road, I came back and sneakily had a pint from the bar of the YHA giving a wide variety of ales, lager and spirits. Tempted to have more but I needed to be fresh for the wedding the day after. I wanted to play about on my laptop in the back Lounge but wifi don’t reach outside the dining room so took my pint and sat next to the radiator with my laptop.
Finally went to bed and I have to say this was one of the best night’s sleep I had in a hostel! I slept on the bottom bunk and it was so comfy and I wasn’t cold once thanks to the amazing central heating the hostel had.
Breakfast was immense! All the works! JJust look at the picture. Really filled me up for the day ahead!
The staff is extremely friendly and helped me with directions, ideas where to visit and many more. Good for some cheeky banter!
The rest of the weekend went well and had another good night’s sleep probably in due to the drinks I had at the wedding earlier on!
So would I stay there again? Yes! Out of ten? 8!
Have you stayed at the Stratford Upon Avon YHA?
If you would like to know about my time in Stratford click on the links below:
