Stratford Upon Avon

Co. Warwickshire

The town made famous as the birthplace of the great playwright, William Shakespeare , Stratford-upon-Avon is one of Britain’s most popular tourist destinations.

Some 3.8 million people visit Stratford-upon-Avon each year, swelling the town far beyond its 22,000 residents. Stratford, as it is abbreviated to, has the appearance of a Tudor market town; with timber-fronted buildings, some dating back to Elizabethan times, others Victorian mock Tudor. Beside the town is the tranquil, tree-lined banks of the River Avon and a canal basin filled with colourful canal boats.

But its not the town’s picturesque quality that attracts visitors to Stratford, it is of course the town’s association with the Bard, William Shakespeare. Britain’s most renowned dramatist was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564, the son of a local glove maker. At the age of 18 he married local girl Ann Hathaway, who six months after the wedding gave birth to their first child. Soon afterwards he left his hometown and his wife for bigger and better things in London where he wrote for the Lord Chamberlain’s Company at the Globe Theatre. Here he honed his ability to distil sex, violence, scandal, drama and comedy into some of the most often quoted lines of the English language. Shakespeare retired in 1610 and returned to Stratford-upon-Avon a rich and famous man and died here six years later.

The buildings associated with Shakespeare and his kin make up Stratford’s attractions and most are in the care of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, from whom joint tickets can be purchased. These houses include Shakespeare’s Birthplace set out with Elizabethan décor and housing an exhibition on the life of the Bard, Anne Hathaway’s cottage , where Shakespeare lived with his wife before leaving for London and New Place & Nash’s House, the place Shakespeare retired to. Also on the Shakespeare Trail is Holy Trinity Church just outside the town where Shakespeare is buried.

Fittingly, Stratford is home to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre on the banks of the Avon and the Royal Shakespeare Company. The theatre was built in 1961 and has since staged all of the Bard’s works. Adjoining it is the Swan Theatre a Jacobean style arena with galleried seating.