Shakespeare Beyond

Rightly regarded as “Shakespeare’s England”, there is far more to Warwickshire than literary connections

William Shakespeare famously declared that all the world’s a stage, yet he spent much of his life treading the boards of a very small part of it. For while he may have established his famous Globe Theatre in London, and later gained worldwide acclaim, it was the small Midlands town of Stratford-upon-Avon that remained his beloved home throughout his brilliant life. He was born there on Henley Street – now the restored Shakespeare’s Birthplace attraction – in April 1564 and he died there 52 years later, around the corner at his New Place home on Chapel Street.

Shakespeare was both baptised and buried at the town’s Holy Trinity Church, a grand 13th-century parish on the banks of the River Avon, while the former homes of his mother, wife, daughter, and granddaughter – Mary Arden’s House, Anne Hathaway’s Cottage, Hall’s Croft and Nash’s House, respectively – are all open today as popular tourist attractions.

As such, Stratford-upon-Avon and the surrounding towns and villages are rightly regarded as “Shakespeare’s England”, yet there is far more to explore