The Bard’s Birth Place
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The Bard is bigger than ever, and Stratford upon Avon can't stop celebrating.
Local tourism officials are predicting that 2009 could be one of the busiest ever for the small Warwickshire town on the Avon, as overseas visitors flock in to Britain’s big attractions, lured by the weak pound against the Dollar and Euro, and as British visitors look for a rewarding but inexpensive Credit Crunch day out. Gareth Huw Davies paid a visit to England’s small town in the world’s spotlight.
From the day Shakespeare was born there, Stratford was never going to be a normal town again. If all the world is a stage, this small Warwickshire town is surely the planet’s Grand Theatre.
We can all have a walk-on part in the Bard’s home town, alongside the stars flocking here to perform his roles. You may spot some famous knight of the theatre casually queuing in a coffee shop, a famous Dame wandering around
the shops, or some rising star of the boards running an errand. But they all defer to the genius who put this little town on the Warwickshire Avon on the world map.
The easiest way to reach Stratford, (especially easy for overseas visitors based in London hotels) is by train. There is a good, direct, service from London Marylebone, as well as from Birmingham. And its central position puts the town close to many day tripping British visitors, with good train connections from all parts of Britain.
The City Sightseeing Bus Tour (it takes about an hour) links all the main Bard-related sites (www.shakespeare-country.co.uk). It's an ideal way to reach, for example, Anne Hathaway's Cottage, which is otherwise quite a trudge from the centre. This hop-on-hop-off service lets you decide how long you want to spend at any particular attraction.
They recently turned the farm next to Mary Arden's house into a working Elizabethan farm, with guides dressed for the part preparing food as Will would have known it. Demonstrations of glove-making (Will’s father’s trade) are held at Shakespeare’s Birthplace (Henley Street) (Shakespeare Birthplace Trust owns five properties in and around Stratford, all directly linked to Shakespeare, www.shakespeare.org.uk). If you don't want to leave a carbon footprint take the daily Shakespeare Walk. The RSC uses actors for its weekly The Walk, Saturdays only. (It starts at the Swan Theatre.)
Holy Trinity Parish Church, on the banks of the River Avon, is a short walk from the town centre. This may be England's most-visited parish church; William Shakespeare was baptized here, served as a lay rector of the church, and is buried in the chancel. (The Bard of Avon was born in 1564 on 23rd April, and died on the same day in 1616.)
For an easy introduction to the sheer genius of the man, his life and work, try Shakespearience. This one hour virtual reality introduction is really quite good. After a short documentary on Shakespeare’s early life in Stratford, they move you into a timbered playhouse where holograms of real actors play out some of Shakespeare's best bits, from Romeo and Juliet, to The Tempest, on a real stage, with the great man himself as an approving ghostly presence. The only effects are convincing gusts of wind, flashes of lightning and claps of thunder.
Following in the footsteps of the great Bard...
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