“That in black ink, my love may still shine bright.” — Sonnet 65.
For the average Bardophile, there is no place more special than Stratford-Upon-Avon. It is the town where Shakespeare was (probably) born1 and grew up. It is where his family lived while he toiled away on the stages of London. And its where he’s buried upon threat of curse. So if you’d like to make a pilgrimage to the epicenter of the Shakespeare-verse, here’s a guide.
The town vibes
The town of Stratford-upon-Avon is a melding of historic English village along a slow-moving stream that has been fused with touches to the taste of a tourist from the kitschy to the high-end. There are posh restaurants and Elizabethan pubs. It’s a lovely place to take a stroll along the River Avon with an ice cream cone, or sun yourself in Bancroft Gardens as buskers recite Shakespeare’s iconic lines. It’s also an easy place from which to access the idyllic villages of the Cotswolds.