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Visiting Stratford upon Avon – an Overview

Summary

Stratford upon Avon is one of the UK’s top tourist attractions, welcoming over 3.5 million visitors a year. Known as the birthplace of William Shakespeare and home to the world renowned Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), Stratford, with its extensive range of hotels and accommodation makes the ideal place to visit. 

This medieval market town, steeped in 800 years of history, is located on the banks of the River Avon.  With the beauty of the Cotswolds on its door step and only a few miles to other great attractions such as Warwick Castle, Stratford represents the ideal base from which to explore the Heart of England. 

History

Stratford has Anglo-Saxon origins and grew up as a market town in medieval times.  The name is a fusion of the Old English “straet” meaning street and “ford” as in river crossing, due to its strategic position on the River Avon. Stratford is also close to the Cotswolds, with Chipping Campden some 24 km (15 miles) to the south. As a major sheep producing area the Cotswolds, up until the latter part of the 19th century, regarded Stratford as one of its main centres for the slaughter, marketing and distribution of sheep and wool.

Attractions

Apart from the Royal Shakespeare Company and its associated theatres, there is a host of other varied attractions, including: Shakespeare's Birthplace, one of five houses relating to Shakespeare's life, which are owned and cared for by The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. The other properties are: Hall's Croft, Nash's House, New Place, Anne Hathaway's Cottage and Mary Arden's House.

Non-Shakespearean attractions include the Stratford Butterfly Farm, which is on the eastern side of the river, the Bancroft Gardens, and the Black Swan pub, or Dirty Duck, depending from which side you approach the pub, which has been frequented by actors - 'fresh from the stage' - for over 100 years. The walls of the pub are covered in signed photographs of actors such as Richard Burton, Peter O'Toole, and Laurence Olivier.

Getting There

Stratford upon Avon is centrally situated in the Heart of England and has easy access to all major forms of transport, including the Airports of Birmingham, the UK's second largest city and Coventry. If visiting by road then Stratford upon Avon is only a few miles from Junction 15 of the M40, and can also be accessed from the M5 or M42. It can also be reached by National Express coaches and other bus services, whilst Stratford upon Avon's railway station has good links with Birmingham (Snow Hill station, Moor Street station) and from London, with up to seven direct trains a day from London Marylebone.

Statistics

From a recent survey of visitors to Coventry & Warwickshire, the county in which Stratford upon Avon resides, the following demographics were found:

• 60% of visitors are on a day visit.
• 8% are classified as being in the touring UK group.
• 19% of visitors were staying overnight.
• 13% were overseas visitors of which 27% were from the US and 20% from Australia.
• 19% of visitors were between 55 to 64 years old.
• 17% of visitors were between 45 to 54 years old.
• 15% of visitors were aged 65 and over.
• The male:female split was 45:55.