Location: Stratford-upon-Avon
Top Things to do in Stratford-upon-Avon
Countries
The 10 Best Things to do Good for Big Groups in Stratford-upon-Avon, England
Stratford-upon-Avon is steeped in the history of its most famous resident, William Shakespeare. This Warwickshire country town contains the home where Shakespeare was born, the cottage where Anne Hathaway resided before their marriage and the church where the couple is buried. Need a break from the Bard? The town also boasts Europe's largest butterfly farm.
Restaurants in Stratford-upon-Avon
1. Go Cotswolds
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 744 reviews
Award-winning small-group guided day tours of the Cotswolds departing from Stratford-upon-Avon and Moreton-in-Marsh – as seen in 'Rick Steves' Great Britain'! Check our website (click "More" underneath our profile photo) for up-to-date availability and book direct to guarantee your seat. Also available: Brewery and Cotswolds Pub Tour every Saturday and private tours for small groups of up to 16. Contact us for details!
2. Shakespeare Distillery
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 445 reviews
An artisan gin distillery on the outskirts of Stratford upon Avon, offering distillery tours and gin school. Producers of the award-winning Stratford Gin. Gin with a Twist of History.
3. Stratford Town Walk
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 1,714 reviews
Award-winning, entertaining, DAILY guided walking tour in Shakespeare's Stratford - interesting & informative. Sun, Mon, Tue, Wed, Thur, Fri 11am. Sat 11am and 2pm. Christmas Day 10:30am. Adult £7, over 65/stud £6, child £3. Under 8's free! No need to book (unless 10+), just turn up! Groups/Schools & bespoke private walks by prior arrangement. For entertainment with a difference, join the magical evening Ghost Walk every Sat at 7.30pm. Hear stories of ghosts, witches, murder & misery. Good old-fashioned story-telling delivered in the guide's own unique style. Please telephone to book the Ghost Walk (before 6pm on the day or a few days before). Adult £8, Child £5. Groups by arrangement, & Halloween special. Tickets for the Town Walk and Ghost Walk include discount vouchers for eateries, shops and attractions. For more info and updates about walks/tours visit our website or call us!
4. Stratford-upon-Avon Minigolf
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 454 reviews
Reviewed By MrsG515 - Warwickshire, United Kingdom
Had our first visit of the year today and it was just as good as ever. This is a perfect place for all ages to have fun together in the heart of Stratford in the fresh air, with parking, lovely views all around of the river Avon, the Holy Trinity Church and the theatre. It’s incredibly good value for money and an inexpensive hot or cold drink can be bought there too. The host is super friendly and welcoming , and I noticed that all the used equipment is not returned for use until it has been thoroughly disinfected. So good to meet up with some friends today to have fun with an activity that was easy to socially distance. ????????
5. The Attic Theatre
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 649 reviews
The Attic Theatre is the No.1 fringe theatre in Stratford upon Avon and home to award-winning 'Tread the Boards' Theatre Company. In 2016 we begin the year with Romeo & Juliet, the only Shakespearean play being performed in Stratford during the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death. First established in 2009 by Tread the Boards, an award winning theatre Company. This unique, riverside theatre is located in the heart of Shakespeares' birth town. This unique space is housed in a Grade 2 listed 15th century building and seats just 89 people. This makes for a very personal and intimate theatrical experience.
Reviewed By RobinNicky - Benalmadena, Spain
My wife and I went to Stratford for an afternoon in the sunshine this afternoon and whilst having lunch at Cox's yard bar we passed the box office for the Attic Theatre. We decided to go and see the show, and it was a great decision. The acting was really good and the production was excellent from start to finish. It followed the traditional treasure Island storyline but with a good dose of humour gently added. There were jokes for the whole family. Other people took children of all ages and they seemed to be loving it as much as we did. I would thoroughly recommend to everyone who enjoys fringe theatre productions. We will look out for other productions from this great theatre company. Thank you to the whole team involved.
6. Bancroft Cruisers
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 384 reviews
Coronavirus - we're so sorry but we are closing for a few weeks to ensure safety. Hopefully back on the water soon! The best 1 hour sightseeing cruise in Stratford upon Avon!! We offer excellent sightseeing cruises and we're the only company to have a boat with a licensed bar, wonderful cream teas and a Live commentary by our own on-board guides. Our guides share the history - and the amusing unknown history - of Stratford & Shakespeare during your cruise. We're a family business that operates 365 days a year, river conditions permitting. We can also cater for private parties - birthdays, hen parties, anniversaries, Christmas, schools & coach groups - we do just about everything! Our cruises are popular with local residents and tourists alike.
7. The Shakespeare Express
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 37 reviews
England's fastest regular steam train, runs between Birmingham and Stratford-upon-Avon via the scenic North Warwickshire line.
8. Anne Hathaway's Cottage & Gardens
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 3,200 reviews
This fifteenth-century, charming thatched cottage was the childhood home of Anne Hathaway, Shakespeare's sweet-heart and wife. Experienced guides share tales about the Hathaway family who lived here from the mid-1500s to the early 1900s. There are nine acres of gardens and grounds to explore including a woodland walk, the Shakespeare arboretum and a living willow cabin where you may listen to some of Shakespeare's sonnets.
Reviewed By F12MPpeters - Rome, Italy
Review covers a visit to Anne Hathaway’s family home at Shottery a couple of km outside the commercial centre of Stratford-upon-Avon. William Shakespeare – English poet, actor and playwright and generally considered the best-known writer in the English Language. And here we were briefly exploring the place where the Hathaway Family lived and where, it is reputed that William courted, impregnated and married Anne Hathaway – in that order; the first of three children – Susanna – was born to the couple six months later. William was just 18 at the time and his wife 26. Anne Hathaway’s cottage, in reality the farmhouse where she lived as child that has, since1892 (when it was acquired by the Shakespeare Birth Trust) evolved into today’s tourist icon - part of the Shakespeare Heritage Industry based upon Stratford-upon-Avon. Shakespeare and his work are part of the background of English/Anglo school kids everywhere - those of us who read/learned/explored/acted their Henry V or Much Ado About Nothing or Midsummer Night’s Dream for their school-leaving certificates and/or amateur dramatics and/or because we liked the stories, enjoyed the plays, treasured the history or simply became captured by the language. Following through with an interest in the man and his times is an easy option and more particularly when the weather is fine for exploring glimpses of Tudor England in the 21st century. We had left London early that morning on a elegant train hauled by a period steam locomotive for a day of adventure in the Midlands. At Warwick we switched to coaches with which to follow in ‘William’s footprints’ – although not literally; like most rural people of 400 years ago he would have had to walk everywhere. We had comfortable wheels. It was our first time in the area and things had clearly changed from those original days. Anne Hathaway’s place is now a twelve-roomed farmhouse – so only a ‘cottage’ in the sense that it started small in the 15th century – the lowest/stepped down part of the existing structure. In fact, it was not originally a cottage at all, but an enclosed barn-like hall with an open hearth at centre (and, presumably, a hole in the roof). The original building was converted into a comfortable farmhouse in Shakespeare’s time with the addition of a second floor and a couple of chimney flues – wooden frame, lathe, plaster, fill/cladding and thatched roof. Voilà, here’s your image of a typical English country cottage – robust/efficient/low-cost design that was still being used countrywide through to the early 19th century. By the mid-1700s the structure had doubled in size with the addition of the larger/up slope part of the structure. And, later still, a short brick/wooden framed extension was added to the lower end of the original building. A couple of useful/descriptive wall boards on site provide an easy to follow timeline in pictures over the years. Stand at the highest point in the garden – where there’s an artistic woven seat overlooking the farmhouse, and you can sit and study the flow of the thatched roof over the upper windows; the snug and tidy condition of the entire building. Three chimneys, two of which are internal and centred on the roof line – imagine just how warm the building would have been in winter. Where would the livestock, stored feed and equipment, hand-tools, etc. have been kept? Where did the family store their bulk farm food? There may originally have been 36 ha of farmland, but the cottage today has 4 ha that include orchards, sculpture garden and an arboretum that contains all the trees mentioned in Shakespeare’s plays (so the guide says). We wandered the garden next to the cottage which had a veritable team of gardeners tending the decorative beds, plants and shrubs. This is where you wait your turn for the guided tour of the property – so lots of time in which to enjoy the ambience of the house within its immediate garden. Once inside you follow the guide and her stories through the narrow passageways, around the sharp corners and up (and down) the narrow staircases taking in the different rooms, making sure to clear those low and potentially hazardous roof beams and door lintels where required; people were small in stature in those days. There were beds in the upstairs rooms some with canopies and others without (and, again, small by comparison with today), books open next to the beds described the Hathaway Family’s debt and the early history of the ‘Shakespeare Courting Chair’. There is a robust well-serviced kitchen too on the ground floor with late 19th century images. What you see is what you get – this sanitized glimpse of a family home from the 15th century firmly, if briefly, linked to the life and times of William Shakespeare. And William Shakespeare? Following their marriage the couple went to live in Stratford town, but London eventually dominated his working life. Annual visits kept him in contact with his wife/children who remained in Stratford. He returned after retiring from the stage to spend the final years of his life where he had started … and died in 1616 aged 51. And Anne Hathaway’s cottage? The last of the Hathaway Family – tenants at the time - left the place just over 100 years ago in 1911. Many interesting stories then … of this the world’s most famous English writer … but, we had a train with an iconic English locomotive to catch for our return to London that evening. Peter Steele 27 May 2020
9. Bancroft Gardens
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 276 reviews
Located in front of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and alongside the River Avon, this delightful park and garden area has a holiday feel with open-air performers.
Reviewed By 251Stephanie123 - Chesterfield, United Kingdom
This was our first time visiting Stratford-Upon-Avon. The place is beautiful and this area is a must see. There’s the statues, barges, buskers, Street entertainers, cafes, restaurants and shops all within close proximity to these gardens. An ideal place to take a picnic or snap a few photos as well as a meeting place for friends and family. There is also lots of parking close by- all very reasonably priced.
10. Hall's Croft
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 911 reviews
Explore the beautifully furnished Jacobean home of Shakespeare’s daughter Susanna and her husband, the physician John Hall. Wander into the tranquil walled garden and discover the fragrant medicinal herbs, as John Hall would have used in his remedies. Explore 'Method in the Madness', a new exhibition exploring medicine John Hall. Enjoy refreshment in the cafe.
Reviewed By 674lizk - Grange-over-Sands, United Kingdom
We went from the RSC along the river to the Holy Trinity church and then to Halls Croft...and there was hardly anyone there! (In August!). Lovely house to look round, some interesting medical history, as it’s Shakespeare’s daughters house (married to a physician). Has a really peaceful garden and great cafe. Friendly staff. Definitely do this one- you can walk down into the mayhem that is Henley St afterwards. Is part of the £22 ticket so well worth it.
