Stratford is one of those places that is fairly compact and most of the attractions can be accessed very easily on foot. There’s a recommended walk that you can get from the tourist board and this gives a good framework for a tour of the town.

A jolly jester beams out at you from Henley Street with Shakespearean quotes around its base
And then as you walk down the street you’ll see William Shakespeare’s birthplace on your left. This is a half-timbered house and it’s furnished with period pieces and a great exhibition of the playwright’s life. There are some original manuscripts and historic books and the visit concludes in the house’s garden. On a sunny day it’s well worth pausing here. On the opposite side of the road are other period houses.

Meer Street is unusual, as it’s not straight and followed the a route of a stream which ran into the mighty Avon.

Chapel Street has a fine three-storey black and white building known as Nash’s House (Thomas Nash married Shakespeare’s granddaughter), the Guild Chapel, parts of which date back to the 13th century, the Grammar School which Shakespeare is said to have attended and 16th century almshouses.

As you enter “the old town” look up at the carved timber at the top of the red brick houses and make sure you call in the Church of the Holy Trinity – it has an angled set of choir stalls and although the church is free to enter there is a nominal charge to see Shakespeare’s grave.

For a fiver you can spend an hour or so looking around the Falstaff Museum in Shrieves House – allegedly one of the most haunted houses in the country and a point that the museum staff like to emphasise. The house has been around since 1196 and so there’s loads of history attached to it – all of which is shown and explained as you progress round the house. It survived through two major town fires, the Plague and Civil War and there are hidden priest-holes and secret chambers, plus some fun items (fact or fiction – sometimes we couldn’t be sure but it makes for a balanced museum with a high entertainment factor).

Of course theatre is what Stratford is all about and a gentle walk (or a punt down the river if you’ve got the time and inclination) offers a pleasant insight into the works of Shakespeare and I’m sure you’ll recognise many of the characters depicted in statue form around the riverside park. The park was awash with colourful flowers when we visited (although I guess it’s as attractive as Autumn approaches) and a large number of swans were afloat on the river. A very picturesque scene.