A town on the River Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon
Pair Shakespeare's burial place and the Royal Shakespeare Company's riverside setting with local produce and five surfaced miles on a former railway.
- Best for
- Shakespeare, river walks and local food
- Give it
- A full day
- Don't miss
- The RSC photographs inside the Dirty Duck
Photo: David P Howard · CC BY-SA 2.0 · cropped
The Fox verdict
Shakespeare's town still turns naturally towards the river
The Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Bancroft Gardens and Shakespeare's church sit within the same walkable story, while longer routes follow the Avon or a disused railway.
Come for Shakespeare's grave and the theatre tradition, then leave room for the things that make this a rounded day out: riverside green space, a serious farm shop and a characterful riverside pub.
Where to go
Places in Stratford-upon-Avon
Every place below is checked against a published source, listed with what it is and how long to give it.
Local signatures
3 placesThe Dirty Duck (Black Swan)
Photographs of RSC actors line the walls of this riverside pub, where performers call in after shows. Its terrace overlooks the Avon, its rear garden is about as big as the pub itself, and Drunken Duck is the signature ale.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: allow around 1 hour 15 minutes
- Locality
- On the River Avon
- Access
- Dogs are welcome, with water bowls and treats available. The pub has steps and does not offer wheelchair access or accessible facilities.
Church of the Holy Trinity
The church holds Shakespeare's ledger stone and contemporary memorial in the chancel, alongside the graves of Anne Shakespeare, Susanna Hall and Dr John Hall. Its fabric spans the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries and includes fifteenth-century misericords and evidence of medieval wall painting.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: allow around 1 hour
- Locality
- Stratford-upon-Avon
- Access
- Entry to the church is free. Access to the chancel containing Shakespeare's grave and memorial is charged.
Bancroft Gardens
Riverside gardens in front of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, used for family outings, dog walking and river boat tours. Boat trips and hire operate on the Avon from this part of town.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: allow around 1 hour
- Locality
- On the river bank in front of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre
Food & drink
1 placeCobbs, Stratford
Cobbs has a farm shop, café, delicatessen and traditional butchery. Its shop stocks products from local producers, including bread, honey, preserves, farmhouse cheese and fresh fish.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: allow around 1 hour 30 minutes
- Locality
- Snitterfield
Walks & outdoors
1 place
Stratford Greenway
Five surfaced miles follow a disused railway line between Stratford and Long Marston. The route is suitable for walking, cycling and wheelchair use.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: allow around 2 hours 30 minutes
- Locality
- Linking Stratford and Long Marston
- Access
- The surfaced route is suitable for walkers, cyclists and wheelchair users.
Things to do
1 place
Recreation Ground
A large riverside open space with play areas, picnic spots, sports facilities and a dedicated children's cycle track. The miniature road layout has signs, markings, crossings, a mini-roundabout and working traffic lights.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: allow around 1 hour 30 minutes
- Locality
- Swan's Nest Lane
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Three ways to explore Stratford-upon-Avon
Signature outings
Cycle the Greenway
Pause at one of the converted railway-carriage cafés along the route, or use the bike hire.
Visit Cobbs, Stratford
After the shop, families can visit the pigs, goats, ducks and chickens in the outdoor space.
Ride the miniature streets
The refurbished cycle track has an expanded section and a new lay-by for children practising road awareness.
The town story
From the actors' pub to Shakespeare's church
Follow Stratford's riverside gardens and theatre setting, then visit Shakespeare's resting place and the historic buildings around the town centre.
Actors' pints and timber-framed alternatives
Photographs of Royal Shakespeare Company actors line the walls of the Dirty Duck, and performers still call in after shows. The pub also carries its older Black Swan name; its Dirty Duck nickname dates to American GIs during the Second World War. A terrace looks over the Avon, while the rear garden is about as big as the pub itself. Drunken Duck is the signature ale. Dogs are welcome, with water bowls and treats available.
On Sheep Street, the Rose & Crown occupies an early seventeenth-century timber-framed building.
Local produce and the river routes
For local food shopping, head to Cobbs, Stratford on Kings Lane in Snitterfield. Its farm shop includes a delicatessen and traditional butchery, with bread, honey, preserves, farmhouse cheese and fresh fish among its products. There is also a café, outdoor family space and farm animals.
Bancroft Gardens sits beside the Avon in front of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. The gardens once held canal wharves, and the medieval Clopton Bridge crosses the river nearby. For a longer outing, the surfaced Stratford Greenway provides a five-mile route for walkers and cyclists towards Long Marston; wheelchair users can access it, though parts may be uneven.
Shakespeare's grave and Harvard's connection
The Church of the Holy Trinity holds Shakespeare's grave. His ledger stone and memorial survive in the chancel, alongside the graves of his wife Anne, daughter Susanna and son-in-law Dr John Hall. Entry to the church is free, but access to the chancel is charged. The church retains fifteenth-century misericords and evidence of medieval wall painting. Nearby Harvard House is a fifteenth-century house whose front is dated 1596; it was once home to Catherine Rogers, John Harvard's mother.
Stratford in Domesday
The Domesday surveyors found twenty-nine households here in 1086, the manor belonging to the Bishop of Worcester, and valued it at twenty-five pounds a year.
Learning to ride by the river
On the Recreation Ground, children can practise cycling on miniature streets with pedestrian crossings, a mini-roundabout and working traffic lights. The council expanded and resurfaced the track in 2026, adding a new section and lay-by.
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A guide with a point of view
Written from research. Edited for real journeys.
Use the Official site links for live practical details, then use this guide for context, ideas and room to explore.
Photography credits & licences
Third-party photographs are credited to their named creators and reused under the linked Creative Commons licence or public-domain dedication. Travel Fox stores an optimised local copy; the file-specific changes and any browser-applied display crop are disclosed below. Reused photographs link both to the Wikimedia Commons source record and to the declared source image; Travel Fox's own photographs carry no such record and are marked as ours. These image licences do not cover Travel Fox text, branding or page design.
- File:Bicycle hire, Greenway, Stratford-upon-Avon - geograph.org.uk - 1834307.jpg — photograph by David P Howard; Bicycle hire, Greenway, Stratford-upon-Avon by David P Howard. Source record on Wikimedia Commons. Declared source image. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0. File changes: Downloaded from Wikimedia Commons, resized to a maximum 1920px edge and encoded as an optimised JPEG. Display changes: Displayed with responsive CSS cropping.
- File:The Recreation Ground, Stratford-upon-Avon.jpg — photograph by Vauxford; Own work. Source record on Wikimedia Commons. Declared source image. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0. File changes: Downloaded from Wikimedia Commons, resized to a maximum 1920px edge and encoded as an optimised JPEG. Display changes: Displayed with responsive CSS cropping.
Sources
Every place on this page is checked against a published source. Each entry links the record we used and names who publishes it.
- The Dirty Duck (Black Swan) — historicengland.org.uk statutory register or public authority record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access
- Cobbs, Stratford — cobbsfarmshops.co.uk operator, sector body or destination organisation
- Church of the Holy Trinity — historicengland.org.uk statutory register or public authority record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access
- Bancroft Gardens — stratford.gov.uk statutory register or public authority
- Stratford Greenway — countryparks.warwickshire.gov.uk statutory register or public authority
- Recreation Ground — stratford.gov.uk statutory register or public authority