23rd June2010 - by Ian SG
Visiting Shakespeare's Birthplace
Stratford Upon Avon must be one of the most visited places on the tourist trail in England. In the summer it can
literally be awash with people, such is the popularity of Shakespeare’s birthplace.
Of course it is little wonder owing to the aura that surrounds William Shakespeare, that this pilgrimage, because
of course that is what it is should occur almost on a daily basis.
What people need to understand is that the attractiveness of Stratford -Upon Avon is not a recent occurrence. It
was already a flourishing market town when Shakespeare was alive, and the half timbered houses, allied to the feel
of prosperity would have drawn tourists here anyway. Shakespeare just adds to the attraction.
However having said that there is a circuit that all self respecting tourists must take. It of course includes
visits to Anne Hathaway’s House with its classic thatched roof, plus the house itself that Shakespeare was born in,
and of course to the thirteenth century Trinity Church where he and his family lie buried.
If you really want to put the icing on the cake, get your travel agent to get you tickets for a performance by the
Royal Shakespeare Company, and more than that at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, which is one of three theatres in
town, but the one where most of the classics are performed. If you are based in London and just visiting Stratford
Upon Avon for the day, then you should complete your visit when back in the capital by getting tickets for the
Elizabethan style Swan Theatre which was reconstructed as close as possible to the original Globe Theatre where so
many of Shakespeare’s original works were performed when they were written.
On the other hand were you to opt to stay at Stratford Upon Avon you might consider the magnificent Ettington Park
Hotel, a real stately home on the banks of the River Stour. It sits on the same site as a manor house which appears
in the Domesday Book of 1086, so the site is steeped in history. The house was owned by, and will always be
associated with the Shirley Family, and oddly enough they even get a mention in Shakespeare’s Henry IV. If you
believe in ghosts then Ettington would be a good place to stay, as the legendary Lady in Grey. In addition a book
by Sir Walter Scott has been known to literally fly off the shelf and land open, and always at the same place.
Without quoting, it is a book called, St Ronan’s Well, and it is always the same book, and the page talks about the
place being cursed!!
It would be fair to say that guests at Etterington Park Hotel will not find much to curse, indeed pampered is a
better word, in a forty acre parkland full of deer, one could be back in Merrie England.
For the unsure, Stratford Upon Avon lies some 90 miles north west of London, and the theatre season runs from march
to November. If you are around on the 23rd of April, that is the big day of the year for not only is it St George’s
Day, the patron saint of England, but it’s the day traditionally celebrated as Shakespeare’s birth and
death.
Source: http://articlesabroad.com
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