SHAKESPEARE’S LAST HOME RE-IMAGINED
THE Mulberry trees at Shakespeare’s old home are laden with fat, drooping fruits.
I’m at Shakespeare’s New Place in Stratford-upon-Avon, on the site of the home where he spent the last 19 years of his life and penned 26 plays. The £6 million project is part of the celebrations marking 400 years since his death.
It’s an imaginative outdoor space with gardens, sculptures and a museum next door. The old abode was pulled down over 250 years ago. Reverend Francis Gastrell, who owned it, became fed up with being harassed by Bard fans, declared he ‘hated’ Shakespeare and had the house demolished.
A recent excavation gives a rich picture of life at New Place, including evidence of grand feasts. It was the biggest house in Stratford with a whopping 20 rooms.
Back in 1597, Shakespeare forked out £120 for it — six times the annual salary of local schoolteachers.
Stratford-upon-Avon is a toytown and the Bard is big business. Cream teas, Ye Olde Sweete shops and gift boutiques lure tourists from the street. Even our hotel is Shakespeare-themed. Next door to New Place, The Mercure Shakespeare, is a Tudor house with modern rooms.
A Town Houses Pass offers unlimited access to Shakespeare’s New Place, Birthplace and Hall’s Croft — his daughter’s Jacobean home.
In the Birthplace’s grounds, an energetic man with a ponytail and breeches bounds on to the courtyard stage, swiping a wooden sword as he booms lines from Macbeth. Stratford is full of thespians and there’s always an exciting adaptation to be seen at The Swan Theatre, home of the Royal Shakespeare Company (rsc.org.uk).
We take the open-top sightseeing bus and hop off at Anne Hathaway’s cottage. The thatched house has a lavender maze and woodland walk, where 18-year-old William wooed his 26-year-old future wife. Despite its many visitors, life here remains sedate. Shakespeare, who settled on his sleepy home turf, would surely approve.
TRAVEL FACTS
DOUBLES at The Mercure Shakespeare
(mercure.com, 024 7709 2802) cost from £79 per night. Entry to Shakespeare’s New Place
(shakespeare.org.uk, 01789 204 016) is included in the Town Houses Pass (adults £17.50, children £11.50). More details at
shakespeares-england.co.uk. Book tickets to Stratford in advance on the Trainline app to save an average of 43 per cent.