KNOW BEFORE YOU GO

Shakespeare’s Birthplace, complete with actors in period dress (adults £15.75, children £10.35), is inevitably crowded – and gives absorbing insight into glove making, one of the occupations of Shakespeare’s father.

Just outside town are Anne Hathaway’s Cottage (adults £11.25, children £7.20), a charming little house where, purportedly, the playwright’s wife grew up, and Mary Arden’s Farm (adults £13.50, children £9), a bucolic working Tudor farm – although Shakespeare’s mother, said Mary Arden, actually lived next door.

On Chapel Street, New Place (adults £11.24, children £7.20), the large house Shakespeare bought for his retirement, no longer exists, but you can explore the recently restored gardens.

Best of all is the nearby Guildhall complex. It’s billed as Shakespeare’s Schoolroom to maximise its appeal, and indeed you are shown the timber-frame room where the playwright would have been taught (in Latin) – and you learn about education in the 16th century. Yet there’s much more to this glorious building, which dates back to the 1400s. Not least is a former chapel where conservation work has uncovered an ancient mural (shakespearesschoolroom. org; adults £8, children £5).

MISS, I’M TOO OLD TO LEARN. WHERE DO I HAVE FUN?

Take your pick of engaging venues, suitable for all ages and offering an inspired antidote to Shakespeare. The brilliantly quirky MAD Museum is filled with pieces of kinetic art – MAD stands for “mechanical art and design”. You push buttons to get the displays moving (mermaid, dinosaur, a wall of marbles) and then marvel at the ingenuity (themadmuseum.co.uk; adults £7.80, children £5.20).

At The Old Slaughterhouse, tap into lively community spirit. This inventive gallery and workshop offers permanent displays about Stratford’s social history (pick up a Bakelite phone receiver, for example, and you’ll hear the local butcher’s story) as well as changing exhibitions; the current display is on local “land girls” of the two world wars (escapearts.org. uk; free).

For those who prefer things decidedly more alive, at the Stratford Butterfly Farm you can walk into an enchanting rainforest housed in a substantial greenhouse. It’s filled with thousands of butterflies – as well as moths, a parrot and a couple of iguanas – while in a room alongside is a large and diligent colony of leafcutter ants (butterflyfarm.co.uk; adults £7.25, children £6.25).

I WOULD GIVE ALL MY FAME FOR A POT OF ALE

For a fine choice of tea shops, head to Sheep Street. Here, the Fourteas is a Forties-themed café, with homemade cakes, Glenn Miller songs playing – and no rationing (thefourteas.co.uk). If you’re in need of stronger refreshment, make tracks to The Garrick Inn, which dates from the early 1400s and claims to be the oldest pub in Stratford (there are several other contenders).

Try a half of Shakesbeer (yes, really – a mellow craft ale made exclusively for the inn) to drink alongside good pub grub such as grilled salmon (greeneking-pubs.co.uk). For a break from Stratford’s quintessential Englishness, enjoy a Greek meze at El Greco (el-greco.co.uk).

Stratford has a zany set of 47 lamp posts from around the world in Avonbank

Gardens.

NOW TO SLEEP, PERCHANCE TO DREAM

Stratford’s luxury hotel offering was given a boost earlier this year with the opening of a new Hotel du Vin (telegraph.co.uk/tt-hotel-du-vinstratford-upon-avon). It’s a smartcasual place with good bistro fare and very comfortable bedrooms. A little more central, yet a little less costly, is The White Swan (telegraph.co.uk/ tt-the-white-swan-hotel), set in a gorgeously creaky Tudor building.

BARD TIMESHoly Trinity Church, where Shakespeare is buried