Beyond Henley Street: The River, Shottery and the Greenway

The crowds on Henley Street tell you where the Birthplace is. They do not tell you that a flat riverside path and an old railway line are five minutes away, or that Anne Hathaway's Cottage is a walk and not a taxi ride.

The river, Bancroft Gardens to Holy Trinity

Start at the Gower Memorial in Bancroft Gardens, where Shakespeare sits on a plinth with Hamlet, Lady Macbeth, Falstaff and Prince Hal round him, and go past the canal basin where narrowboats moor. The path follows the river frontage below the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and the Swan Theatre, past the Dirty Duck on Waterside, and on to Holy Trinity Church. It is a little under a kilometre each way, flat, and free. Holy Trinity's hours change through the year and are the thing to check: April to August it is open Monday to Saturday, but from November to March only on Saturdays and Sundays. Church entry is free and the chancel with the grave is £5. After heavy rain the river paths can be muddy or under water.

On the water

Avon Boating runs 30 minute cruises from Bancroft Gardens on Edwardian launches, downstream past the theatre and Holy Trinity and upstream under the fifteenth-century Clopton Bridge. Adults pay £11, and tickets are sold on the day with no need to book. It also hires rowing boats and punts at £11 per person, first come, first served, and motor boats at £40 per half hour. The boats run seven days a week to 1 November in 2026, so this is a spring to autumn plan. Cruises cannot take wheelchairs, because the boats are reached by steps. For something further up the river there are electric launches at £65 for 45 minutes and self-drive punts and big canoes at £11 a head, and a Wheelyboat for up to six people at £65 a group, all of which the boat company lists on its own site. Deposits are taken on top of the hire fee: £30 per motor boat, described on its page as refundable subject to terms, and £40 for the electric launches and the Wheelyboat, taken on the day. Check the refund terms with the boat company.

The Butterfly Farm is the other side of the river: five minutes' walk from the centre over the footbridge, by its own account. It is open every day except Christmas Day and is warm and dry inside, which makes it a wet-weather option.

Shakespeare Distillery also advertises gin-tasting cruises on the Avon on its own site, if you would rather combine the two; check its cruise page for dates.

Out to Shottery

Anne Hathaway's Cottage is 30 to 35 minutes on foot from the centre, according to the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, which publishes a walking map from the Birthplace. It opens at 10am, so set off around 9.15 and the walk is the first half of your morning. Take the £5 add-on if you have a Birthplace ticket. If you drive, there is a chargeable ANPR car park in Cottage Lane, Shottery.

The Greenway

The Stratford Greenway follows the old Honeybourne Line, a railway built in 1859 and closed in 1976, and it is about five miles one way on a flat gravel surface, from near the racecourse at Seven Meadows Road to Long Marston. The Walk Wheel Cycle Trust puts it at 5.3 miles, and the Greenway Group at around five and a half. It crosses the Avon on Stannals Bridge and later the Stour, and the Trust says skylarks nest along it and cowslips, knapweed, wild carrot, tansy and walnut trees grow beside it. There is a car park at the Stratford end. You do not need to do the whole thing; an hour out to the fields and an hour back is a proper walk.