h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Most people who have heard of William Shakespeare will probably have heard of Stratford Upon Avon. It’s a small rather quaint little town in the county of Warwickshire in England and it rests on the banks of the River Avon, hence its name.

A brief search of h2g2 doesn’t reveal much about Stratford Upon Avon except in connection with Shakespeare. This isn’t surprising, I suppose, as Shakespeare is probably one of the most famous people in the history of the world and he was born, lived for some of his life and died there. Shakespeare’s wife and family also lived there although Shakespeare himself actually spent most of his adulthood in London.

To be honest, if you are not a fan of Shakespeare and his plays, there isn’t much about this town that would lure the casual traveller to it’s clutches. It's quite pretty in places, but then it also has some horrid modern bits.

My family and I visited Stratford Upon Avon in the summer of 2009. As ardent fans of Shakespeare’s plays, we had planned a trip to see “A Comedy of Errors” performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). And, as were going to be in the town, we thought we would “take-in” an historic house or two.

Our first bit of culture was a visit to the home of Anne Hathaway, the wife of William Shakespeare. This a pretty little thatched house which has graced the lids of chocolate boxes the world over with it’s colourful cottage garden and it’s exposed beam exterior walls. Sadly, the “Shakespeare” connection is tenuous in the extreme. Despite bedecking the garden with quotations from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and extremely helpful and informative guides who are careful not to overplay the Shakespeare connection, it turned out that Anne Hathaway didn’t actually live in the house and hardly any of the furniture in it today had been there in Shakespeare’s time.

This was the beginning of a day and half of visits to properties that might, probably have been connected to Shakespeare at some point in his life. Possibly.

The fact is that history has preserved only about a hundred actual references to William Shakespeare and Stratford Upon Avon’s connection to him is implied but not explicit.

But the play’s the thing and it was excellent. Forget the rest. Go to Stratford Upon Avon for the plays. The rest is silence.